Harvey Milk was a gay rights activist and pro-small business populist politician who was murdered alongside San Francisco Mayor George Moscone at their local City Hall in 1978. He is now also the subject of a Gus Van Sant movie starring Sean Penn called Milk. Despite the usual slew of rave reviews and award nominations that are a part and parcel of productions with the financial clout to hire celebrity leads, the film is a turkey. With a running time of around two hours it is way too long and left me bored shitless. The movie is full of clunky devices, such Milk recording his life story on tape just in case he is assassinated, something he apparently did but that nonetheless comes across as completely contrived in its celluloid anti-realisation. Milk’s assassin, former cop Dan White, is painted as latently gay but this psychologising gloss proves pointless since it isn’t properly worked into a narrative that ultimately depicts the murders as rage killings. White, like Milk, had been a San Francisco city supervisor, and he appears to have blamed his failure as a local politician on the two men he murdered. Both this film and the historical record show White to be an early example of someone ‘going postal’; and while conservative bigotry seems to have played a role in this, at the end of the day Van Sant’s wild speculation about the killer’s ultimate sexual orientation is completely pointless. Milk is equally unsuccessful in its attempts to gloss over the fact that its subject was a small time but still cynical capitalist politician. Gay liberation is necessarily part of a larger struggle for human emancipation, and the single issue politics of businessmen like Milk invariably derail this process. To me films like Milk are just worthless Hollywood schlock, and you’d have to be deluded to think such crapola could even start to compete with a recent independent movie like Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!
And while you’re at it don’t forget to check – http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/ – you know it makes (no) sense!
Comments
Comment by Divine on 2009-01-26 10:46:02 +0000
Gay Lib is also known for its links to the counterculture of the time, and for the Gay Liberationists’ intent to transform fundamental institutions of society such as gender and the family. In order to achieve such liberation, consciousness raising and direct action were employed. By the late 1970s, the radicalism of Gay Liberation was eclipsed by a return to a more formal movement that espoused gay and lesbian civil rights.
Comment by Man Enough To Be A Woman on 2009-01-26 11:38:11 +0000
Gia Darling is America’s Transsexual Barbie. Under the Professional care of Dr. Toby G Mayer and Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery, Gia has become the beautiful woman we’d all like to be.
Comment by Chick With A Dick on 2009-01-26 12:05:41 +0000
I like my films short and hard, but my men need to be long and hard!
Comment by The Queers Rock! on 2009-01-26 12:17:07 +0000
Having a song called “I Want Cunt” doesn’t mean we’re sexist, homophobic, racist assholes. The Queers are about having fun….
Comment by Dire McCain on 2009-01-26 15:16:35 +0000
you gay, Stew??? This explains it..
Comment by Queer With Class on 2009-01-26 15:30:17 +0000
Fairies wear boots: release your inner pansy!
Comment by Angel Face Alvarez on 2009-01-26 16:00:25 +0000
For animals, and humans are animals too, the arse is the real turn-on and what is used to signal sex. Due to humans learning to stand vertically among straights the natural order of things has been turned around to make breasts, knees or even rounded shoulders stand in for the backside: and this is the reason straights are so fucked up. By taking our cue from nature we can see that since our species has learned to stand on two feet being gay is the norm and that straightness is an evolutionary blind-alley that leads to alienation and confusion!
Comment by Michel Foucault on 2009-01-26 17:23:13 +0000
Sexual perversion begins and ends with the missionary position…
Comment by Díre McCain on 2009-01-26 17:38:56 +0000
Ooooh, my klone is getting cleverer by the minute – s/he even attached the MySpace link this time. Except my fondness for capital letters at the beginning of sentences is well-known and documented – just ask Peter Burns. Furthermore, I always end comments with an ellipsis, not two periods. And lastly, at 8:16 PST, I was just about to hit the five mile mark on the treadmill…
Comment by Díre McCain on 2009-01-26 17:39:48 +0000
P.S. Burn Hollywood Burn…
Comment by mistertrippy on 2009-01-26 18:00:19 +0000
Hey Dire, that had me fooled as I was reading down but actually the phraseology comes more from this side of the Atlantic and a native English speaking clone for sure (so UK or Ireland)…. I’d say this is a geezer wearing make-up, it isn’t me despite my love of lipstick and eye shadow, so I’d hazard a guess it was Michael K… Oh and carrying on teaching that clone how to write like you and pretty soon none of us will know the difference. 5 miles on the treadmill, hardcore! And you’re right those Hollywood hoes need to do more than burn fat… we need to get them burning on the east side, burning on the west side too, get them burning all over till they don’t know what we’re trying to do… come on now and burn baby! Never forget Mel Gibson!
Comment by Phina on 2009-01-26 18:07:56 +0000
Ah, I have family members who were / are apart of AIM, and one of my step-dads was good friends with more than a few members of the IRA. This means I have had my whole life filled with this kind of story, if I am going to spend a decent amount of time watching a movie, then it is going to be one of many things – but not a movie made in Hollywood with famous actors playing the parts of activists – who are no doubt rolling in their graves, with either laughter or horror. But, ah I have said to much already. I would rather a cheaply made horror movie to most other movies anyway.
Comment by Radclyffe Hall on 2009-01-26 18:18:28 +0000
I see a lot of testosterone at the beginning of this thread, but a paucity of chicks with balls… something that was fortuitously solved by Dire and Phina coming on here….
Comment by Sappho on 2009-01-26 18:20:53 +0000
Rap on sister, rap on…
Comment by Bubble Detector on 2009-01-26 18:52:53 +0000
In last year’s ‘Strippers vs Zombies’ (not to be confused with ‘Zombie Strippers’), a drug experiment gone wrong produces a league of blood-thirsty zombies. It is up to a small band of exotic dancers trapped in a gentleman’s club to fight back. Together they must rely on their wits and skills to survive the night, and pray that they don’t become victims of the flesh-eating zombies!
Comment by Díre McCain on 2009-01-26 20:13:46 +0000
Ah, but the above comment posted by the “real” me was intentionally deceptive, babyface! As for the mystery geezer, Klaus’ abrupt and conspicuous silence is a bit suspicious. I haven’t received any messages since last week, though his colleague, Harbinder, just phoned five minutes ago, claiming to be in Oregon, but I smell eine Ratte…
Comment by ;lk; on 2009-01-26 21:07:48 +0000
Melvin Van Peebles Gus Van Sant Dick Van Dike Klaus Van Dire Van Guard Van Divine Van You Van Ess Van Eh Van dergraphgenerator
Comment by mistertrippy on 2009-01-26 23:07:18 +0000
Oh we’re gonna get onto petit bourgeois vanguardists in recent movies tomorrow. And don’t forget kids, once you get past the terrible opening in “Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!” AKA “Zombies Vs Strippers” this is a really class movie that the makers probably didn’t even realise addresses the way the ruling class divide the working class and make us fight amongst themselves, coz of course it is the hookers who work outside the strip joint who turn into zombies after taking contaminated drugs – and the strippers are a step up in the sex industry from the street walking zombies. There is a lot of fantastic class analysis in this movie (and we know that zombies always represent the proletariat anyway) but for some reason all the reviews I’ve seen are too dumb and bourgeois to mention this, they seem more fixated on the nudity (and that’s groovy too)!
Oh and Dire I was bluffing when I said I thought the clone was Michael K, coz I wanted to flush the actual clone out, but for a lot of reasons when I looked at it I really didn’t think the first comment was from you… and would still be very surprised if it was. But if it was, then you are a very naughty girl (and of course I like naughty boys and girls)! Confused? We will be! Proletarian post-modernism is a groove sensation!
Comment by Bubble Detector on 2009-01-26 23:32:29 +0000
If that Klaus is Klaus Voorman who produced the legendary ‘Da Da Da’ by Trio, played bass in the Plastic Ono Band and designed the cover of ‘Revolver’ and ‘Anthology’ for Hamburg homeboys Der Beatles (whose ‘Komm,Gib Mir Deine Hand’ is a groove sensation), then it can only be a matter of minutes before John, Paul George and Ringo are back on this blog giving it some welly (with REAL custard!!)
Comment by Michael K on 2009-01-26 23:52:02 +0000
Michael K is away and unable to leave blog comments at the moment.
Comment by Bubble Detector on 2009-01-27 03:13:16 +0000
Clone-flushing is, like, a groove sensation!!
Comment by The Real Tessie on 2009-01-27 04:04:27 +0000
Is there any sploshing in Milk?
Comment by mistertrippy on 2009-01-27 09:31:09 +0000
Sorry Tessie, no sploshing in this movie, but come home for fun with me. Don’t you know that a ventriloquist doll’s place is on her master’s knee… I won’t leave you locked in the cupboard and I’ll practice my ventriloquism daily with you. I might even take you out to meet the public instead of only performing in front of an audience with Mister Dog…..
Comment by The Real Tessie on 2009-01-27 14:11:10 +0000
Well after having me jailed two years ago and then locked in a cupboard for most of the last year, I’m a bit reluctant but, then again, it’s not as bad as when my ex-wife tried to have me declared insane and my son, L Ron Hubbard Jr, became an SP. I’ll have to think about it but I’ll admit the thought of being back on your knee is making me pure horny and you know I love a threesome with Mister Dog
Comment by Msmarmitelover on 2009-01-28 00:41:35 +0000
Is the Real Tessie Colin Lowe? I recognize the style and the history. Did he send you a picture of his penis too?
Comment by Msmarmitelover on 2009-01-28 00:43:42 +0000
Can you put some nice pictures on your blog please Mister Trippy? It’s very monochromatic and text based at present.
I thought you Myspace bots liked sparkly glitter writing,soppy supportive messages, irritating music and a patchwork of your ‘artwork’?
Comment by mistertrippy on 2009-01-28 01:11:19 +0000
My guess was that The Real Tessie was Michael K… and no penis pictures…. and I was enjoying this as a radical break with my MySpace pages… but if you want pictures there are plenty on the main part of the site… but we have got loads of boys and make-up talk…. maybe I’ll change it in the future and post pictures of boys in make-up too….
Comment by Msmarmitelover on 2009-01-28 01:31:33 +0000
Yes please Sir!
Who is The Real Tessie anyway?
Is Michael K really Colin Lowe?
Was that Michael K’s penis I was looking at then?
Comment by Christopher Nosnibor on 2009-01-28 12:44:03 +0000
Life’s too short for long films, especially if they’re boring.
I was in a pub in Glasgow a few years back and this bloke came up to me and said ‘I know you! You’re the guitarist in The Queers!’ I’m not, but it was certainly an unusual gambit and makes a change from the usual kind of shit I get from strangers in the street.
Comment by mistertrippy on 2009-01-28 22:48:50 +0000
Oh wow Chris I love that line… I’ve had someone come up to me in the street tell me that I’m Stewart Home and then tell me every record I’d bought in a particular shop over a five year period, coz it was a small specialist one so they got their mate who worked there to check everything I bought and then made a list of the records which they’d apparently learnt by heart. Now that is scary! This happened back in the nineties….
Comment by Christopher Nosnibor on 2009-01-29 17:01:32 +0000
Ha, who needs the Internet and CCTV for having your every action monitored, eh? I hope you didn’t buy anything too embarassing in there….