Got Milk?

by Chloé O.

I love Milk. Two percent and whole are decent, but the movie is what I love.

When I heard there was going to be a movie based in San Francisco, I was excited. When I learned that it would include Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, the first day man to be elected to office in the state, I could not wait. I needed to see this movie. Yet I never knew how it would affect my personal point of view and social issues around me.

November 4^th, 2008. I honestly could not describe how I felt the day Obama became the next president. Overwhelming exhilaration washed over me as I celebrated with friends and my family. All my phone banking had paid-off, and I was ready for the future. Though I was happy, I could not feel completely ecstatic because of two words: Prop 8. At the same time of Obama’s campaign to be president, a proposition in California to ban gay marriage was up for vote, and it was incredibly controversial. I was so full-heartedly against it, and I would become angry when I would see “Yes on 8” bumper stickers on cars- what were they thinking? On the day of Obama’s election, I talked to my sister on the phone from across the country. There is one sentence in that conversation I will always remember, “I am proud of my country but disappointed in my state”. I could not have said it better myself.

Two months later, Milk came out in theaters. It was not until this past summer that I had the chance to rent it, and watch it alone. The timing of the movie’s release was perfect; the battle to overturn Proposition 8 was in full swing, yet I had stopped thinking about it as much as I had in the days of following its approval.

When I sat down to watch Milk, I did not know what to expect. I have never been so emotionally moved by a movie. Okay, maybe not moved, but emotionally boosted, to put it in better words. Seeing my city and the streets that I walk depicted in a setting forty years ago was a surreal experience. On top of that, Sean Penn was phenomenal as Harvey Milk. When I was a freshman, his daughter was a junior at my high school, and I went to a party at the Penn’s house. I remember seeing Sean standing in the corner with gloomy eyes, watching as teenagers took over his house. Honestly, I was intimidated and terrified. Yet when I watched the movie, he became the charismatic and kind Harvey Milk. This past year, he agreed to speak at an assembly at school, and my first encounter with him was completely shattered. I was in awe of how incredibly human he was. Mostly, the movie re-stimulated how I felt about Proposition 8. To put it simply, Milk is about gay and lesbian issues. In the end of the movie, his fellow supervisor, Dan White who was a social conservative, murders Harvey Milk. Milk caused the state and the country to rethink their personal points of view. Just like it mirror, it also caused myself to evaluate my perspective, and I was more certain than ever that Proposition 8 needed to be overturned.

Today, the fight to overturn Prop 8 is still being battled. For me, Milk reinforced my emotions, and also made me proud to be from San Francisco. I have not talked to anyone who has changed where they stand with gay rights after watching the movie, but I am in no doubt that it caused many to grapple with their perspective.

Just like a glass of two percent in the morning, Milk was a refreshing indulgence. I had never seen a movie that had affected me quite like it did, and I can proudly say that I love it in its entirety. So go on, take a sip of Milk.