is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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Not so sure.
First of all, the comments feature is fixed now, in case you�re wondering. Any of you who may have tried to leave comments in the last day or so only to get some sort of strange error message, no, you�re not crazy. But now you can pretend it never happened.
Second. The other day I read a rant somewhere, I�m not sure where, New York Magazine maybe? That�s really the only magazine I read with predictable regularity. Anyway, the rant was ranted by someone who didn�t like the film Milk because watching Sean Penn play gay is like watching someone do blackface. Said ranter hates it when Hollywood actors get to play gay or effeminate without ever having to live with the social outcomes of those ways of living. And so on. An interesting point, worth considering. But maybe problematic. It�s not that I think such things shouldn�t be said. Like I said: interesting. But, well, I myself don�t want to make jumps from sexuality to race that quickly. But even beyond that, I wonder whether there might not be gains to be had from someone as �mannish� as Sean Penn playing someone as �unmannish� as Harvey Milk. It might make someone see some things differently? I don�t know, I really don�t. But then again, to me, the whole idea that Harvey Milk is �unmannish� while Sean Penn is �mannish� seems really ridiculous, and not because Sean Penn isn�t manly. I guess I�m just sold on how fraught and contextual all these assessments of �manly� are. But that�s my point. I am not the normal audience. And perhaps the �normal� audience (who, truth be told, will probably never even go to see the film called Milk) would be moved to think differently by seeing the �manly� Sean Penn play the �unmanly� Harvey Milk? I don�t know.
But still. Sean Penn did a great job. A great and restrained job, which is unlike Sean Penn, who usually oozes the message �I AM ACTING RIGHT NOW. CAN YOU SEE ME ACTING RIGHT NOW? CAN I HAZ GOOD ACTOR PRIZE?�. He really crushed that role in a subtle way. I love a subtle crush.
Something I really liked about Milk, beyond the great performances by everyone in the film (like: James Franco, whom I�ve liked since Freaks and Geeks), was the emphasis on coalition-building. He worked really hard to get into cooperative relationships with people who didn�t share his vision of the world. He worked across interest-group lines on issues that transcended questions of sexual orientation. And he did that because he realized that he couldn�t win if he didn�t do that. He could not win. It might not be fair, but some issues don�t win because they�re right. (DUH!) So those who want them to win have to work harder. The world isn�t fair. That�s nothing new. But you can work to make it more fair. And sometimes you�ll win.
Sometimes it will get you killed. Or, less dramatic but still quite painful, you may lose the fight much of the time. But lots of people who make a huge difference in the lives of many, while winning and losing, live long lives that never get subjected to an actorly treatment by anyone like Sean Penn. That might not be fair either, but about that, as well, I just don�t know. Being known for your good works is not the most important thing. It just isn�t.
8:16 p.m. - January 18, 2009
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