Prop 8 - The Musical

Directed and Staged by: Adam Shankman
Conceived and Written by-Marc Shaiman
Stars: Jack Black, John C. Reilly, Craig Robinson, Sarah Chalke

This short satirical musical colloquially discusses the battle about gay marriage between liberals and conservatives; specifically the issue of Proposition 8. In a time when liberals could see their social agenda potentially being fulfilled (the election of President Obama), conservatives fought and continue to fight tooth and nail to block any gay rights laws from passing. This film humorously outlines this battle by depicting liberals as colorful "hippies" and conservatives as tight wads in suits.

While the musical is quite humorous, with such conservative one liners as "Obamanation" instead of "abomination", it in fact does an excellent job of outlining the main components of the conservative argument against gay marriage. One such component is the religious view in which the conservatives cite the Bible as saying gay marriage is "damnable." At this point in the film, Jesus (Jack Black) makes an appearance and stipulates that the Bible in fact says a lot of things that modern society, including the conservatives, ignore such as stoning ones wife if she is adulterous or that it is acceptable to sell ones daughter into slavery.

In much the same way that Drunk History Vol. 5 (previously posted on this blog) accurately portrays history in an incredibly humorous way, "Prop 8 - The Musical" accurately portrays the gay rights battle. While not only being very informative at its roots, it also shows the almost ludicrousness of many of the conservatives arguments. Choosing to ignore much of what the Bible says and acknowledging only the parts that help ones argument is hypocrisy at its finest. This film does an excellent job of making its viewers laugh while at the same time informing them of the situation. Though it may take several views as ones own laughter make stop the message from getting through.