In plain sight
an exploration of gay rights, lgbtq women, and rural place
METRONORMATIVITY IN MEDIA
DOCUMENTARIES
Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine, released in 2013, tells the story of the life and death of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay man who was brutally beaten in a field outside of Laramie, Wyoming in October of 1998. He died a few days later at the hospital. LGBTQ activists (as well as decent people across the country) responded to Shepard’s death with horror and outrage. The Matthew Shepard Foundation, founded by Matthew’s parents, describes the murder as “one of the most notorious anti-gay hate crimes in American history.” (Incidentally, the crime was never ruled a hate crime in court.) Here, we examine the metronormativity evident in both the documentary as well as the discourses around Shepard’s death more broadly.
The Out List (2013) is a documentary that features interviews with LGBTQ celebrities as they discuss their experiences being LGBTQ. Here, we analyze three of these interviews.