On April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme court unanimously upheld the ruling holding that there was no governmental interest in denying citizens marriage licenses based on their sexual orientation. Immediately following this decision, Ed Reggi and Scott Emanuel chartered a bus taking seventeen same sex couples from St. Louis, Missouri to Iowa City, Iowa to be legally married before resident status could be put in place.
These words open this short film as we join the couples on their bus journey and into their wedding ceremony and remind the words remind the viewer that this is a very recent shift. This is important because as gay marriage and equality becomes less of an issue in the mind of liberals (myself included), it should be allowed to get to the point where we forget the obstacles and the victories. This short film acts as a reminder of that as we jump back to the legislation of same-sex marriage and see those who rushed to get the most of it. So, on an overview, this is an important film.
Nobody can say then, why it chose to be delivered over a ditzy music that makes it feel flimsy or fleeting – like it is a commercial that is in a rush to get in and out. In a way the delivery, as weak as it is, matches the content because really there is not too much to be had here beyond just warming images of humans getting on with life and being allowed to do so free of restrictions based sexual preference. We get talking heads saying obvious things and, although I know that culturally the subject matters and personally it is massive to the individuals, as a film it really doesn't convey this and indeed undermines itself. It is worth seeing as a nice little snapshot of time and place, but while it fails to do more, it also limits and undermines itself too.
These words open this short film as we join the couples on their bus journey and into their wedding ceremony and remind the words remind the viewer that this is a very recent shift. This is important because as gay marriage and equality becomes less of an issue in the mind of liberals (myself included), it should be allowed to get to the point where we forget the obstacles and the victories. This short film acts as a reminder of that as we jump back to the legislation of same-sex marriage and see those who rushed to get the most of it. So, on an overview, this is an important film.
Nobody can say then, why it chose to be delivered over a ditzy music that makes it feel flimsy or fleeting – like it is a commercial that is in a rush to get in and out. In a way the delivery, as weak as it is, matches the content because really there is not too much to be had here beyond just warming images of humans getting on with life and being allowed to do so free of restrictions based sexual preference. We get talking heads saying obvious things and, although I know that culturally the subject matters and personally it is massive to the individuals, as a film it really doesn't convey this and indeed undermines itself. It is worth seeing as a nice little snapshot of time and place, but while it fails to do more, it also limits and undermines itself too.
