The main theme of The Times of Harvey Milk was clearly expressed by Jaclyn Wilke. The documentary discussed the successful political career of Harvey Milk as the first openly gay elected official and his assassination by Dan White. The documentary was focused on more than just gay rights; it also talked about how Milk supported minority rights in general. The pacing of the video was fine and I could understand what she was saying perfectly. There were a few stumbles, but they did not interrupt the flow of the video too much. The volume was loud enough and she had the speech prepared. Nice job, Jaclyn! Jaclyn seemed very informed—she had obviously been very attentive while watching the film. Her analysis of the filmmaker's bias is well done and something I can well understand because I noticed the same bias in my own documentary. She is confident in expressing her opinions and does not tip-toe around pointing out the weakness of the film (namely, that it was too long). One important fact regarding this documentary was that not only did Harvey Milk support the gay minority, but he was able to win the election by supporting other minorities as well. I thought that this was an interesting strategy. Another fact was that the Briggs proposal was, according to polls, going to pass but it was voted down by a 59 to 41% majority. I was interested in the arguments that surrounded the Proposition 6—the Briggs proposal. The supporters claimed that the proposal would ‘reduce the number of child molesters.’ Milk argued against this, using a study (conducted by the FBI and the National Counsel on Family Relations) that concluded that 90-95% of child molesters were heterosexual. I was also interested and shocked that the sentence of Dan White was only five and a half years. I couldn’t believe someone could get away with murder and only serve five and a half years in prison. On top of that, if the defense was pleading that Dan White had a breakdown and wasn’t thinking clearly, he should have gotten some help in prison. I thought the whole situation was very sad. I thought the film did sound interesting because of the struggle Milk went through to become elected and of his efforts (including the Gay Rights Bill) during his time in office. The film’s largest weakness seemed to be that it included unnecessary information and was too long. Its strengths seemed to be that it had a broad focus of minority rights, not just gay rights, and the portrayal of both sides of the trial after Milk’s murder. I also learned that Milk recorded a video that was to be played in case he was assassinated. I think that video would be very interesting to watch, as well as video of the support and protests after his murder. The presentation was well written and went into enough detail to give me a good picture of the basics of the documentary.
Jackie did a great job explaining the main theme of the movie. I understand the main theme to be the political career of Harvey Milk and the things he had to deal with to get elected and then in office. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay elected official so he had to deal with more than just the typical politics. He had to deal with the prejudice of people towards homosexuals. The pace of the video was perfect, she spoke at an even pace and I could understand her. Her review of the film was very easy to listen to and the volume at which she spoke was good. She seemed very prepared as I think that she wrote down what she was going to say on something in front of her. However, it did not sound like she was just sitting there reading a plot summary of the movie, you could tell that she knew the material well and put her own opinions into the review. She seemed very confident as she talked and it was obvious that she understood the film and what it was about. Her review was very detailed and descriptive; it gave me a good picture of how the film is. An important fact that Jackie said was that Milk represented not only the gays but other minorities as well. His sole focus was not just on gay issues but also rent control, education, transportation, and anything that would improve the lives of the minorities. Another fact that Jackie gave was Milk’s most important accomplishment, the passage of the Gay Rights Bill, which prevented gays from being fired from their jobs if they were to come out. The Briggs initiative, which was against homosexuality, made Milk famous. Everyone thought that the gay rights movement was going to lose because the numbers did not look good, but a grassroots movement was able to help stop the passage of Proposition 6. Another surprising and ridiculous fact was how Dan White was able to murder two people and only serve a total of five and a half years. I do not get how that is even remotely justifiable for the death of two men who were just doing their jobs. A strength of the film was how it showed how effective a smaller local government can be when it is closer to its constituents and how having minorities elected can be a good thing so everyone is represented. Another strength was how it was able to portray the grassroots movement fought hard to defeat the discriminatory practice. A weakness that Jackie pointed out was the length and how some of the facts and events that were unimportant and irrelevant to the subject. It was hard to focus because it was so long and it did not have information that was sometimes relevant to the main theme of the film. I learned many things from this film review. I thought that Harvey Milk was just a gay elected official who fought just for gay rights and was a leader of the gay rights movement. By watching this review I was able to learn that he represented not only the gay minority but also other minorities in the community. He cared about the community as a whole and was trying to make it a better place. GOOD JOB JACKIE!
The main theme of The Times of Harvey Milk was clearly expressed by Jaclyn Wilke. The documentary discussed the successful political career of Harvey Milk as the first openly gay elected official and his assassination by Dan White. The documentary was focused on more than just gay rights; it also talked about how Milk supported minority rights in general.
ReplyDeleteThe pacing of the video was fine and I could understand what she was saying perfectly. There were a few stumbles, but they did not interrupt the flow of the video too much. The volume was loud enough and she had the speech prepared. Nice job, Jaclyn!
Jaclyn seemed very informed—she had obviously been very attentive while watching the film. Her analysis of the filmmaker's bias is well done and something I can well understand because I noticed the same bias in my own documentary. She is confident in expressing her opinions and does not tip-toe around pointing out the weakness of the film (namely, that it was too long).
One important fact regarding this documentary was that not only did Harvey Milk support the gay minority, but he was able to win the election by supporting other minorities as well. I thought that this was an interesting strategy. Another fact was that the Briggs proposal was, according to polls, going to pass but it was voted down by a 59 to 41% majority. I was interested in the arguments that surrounded the Proposition 6—the Briggs proposal. The supporters claimed that the proposal would ‘reduce the number of child molesters.’ Milk argued against this, using a study (conducted by the FBI and the National Counsel on Family Relations) that concluded that 90-95% of child molesters were heterosexual. I was also interested and shocked that the sentence of Dan White was only five and a half years. I couldn’t believe someone could get away with murder and only serve five and a half years in prison. On top of that, if the defense was pleading that Dan White had a breakdown and wasn’t thinking clearly, he should have gotten some help in prison. I thought the whole situation was very sad.
I thought the film did sound interesting because of the struggle Milk went through to become elected and of his efforts (including the Gay Rights Bill) during his time in office. The film’s largest weakness seemed to be that it included unnecessary information and was too long. Its strengths seemed to be that it had a broad focus of minority rights, not just gay rights, and the portrayal of both sides of the trial after Milk’s murder.
I also learned that Milk recorded a video that was to be played in case he was assassinated. I think that video would be very interesting to watch, as well as video of the support and protests after his murder. The presentation was well written and went into enough detail to give me a good picture of the basics of the documentary.
Good work Jaclyn!
Jackie did a great job explaining the main theme of the movie. I understand the main theme to be the political career of Harvey Milk and the things he had to deal with to get elected and then in office. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay elected official so he had to deal with more than just the typical politics. He had to deal with the prejudice of people towards homosexuals. The pace of the video was perfect, she spoke at an even pace and I could understand her. Her review of the film was very easy to listen to and the volume at which she spoke was good. She seemed very prepared as I think that she wrote down what she was going to say on something in front of her. However, it did not sound like she was just sitting there reading a plot summary of the movie, you could tell that she knew the material well and put her own opinions into the review. She seemed very confident as she talked and it was obvious that she understood the film and what it was about. Her review was very detailed and descriptive; it gave me a good picture of how the film is. An important fact that Jackie said was that Milk represented not only the gays but other minorities as well. His sole focus was not just on gay issues but also rent control, education, transportation, and anything that would improve the lives of the minorities. Another fact that Jackie gave was Milk’s most important accomplishment, the passage of the Gay Rights Bill, which prevented gays from being fired from their jobs if they were to come out. The Briggs initiative, which was against homosexuality, made Milk famous. Everyone thought that the gay rights movement was going to lose because the numbers did not look good, but a grassroots movement was able to help stop the passage of Proposition 6. Another surprising and ridiculous fact was how Dan White was able to murder two people and only serve a total of five and a half years. I do not get how that is even remotely justifiable for the death of two men who were just doing their jobs. A strength of the film was how it showed how effective a smaller local government can be when it is closer to its constituents and how having minorities elected can be a good thing so everyone is represented. Another strength was how it was able to portray the grassroots movement fought hard to defeat the discriminatory practice. A weakness that Jackie pointed out was the length and how some of the facts and events that were unimportant and irrelevant to the subject. It was hard to focus because it was so long and it did not have information that was sometimes relevant to the main theme of the film. I learned many things from this film review. I thought that Harvey Milk was just a gay elected official who fought just for gay rights and was a leader of the gay rights movement. By watching this review I was able to learn that he represented not only the gay minority but also other minorities in the community. He cared about the community as a whole and was trying to make it a better place.
ReplyDeleteGOOD JOB JACKIE!