The Celluloid Closet: Donovan Gale
So going into this documentary I had really no idea what it was going to be about. When it became clear that it was about the treatment of the LGBTQ+ community in Hollywood, I knew that it was going to completely change my view of Hollywood, and it absolutely did, but it also changed how I viewed myself. One of the biggest things I was looking forward to in this class was learning ways I could become a better ally to the LGBTQ+ community. I have many friends and family members who are a part of this community, so it's important to me that I make them feel comfortable, but beyond that I want to in some way try to better understand their lives, so that I can better appreciate the difficulties involved with it. Does that make sense? I just want to help the people who are important to me in any way I can. Anyway, that was what I was looking forward to. So as we moved through this film I immediately got sucked in. There were so many things I was learning that I had never realized until this film. One of the early quotes in the movie that caught my attention was something along the lines of "They were there to be laughed at, or to be feared." I couldn't get the exact quote, but after the person said it I was just totally blown away by it. It's hard to explain the feeling. It was like, discovering something that you feel like you should have noticed all along? Like a "OH MY GOD YOU'RE RIGHT!" Then the documentary started diving deeper. Started giving example after example of how terribly Hollywood has showcased these human beings. Then the documentary began discussing the effect this had due to the power Hollywood holds. Not like actual power, but in the sense that they control a majority of the entertainment business. A majority of the content that millions of people watch on a daily basis, and have done so for decades. It was at this point I began thinking about my own life, and my experiences. How I've viewed people based on something I saw in a movie, and I realized that this was something that was happening even in my own life. I mean, it was literally being laid out right in front of me, so how could you honestly deny it? That was how I felt anyway. This really hit home for me in a certain moment in the documentary. Someone said something along the lines of "Seeming to be gay was a s bad as being gay." And it was just so painfully true. That was another visceral moment for me in during the documentary. It made me think about all the times in my life, in high school. People can be very cruel, as I'm sure everyone knows well already. I literally remember a time in my life when I was terrified that if people knew I played with action figures that they would "think I was gay" and I completely stopped and got rid of all of them eventually as a result. I just wish I could go back and tell myself not do that. To be like "Who cares? They make you happy right?" It's just a wild thing to think about I guess. And all of that, every moment, from those kids bullying me, to giving up something I loved out of fear, it all steamed from how being "gay" was some awful thing. I really believe that. This documentary really opened my eyes to that, and I'm thankful for it. It makes me appreciate the people in my life that live within this community so much more. It also further enforces that there is so much more I can keep doing to be a better ally, which is pretty cool I think. It give me a little bit of hope I guess? Man, that feels like such a rare thing in our world today.
Although I have yet to say anything in class, it has still be a great time thus far and I have to say I think there is a really cool environment being established in this class. Some really great discussions are already being had, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it progresses in the near future. I myself am cripplingly quiet in class, but it's a work in progress. I had some things I really wanted to share today about my thoughts with the documentary, but was too shy to share them. Very regrettable, but something I hope to remedy in the future. One of my biggest takeaways from todays discussion was the topic of how social media also has a tremendous impact on the way we view ourselves and the other people around us. A really good point that I thought that was made today was talking about how social media algorithms can be a good and bad thing. Because like the guy in class said, if you like something and think it's cool you can follow it, and then as a result you will see other things that are similar to that content. However, on the other end, this could be a bad thing. Like, if you like mean and hateful content then those you begin to see more and more of those type of things. Just going deeper and deeper down this rabbit hole of false information. The internet is a scary place. I'd like to think these companies like Instagram and Facebook are going to monitor this kind of content more closely, and it at least kind of seems like they are, now. It's unfortunate that it took a crowd of domestic terrorists storming the capital for them to realize how dangerous this type of misinformation is, but that always seems to be the case in America. Change only comes after tragedy. Overall, today's class discussion left me with a lot more to think about, and I think that's kind of cool. To like, come into a room and talk with a group of people about a topic, and to walk away with new thoughts and perspectives. It just feels nice, that really the best way I can put it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these thoughts, Donovan. It's important for us to recognize how much society has changed in recent years, and we might not notice it at times because of the fact that we've grown up with the internet and have changed ourselves as it has evolved. I agree it can be a very helpful or damaging tool depending on what we're exposed to and what we choose to interact with. Most recently I can think of a trend on TikTok where someone was "reacting" to videos of boys wearing makeup, and his reaction videos began going viral. He would smile for the start of the video and once the boys put on their makeup, he dropped his smile and just stared at the camera. He didn't need to say anything in his video to spark anger and homophobic responses in his comments. Many of his followers were talking about how they would hate, disown, or straight up murder their sons if they ever tried to do something as little as put on some makeup. This is an example that sticks out to me to show just how violent and harmful social media can be when you give a platform to someone with so much negativity to spread.
DeleteHi Donovan!
ReplyDeleteHope you manage to overcome your shyness and talk more in class because you make some really good points here. Social media replacing movies and TV as our generation has been good because it allows us to see other perspectives without Hollywood censorship, but we still have to go looking for them. Its incredibly easy to get into a feedback loop of the same ideas fed to you by the algorithm. I agree with your point about how easy it is to get pulled into having mean and hateful ideas by the algorithms feeding you false information, just because you liked a few posts not realizing they included right wing dog whistles. I hope that in this class we continue to have interesting conversations like this about how media impacts our opinions.