15-5-2014

Harvey Milk
Gramscis Hegemony
Miriam Montoya Gmez
3 GEI. ESTUDIOS CULTURALES II


1
HARVEY MILK
Harvey Milk is the film I chose to analyse from Gramscis notion of hegemony. Generally
speaking, it is about a man who, even though was not interested in politics at first, became the
first openly gay person to be elected to public office in San Francisco, California.
Regarding its context, it reproduces the period in the 1960s when homophobia was present
throughout the USA. In San Francisco, gays were forced to live hidden in Eureka Valley, where
there was no prosperity for them. It had been an Irish Catholic neighbourhood, but in Harveys
time it became Castro District, known as the first gayborhood.
To talk about hegemony in this film, first I need to introduce the concepts of base and
superstructure. The base would be the working class, which is subordinated to politicians and
rulers ideology. The working class here is seen as every person who works and who has the
right to vote. The superstructure involves things like the law, politics or religion which help to
organize society at the level of ideas and influence consciousness.
When hegemony takes place in society, the superstructure establishes the moral and
intellectual leadership to be followed by the base. In this case, senior positions in the church
and some other public figures such as the singer Anita Bryant make society think that gays are
ill, bad and perverted, and that they need to be cured or isolated. This creates an idea of false
consciousness, since people are not able to think further than they are shown.
However, this hegemonic situation changes with the arrival of Harvey Milk to Castro. He
realizes gays cannot be always running away, but they should face society and reclaim their
rights. In order to do so, Harvey gets into politics and decides to set the change bit by bit.
We need one of our own in office.
In Gramscis terms, he started a passive revolution or a war of position. He then became an
organic intellectual who tried to achieve his goals through negotiation and allegiances. He, as
organic intellectuals ought to do, was in active participation in practical life and a permanent
persuader. First, he reunited the gay community; encouraging them to feel free and not
ashamed of themselves. However, he did not seek power, but equality for everybody.
I'm not the candidate. I'm part of a movement. The movement is the candidate - there is a
difference. You don't see it. I do.
Thus, they started to get worried about issues happening in the neighbourhood so as to get
the vote of the elderly.
Let's make no mistake about this: The American Dream starts with the neighbourhoods. If
we wish to rebuild our cities, we must first rebuild our neighbourhoods. And to do that, we
must understand that the quality of life is more important than the standard of living.


2
They were not successful in elections, which did not stop them, but gave them enough
strength to go further. Harvey even changed his look so that society could see him as an equal
among equals and not as a hippie gay.

Their goal was not only to build a good district, but also to change the ideology imposed by the
superstructure, also known as common sense. Harvey was aware of it and criticized people
behaving like machines.
I don't think state assembly seats should be the reward for service to the Democratic Party
machine. Machines run on oil and grease. They're dirty, they're dehumanizing, and they
tend to be entirely unresponsive to the needs of anybody but those of their operator.
In order to break common sense, they developed counter-hegemonic strategies supported by
the gay movement. They tried to approach to women; to make them feel they were not the
enemy. Harvey even hired a lesbian and men got astonished.



3
Once he achieved a position as a supervisor, another strategy was to convince the other
supervisors to support his ideas by means of allegiances and negotiation, as I mentioned
before. However, he reneged with one of them, Dan White, which set the beginning of
Harveys end. Dan White was the only one member to reject Harveys proposals and he always
felt frightened about what the State determined, whereas Harvey was concerned about civil
societys problems.
If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.

Once Harveys became the dominant power bloc, they did not ignore other groups, but
interacted with them. He offered concessions to buy off and disarm those classes who had no
reason to support a political party. For instance, he set a law which obliged dogs owners to
keep the pavement clean.
Another of his counter-hegemonic strategies was to organize public debates with those who
criticized him and his values. He wanted to make people realize that they were all human
beings and had to have the same rights. He thus gave some inspiring speeches that refuted the
common sense that was established.
The fact is that more people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any
other single reason. That, that my friends, that is true perversion!
Let me have my tax money go for my protection and not for my prosecution. Let my tax
money go for the protection of me. Protect my home, protect my streets, protect my car,
protect my life, protect my property...worry about becoming a human being and not about
how you can prevent others from enjoying their lives because of your own inability to
adjust to life.
Nevertheless, my favourite speech is one of those who he gave outdoors in front of quite a
huge audience:
My name is Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you. I want to recruit you for the fight to
preserve your democracy. Brothers and sisters, you must come out! Come out to your
parents; come out to your friends, if indeed they are your friends. Come out to your
neighbors, come out to your fellow workers. Once and for all, let's break down the myths


4
and destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake, for their sake. For the sake of all the
youngsters who have been scared by the votes from Dade to Eugene. On the Statue of
Liberty it says, 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.' In
the Declaration of Independence, it is written, 'All men are created equal and endowed
with certain inalienable rights.' So for Mr. Briggs and Mrs. Bryant, and all the bigots out
there, no matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words from the Declaration
of Independence! No matter how hard you try, you can never chip those words from the
base of the Statue of Liberty! That is where America is! Love it or leave it!
The gay movement had increased its power and could not be stopped. Streets had become
their site of struggle. They could achieved whatever they wanted!
It's not my victory, it's yours and yours and yours. If a gay can win, it means there is hope
that the system can work for all minorities if we fight. We've given them hope.
When Dan White turned to Harvey being quite intoxicated, Harvey tried to get him to see
reason. However, Dan finally assassinated Harvey and the Mayor, which provoked what is
known as the White Night Riots. Therefore, the legacy continued; the war was won; the base
could change the superstructure, inspired by Harveys words: