Feature: Milk

(originally printed in The California Aggie at UC Davis, 12/4/08)



Milk, in their own words
Actors, filmmakers, and UCD students discuss the potential impact of this controversial movie



“When people stand up, things change.”

In six words, Sean Penn managed to sum up the entire movie of Milk. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still see it.

Released in theaters tomorrow, Milk is a biographical film from director Gus Van Sant about Harvey Milk, the United States’ first openly gay elected official. The film spans eight years in the life of Milk, played by Penn, from the mere conception of his first campaign for San Francisco city supervisor to his assassination at the hands of colleague Dan White.

A panel of actors and filmmakers from Milk sat down with reporters in San Francisco on Oct. 29 to talk about its upcoming release. While they made it clear that the film was enjoyable to make, all were aware that the film they made had a gravitas that existed beyond its run time.

“I don’t think most students know who Harvey Milk is,” said Emile Hirsch, who plays Cleve Jones, one of the youngest activists in Milk’s campaign. “For me, what the film really was about was about human rights and equality and democracy and just some of the core principles that I think America’s about and America stands for. And I think it’s important for college students to learn those things.”

Sean Penn stressed that understanding who Milk was as a person in addition to as a political figure is a large step toward understanding why his message continues to be meaningful.

“What struck me really was that Harvey Milk, whether he had been in politics or not, he would have been a political figure simply because he had been one of these people who had come up against the obvious obstacles in life,” Penn said. “And he greeted it with such courage and warmth and was politically kind. He was a kind spirit, and that was going to be strong whatever he did.”

Though the film that muses on the subject takes place around thirty years ago, the dearth of young people in local politics is a topic applicable to today’s political sphere. The inertia that propelled young voters to participate in this year’s election has created a lingering, now aimless passion among young adults. With four years until the next presidential election, many feel that energy should be channeled into community involvement.

“Students don’t feel that local issues in particular affect them… but it’s actually the opposite,” said sophomore international relations major and ASUCD senator Jack Zwald.

“In Davis city politics, we don’t have enough student involvement, and that’s why city council can get away with passing a lot of ordinances that aren’t fair to us.”

Despite the high voter turnout for the presidential election, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black expressed his frustration at the current climate of political activism outside the realm of elected officials.

“The folks who I know who are even political and supposedly activists are so passive… Actually getting up and doing something about it, organizing physically and making some sort of change, it just doesn’t seem to happen so much.”

“Being apathetic to politics is acceptable and normal,” agreed Zwald. “We can wean people off of that apathy [and] really start working for that change…But we’re going to fall short if we only go this far.

Zwald’s sentiments echo the feelings of many gay rights supporters today. One month after the passage of anti-gay marriage laws and amendments in three states, a film about a prominent and capable gay civil rights leader will be released. The actors and filmmakers know that the movie is going to add fuel to the flames of the debate over civil liberties. The film, had it been released earlier, might have played a part in the Prop 8 dialogue, since the film explores the struggle against a similarly themed 1978 proposition.

Penn commented on how watching the film in particular relates to approaching gay rights in general.

“There’s something in the movie where Harvey Milk is emphasizing what an impact it makes if people know that they know just one of us,” he said.

“You’re watching a lot of good-hearted human beings, and where and how they decide to fuck is irrelevant. And so I think that alone can be strong, to get in there and feel more familiar, less stigmatized and confused by it, less afraid of it. … The more the pure heart of people is in the face of [disapproval], the less breathing room there is for that kind of thinking.”

Third year international relations and women and gender studies double major and Gender and Sexualities Commission Chair Laura Brown said that the release of Milk may increase visibility for the LGBT community, but it’s important to stay focused on the bigger picture.

“I think it’s interesting to see how the queer community has galvanized after the Prop 8 passing…[but it is important] to recognize that gay rights issues existing separately aren’t as important as broader issues that incorporate the queer community as well as other marginalized communities.”

On a more universal level, this movie shines as a different kind of beacon of hope. The connections to today’s struggle for gay rights will obviously reignite deeply rooted positions on the subject, but the film’s forte is delving into the importance for activism and public participation on local, state, and national levels.

When Zwald was asked what it will take to get more students involved in politics on all levels of government, his answer was decisive.

“It’ll take major crisis. It’ll take something that really reaches down in to the core of every student… that pulls them out and compels them to get involved. It may be the draft, it may be an economic collapse, it may be the threat of a new war … It’ll really take something big to get us involved on all levels.”