Out Of The Past: Documentary Analysis

Throughout the past month, as a class we have several interesting discussions on different social justice topics. The topic of oppression in reference to Frye’s article, “Oppression” is a discussion that sparked the most interest to me. I have learned that the word “oppression” is a strong word that is often misused to the extent that it creates any situation of limitation or suffering no matter the cause or consequence is. When it is said that “men are also oppressed” it makes the word completely worthless. Men can definitely suffer as different groups such as their race, sexuality, or ethnicity, but not their gender. We also discussed the origin of the word “oppression” to help us further understand the concept. “Press” is the origin of the
It provides an overview of the issues that has arisen in organizing the gay rights movement in a homophobic society. It shows that the gay straight alliance club was founded first by a high school girl in Utah, Kelly Peterson. She started this alliance to end the suffering and misery that gay and lesbian individuals faced in high school. This resulted in a huge controversy in which the school board members and state legislators were heavily involved. Peterson along with others constantly protested against the school board’s attempts to shut down the gay straight alliance club. This documentary also showed a strong connection between the gay rights movement and the black civil rights movement. The man who helped organized the march in Washington D.C. for Martin Luther King’s infamous speech was actually a gay person named Rustin. He had great talent in organizing the march and was quite impressive, yet it was unknown to most people. Essentially, this film restores the facades that were left out of our school textbooks. It helps us realize that history is often edited purposely, so that we are not informed of what has actually occurred in the