Brandi Hopkins
Laramie Project- Thursday
The Laramie Project gives you a front and center view into a horrific tragedy that occurred and a real life example of gay hatred. It coincides with The Mind of the Gay Basher in showing the psychology as well as the social aspects of the issue, possible reasons why physical altercations take place, and extreme range in emotions when dealing with gay people and their lifestyles. The Laramie Projectwas an eye opening film that captivates an audience with a real life story of hatred, while telling the story of the people of Laramie and their personal struggles with the Matthew Shepard tragedy as well as chronicling the trials and motives of those who committed the crime.
The Matthew Shepard story is devastating, the film portrays the event with such fact, and exactitude that it seems to hit close to home with everyone watching the film…whether they are gay or straight. The director of the film does an extraordinary job paralleling the attitudes towards gay people, and using the characters so well that as an audience member you relate so deeply with the characters and seem to feel the things they do.
The Laramie Project was told from the voices of the Laramie population and the creators of the play. During the film we are faced with so many different attitudes towards the murder as well as the general attitude towards the gay lifestyle. In the article, The Mind of the Gay Basher, Karen speaks of why “gay bashing” could occur, and the “anti-gay ideology,” that could be the influence of those in the film as well as those who surround us in every day life. The “anti-gay ideology” is the general idea that people are motivated into physically harming actions, or generally unacceptable actions based on their religious or moral beliefs, or, in her words, “some kind of disgust for homosexuality. We see this portrayed by the convicted killers of Matthew, Henderson and Mckinney, in the faces and words of a few of the Laramie people who believed Matthew “brought it on himself,” or that the homosexual lifestyle is morally wrong. In this film, it seems as if motifs played a far more significant role than in a lot of other films. A few of the biggest ones happened to be the slogans, “Live, and Let Live,” as well as versions of the sign that said, “Hate is not a value of Laramie.” We heard almost every person interviewed for the play say some version of either of those slogans, but mostly the people wanted the crew to know how they felt about their reputations, not necessarily about the murder of a young gay man.
“I would like nothing better than to see you die, Mr. McKinney. However, this is the time to begin the healing process, to show mercy to someone who refused to show any mercy.” The scene in the film where Matthew Shepard’s father spoke at the trial was a very well executed scene, and the emotion is so powerful and you see a grown man find strength in his weakness. Masculinity seems to play a key role in the mind of the killers of Matthew, and in the article, we see Karen make the following statement: “.. the idea of proving one’s masculinity to peers, oftentimes for young men. . . . In order to change from a boy to a man, one has to prove that one is masculine, and one way to do that is to assault gays.” It seems as if the murder occurred on the basis of Hendersen and Mckinny proving their “straightness” as well as their ability to showcase their masculinity through brute force. However, Matthews father, was stronger when he gave Hendersen mercy. The article as well as the movie explore the idea of feeling uncomfortable with the differences in lifestyles as well as the ideology behind the attacks on gay people and the idea of “proving masculinity.”
The Laramie Project was a film that possessed a documentary like feel with a twist. It expressed facts with such ease that it didn’t feel like information was being forced into the mind of the audience. The motifs were very powerful and there was a very relatable story told of the people of Laramie and their personal opinions of the homosexual lifestyle as well as Matthew Shepards murder.
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