Layeramee Prahgekkt

Watching the Laramie Project gave me incredibly mixed emotions about the inspiration of the film itself. Throughout the entire film, I felt great sympathy for Matthew Sheppard, his family and friends, and the entire Laramie community, and I wish there was some way such a catastrophe could have been avoided. However, the movie itself seemed to push the support of hate crime legislation that I just do not know enough about to feel comfortable to accept at this point. I was somewhat disappointed in the fact that a movie that could have been incredibly powerful without the ending political message had to add that piece in. The story of Sheppard on its own raises a great deal of important awareness of social injustice within our country. However, the political aspect of the piece with hate crime legislation left me fairly upset.