The Laramie Project, by Moises Kaufman, is centered on Laramie, Wyoming, and the social significance of Matthew Shepard's murder on October 6, 1998. A gay political science student at the University of Wyoming, Shepard is found bound to a fence after being brutally beaten unconscious. Five days later, he dies. The idea of The Laramie Project is to capture the emotions, reflections, and reactions of the people who were most closely related to this crime. Kaufman's objective is to learn through the town folks their understanding of each other and their thoughts on why people harm and hurt each other. However, does the play also create a mythology of Matthew Shepard and the circumstances of his murder?
On October 8, 1998, Russell Henderson
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and Aaron McKinney are arrested for aggravated robbery, kidnapping, and attempted first-degree murder. After Matthew Shepard dies, first-degree murder charges are added. The murder makes the small town of Laramie low-spirited but famous. The national media immediately dubs the beating and murder of the twenty-one-year-old gay student a hate crime.(1) The news stories are mostly one sided—one angle, one reason for the occurrence of this murder—Homosexuality. Yet both Henderson and McKinney claim their crime was not about hate but merely a robbery gone badly. This draws the attention of the national media and Moses Kaufman’s Tectonic Theater Project group, who, less than a month after the murder, begin compiling over sixty responses from Laramie, Wyoming’s citizens. The New York theater group then edits the interviews and produces the play entitled The Laramie Project. Act I, of the play, introduces a strong “live and let live” attitude among the interviewees.
Investigating officer Sargeant Hing stated: “How could this happen? I think a lot of people just don’t understand, and even I don’t really understand, how someone can do something like that. We have one of the most vocal populations of gay people in the state. . . .And it’s pretty much: Live and let live.”(2) The reader quickly learns that Laramie is a western railroad and ranching town that is home to the University of Wyoming, which has helped to develop its complex persona. Sergeant Hing adds, "It's a good place to live. Good people, lots of space." How then can such a brutal murder occur?” (2) Was Laramie fated to be remembered for an ugly crime, like Columbine, Sandy Hook, or Waco? The New York actors, while gathering information about the murder for their play, quickly learn that most of the residents wish to free themselves from the blemish of bigotry. Citizen Marge Murray comments,
As far as the gay issue, I don't give a damn one way or the other as long as they don't bother me. And even if they did, I'd just say no thank you. And that's the attitude of most of the Laramie population. They might poke one, If they were in a bar situation, you know, they had been drinking, they might actually smack one on the mouth, but then they'd just walk away. Most of `em, they would just say, 'I don't swing that way,' and whistle on about their business. Laramie is live and let
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live. The Tectonic Theatre Project members also seek out gay citizens for their input. Like any other state in the Union, Laramie has gay residents. When we are introduced to Doc O'Connor, a limousine driver, we discover that he had to drive Matthew to Colorado to find a gay bar. But as a typical American university town of the twentieth century, Laramie has a "somewhat" open gay society. Citizens Catherine Connolly, Jonas Slonaker, and Romaine Patterson all relate their own stories about being gay in Wyoming and O'Connor delights in his knowledge of Wyoming queers. “Don’t fuck with a Wyoming queer, cause they will kick you in your fucking ass…” this statement definitely shows that some folks in Wyoming may actually be uncomfortable around homosexuals (p. 19). Early in the interview process, Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project group discover that Matthew Shepard was a well-educated, “optimistic and accepting young man.” He always put his family first, relates well to people, and is openly gay.
Based on this bias these facts the national media paints Shepard’s murder as a hate crime. He was a native of Casper, Wyoming, with a happy childhood. Ironically, He had a great passion for equality and always stood up for the acceptance of people’s differences.(3) The group received most of his personal information from Shepard’s friends and Judy Shepard, who later wrote the book The Meaning of Matthew: My Son’s Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed. In the book she writes, “As a young person, I feel it necessary to show this great nation that we live in that there doesn't need to be this kind of violence and hatred in our world. And that loving one another doesn't mean that we have to compromise our beliefs; it simply means that we choose to be compassionate and respectful of others.” To fuel the gay debate, Doug Laws of the Mormon Church, Stephen Mead Johnson of the Unitarian Church, Roman Catholic Father Roger Smith, and an unnamed Baptist minister are interviewed. Moises Kaufman uses their statements to present a debate on the clergy's perception of the morality of homosexuality, again, painting Sherpard as a victim of a hate crime. Also in Act I the playwright introduces the
clergy
In The Murder of Helen Jewett, Patricia Cohen uses one of the most trivial murders during the 1800’s to illustrate the sexiest society accommodations to the privileged, hypocritical tunneled views toward sexual behavior, and the exploitation of legal codes, use of tabloid journalism, and politics. Taking the fact that woman was made from taking a rib from man was more than biblical knowledge, but incorporated into the male belief that a woman’s place is determined by the man. Helen had the proper rearing a maid servant, but how did she fall so far from grace. Judge Weston properly takes credit for rearing her with the proper strictness and education. Was Helen seduced at an early age and introduced to sexual perversions that were more persuasive that the bible belt life that the Weston’s tried to live? Was Helen simply a woman who knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted? Through personal correspondence, legal documentation, census reports, paintings, and newspapers we are able to make our own determinations. Cohen provides more than enough background and history to allow any one to make their own opinion how the murder of a woman could be turned into a side show at a circus.
Laramie project is very sensitive and crucial issue which was wisely broad up in the form of a docudrama in front of the community. The story of Matthew Shepard's highlighted many issues like hate crime, gay/lesbian relationship and personal identity which are still considered as tactful for many peoples. This play also described the role of media, police and an individual in the entire process and shows the influence of this incidence on a person's life.
A couple weeks after Mamie Till had discovered her son had been murdered, Mississippi Senator James O. Eastland, in an effort to dampen sympathy for Mamie, revealed to the press that he had been executed for rape. Mamie had been heart broken from all this devastation but it hadn't stopped her to try and show the world what the white men did to her only child.
Shepard was a homosexual man, and his murder was labeled as a hate crime, a murder which, in the late 90's, dominated the airwaves: “Matthew Shepard” was the name at the tip of everyone's tongue, but what made his murder special? JoAnn Wypilewski points out in her essay “A Boy's Life” that, “Gay men are killed horribly everywhere in this country, more than thirty just since Shepard – one of them in Richmond, Virginia, beheaded” (609). When so many men are killed in a similar context why do we specifically care about Matthew Shepard – or why don't we? Searching simply the name “Matthew Shepard” in the Google database yields thousands of results in the form of articles, news periodicals, and videos. The media exposure of the Matthew Shepard case is overwhelming. The overload of information can leave us clueless. As college students of the twenty-teens who are fifteen years removed from the incident how do we care about Matthew Shepard?
Kathryn Allamong Jacob’s “She Couldn’t Have Done It, Even if She Did,” reflects America’s history of inequality and gender stereotypes that greatly affected society’s mindsets, even when it involved murder. Lizzie Borden was an upper-class, gentile, unmarried woman who still lived with her father and stepmother at the age of thirty-two. Being an active member of her community and part of the Women’s Christian Temperance movement, she fell perfectly into her stereotypical role as a beloved daughter who, unable to devote her love to a husband, devoted her time and energy to the betterment of her community. Lizzie, being a wealthy and moral woman, could never brutally murder her father and stepmother, she was incapable of even thinking of it, or was she? Jacob’s story of the murders of Mr. and Mrs. Borden in 1893 describes how gender stereotypes can influence the minds of a nation and how the public and media influence, male dominated court hearing, and refute of evidence all lead to Lizzie’s full pardon.
She confirms her authority on the topic by revealing, very early on, that she has contracted the disease herself. She states, “Though I am female and contracted this disease in marriage, and enjoy the warm support of my family, I am one with the lonely gay man sheltering a flickering candle from the cold wind of his family's rejection.” She purposefully conveys to her conservative audience that she is not gay, is married, a mother and contracted her disease in marriage, not with a random partner. Here she is playing up her personal experience to support her argument. Fisher’s inclusions of these social facts are added to acquire the sympathy of her traditional audience. Likening herself to the hypothetical “lonely gay man” draws sympathy from the assembly for a hypothetical character in her rhetoric. These inclusions of speculative illusions strengthen the rhetorical appeal of her argument. Fisher specifically includes certain information to develop an understanding from a conservative audience that may need
Like Wilkins’s piece this narrative was very easy to follow. But where the two differ is Savory’s piece has more details to make her point and even includes other stories she has read or been told. It could have just as easily been a jumbled mess, but all the details she included lead into one another and kept a constant flow. Take for example these few sentences, “In the past, the Bible has been used to justify slavery, segregation, and even denying women the right to vote. As the daughter of a minister, all of this seems strange to me. Like my father, I would like to think that religion is better suited to promoting love—not hate.” (Savory). The detail of how in the past people have used religion to justify their hate leads right into her talking about being a preacher’s daughter. Another effective point in Savory’s writing is the constant use of symbols. Such as the light vs. dark symbol that is so important it is even the title of the story. In this case the symbol of the light being acceptance and the dark being any form of hate. For example, “The way I saw it, if I turned off the spotlight, no one would be able to see the real me. In the darkness, it was easier to hide.” (Savory). But another constant symbol is that of her linking the way African Americans were treated and how homosexuals were treated. She links her experience of what happened with the civil rights movement and what
The Laramie Project, written by Moisés Kaufman, is a compilation of interviews by The Tectonic Theater Project, news publications, and journal entries. After the brutal murder of Mathew Sheppard in 1998. Kaufman along with his theater troupe made six visits to Laramie, Wyoming, where the murder took place, to interview people about what happened and how they felt about the crime in their community. They interviewed about two hundred people, of which about sixty were included in the play. The play showcases a small town in America in a historical time of tragedy. The production of The Laramie Project was simple. The stage setting was minimal and the the actors consisted of eight people portraying more than sixty. Through the patchwork of interviews The Laramie Project conveys the themes of identity, representation, and change.
However, it was disappointing to see that the government couldn’t do the same. In a similar matter to how Shepard’s death influenced several gay right’s movements, Romaine Patterson was “ gonna be honored in Washington, D.C., from the Anti-Defamation League… Matthew [is guiding] this little path with his light for me to walk down” (Kaufman 96). In The Laramie Project, Matthew Shepard appears to be guiding her to combat anti-gay antics. His death really impacted her life as she commenced activism almost immediately after his death. Although not mentioned in the book, Patterson later founded Angel Action, which worked with the Matthew Shepard Foundation to fight for gay rights. After ten years, Beth Loffreda states, “My gut reaction is that Laramie is a somewhat better place to be than it was ten years ago, but I don’t know how to tell the story of the past ten years without having to think about, both what we’ve done, but also what we haven’t done” (Kaufman 114). Shepard’s death has changed Laramie and its community’s perspective about hate crimes as well as reconsider what actions they should have partaken
‘The Laramie Project’ is a play written by Moises Kaufman about the murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepard. It was interesting to see the outrage that this caused. The murder of Shepard was considered a hate crime and I agree with this. I can see the hostility that this murder caused because of the amount of questions it left. The scary thing is that we live in a culture where hate crimes exist. This murder was a reminder to the country that being “different” is something that people do not accept. This put “hate” crimes on the map and made people realize how serious hatred was. Being yourself can cause you to become murdered because someone else doesn’t agree with who you are. Hate crimes are a serious problem and Shepard was killed because he was homosexual. His murderers hated gays and that is the only reason a college student was murdered. A few observations I have that came out of this play was prejudice and the culture of hate.
“Angels in America” is a highly dramatic piece that deals with the AIDS crisis in New York, and the lives that are impacted directly and indirectly by the disease. In this time period in which the play takes place homosexuals are struggling to obtain their rights. Reagan's reforms and policies gave homosexuals the power, and the courage to be open about their sexuality. Throughout this play coming out, and being openly gay is a evolution that Kushner bases his play on.
Just how class and gender played a big part in the Bible, that’s the way things tend to work now in modern day. In some cases, people have been punished and even killed for being the wrong gender and/ or race. The next few cases are going to be about the role that discrimination played in the punishment/ killings that people have faced in the modern day. One case is about a man who walked into a church and shot and killed nine innocent black Christians. This shooting was done in Charleston South Carolina. The shooter was a white Male by the name of Dylann Roof. He not only killed people that were Christians, but he killed people who were African American. The news made it seem that he specifically went after African American Christians.
Hate crimes at the time were only defined by a victim’s race, religion, gender, color, ethnicity, and national origin. The HCPA closed the gap and included hate crimes that occur due to a persons perceived gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability Matthew Shepard Hate
The problem “at hand” in Grant’s essay was his genetic inclination towards mental illness and the trauma he faced when exiting his religion from revealing his sexual preference. The relevance of his story, struggles, and pain bring forth added clarity to his problem of mental illness and religious trauma. His detail in the amount of pain and ridicule he received after communicating his sexual orientation to his family members are the most relevant to his problem. Through these relevant descriptions he is able to communicate the horrific extent of the religious trauma placed on his mental state during this time. According to Michael W. Austin, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University, “relevance means that the information and ideas discussed must be logically relevant to the issue being discussed.” (Austin). When analyzing Woolridge Grant’s writing through the lens of Michael Austin’s definition of relevance, it is easy to asset that Grant has effectively demonstrated the standard of relevance in his writing by including a detailed and provocative personal
A large portion of Americans will hear the phrase “the gay cowboy story” and automatically associate it with “Brokeback Mountain.” Even my lesbian parents praise the original story and its popular film adaptation for being controversial for their time. Indeed, during the time of the creation of both the story and the film, there was very little representation of queerness in any form, thus making “Brokeback” especially controversial. However, since my parent’s generation, LGBTQ+ representation in media and literature has made numerous advancements. In the time of my parents (roughly the past fifty years), having any non-straight characters (“non-straight” at this time defined as mostly white cisgender