The Laramie Project Response

While watching the Laramie Project, I kept trying to think about many of the readings we had and how they related to the actual movie itself but it was fairly hard to do. This was because of the amount of emotional impact the movie had (because it stressed the fact that this was a true event) and how a single misdeed by two of its citizens against another could so drastically rock a town. Though it was a little less impressive because I knew everyone in the movie was an actor, the fact that they developed their lines straight from interviews lent the movie a little more impact. Throughout the movie they also stressed the idea of “live and let live,” meaning that people should be allowed to live the lives the way they want to, in this respect, leading the life of a homosexual. Most of the townsfolk seemed tolerant of homosexuals and even if they did not approve they were still shocked and appalled by the actions of the two boys. This idea finally came to a head when, even though he had lost his son, Mr. Shepard granted the request of one of the defendants to not have the death penalty sought against him. The whole movie was brought together very well, but I was not able to think about many of the ideas we had discussed in class because of the emotional draw of the movie.