I know Stonewall hasn’t come out yet, but I can’t help, at least a little, contrasting it with Pride. Of course Pride changed some things too (Gethiin is a composite character, Joe is made up and they purposely left out Mark Ashton’s communism), but overall it did a good job of taking a moment in history and showing how even small acts can change the world.
Wheras with Stonewall, from everything we’ve seen so far the central character is a made-up generic white guy and the trans people of color and others who started the fight seem to be on the sidelines, if they’re there at all.
If they wanted the generic white guy I’d rather he be a witness then portrayed like a hero. I’d rather learn about Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson or Stormé DeLarverie.
Sometimes a movie about a fictional character can do good. Philadelphia I think made a big difference for a lot of people. (Though that too was based on the real life story of Geoffrey Bowers.)
I guess what I’m getting to is that, I’m a film student, I know how film is the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Films are important, big or little. We learn a lot of our history from films. They’re our modern myths. And this one (so far) feels like a wasted opportunity.
I hope I’m wrong and this movie surprises me.
