Also on responsibility
After class I had a number of mixed emotions, it was hard for me to stop thinking about the film for days after we watched it. I wanted to walk out of class but was also compelled to find out what would happen in the end. I decided to look up Teena's story online to find out how true to his life Kimberly Pierce had kept the film. I too was shocked to find out there was a third, African-American male victim who was not portrayed in this film and wondered why. I began to question the validity and reliablity of Pierce's story. I thought this film did an excellent job on eliciting emotions from the audience, but questioned how much of the last few weeks of Teena's life was altered to do just that. I think it is the responsibility of the filmmaker to tell the true story and was disappointed that she felt to leave out the third victim. How and why did she make such a choice? I remember in one of the readings Pierce had mentioned that she had found a beautiful farmhouse and wanted to use that one but that others had told her that it was important for them to find a farmhouse that showed what class the people were from as if to say that the viewers will better respond to lower class, uneducated, small town folks who have nothing better to do than to drink. I wondered if the decision to leave out the third victim was because he did not fit in to the story they were trying to tell. Could it be that she left him out because if the murderers and victims socialized with an African-American male, the audience would not see them as the small town, close-minded individuals the filmmaker wanted them to be portrayed as? The action of the two murderer's proved that (the closed-minded, uneducated part) which is why it was unnecessary to leave out the involvement of the victim, Phillip DeVine. If you are going to tell a true story, especially one you are not witness to, respect all who are involved. This is not to say that the film itself was not any less powerful or effective, again, I just believe that when you are telling a true story, especially one of this magnitude of such a socially significant issue and of importance, it is your responsibility to tell the most accurate account and not alter it according to how you feel it should be portrayed to the public.