The Laramie Project" tells the story of a group of young people creating a play about the events that occurred in the town of Laramie, Wyoming. The group conducted interviews about the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who accused two heterosexual teenagers at a bar. The teenagers then kidnapped Matthew, tied him to a pole, and then brutally beat him into a coma. then to death. This movie filled me with both disappointment and hope in the actions of human beings. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned.” ?Get an original essayOne of the main things that really made me sad was the fact that no one interviewed in the film wanted to talk about the shooting that happened in town. It wasn't because they were. overwhelmed by grief, but because they did not want to be disturbed. I thought it was a little weird. Here was an opportunity to represent yourself and your city, and yet people were more bothered by all the attention than by the murder itself; their priorities were really unclear. It's not that they didn't want to discuss it. The main problem was that these people didn't want to blame their small town of Laramie and the fact that there was indeed a homophobic mentality. This cold treatment is ubiquitous, even in today's society. People don't want to talk about current issues, such as the issues gay people face and police brutality, saying the time and place "just isn't appropriate." When will the time be right? Being in the spotlight to discuss these issues is a good way to make them known to the public, to give them the attention they deserve. If everyone had this mentality of rejecting any discussion, then nothing would be done in this country. Another important theme that stood out to me throughout the film was the extreme shame of the victims. I couldn't believe people actually said it was Matthew Shepard's fault, that he "asked for it!" This is absolutely unacceptable, especially by today's standards. For example, many people in the film talked about how Matthew hit on two heterosexual boys or that he "came out as gay." Worse yet, one of the citizens said something along the lines of Matthew not being a saint because he was HIV positive; that's like saying someone is a bad person because they got lung cancer from smoking! The fact that these words came out of the mouths of so many Laramie residents shows that they truly had no sympathy for his brutal murder. Victim blaming doesn't just happen in hate crimes. This is also seen in modern times in debates about what women should wear and do with their bodies. For example, in the recent case of Stanford rapist Brock Turner, who raped an unconscious woman, people still excused his actions by saying things like "she shouldn't have been drunk." Or, better yet, maybe Brock Turner shouldn't have raped her! Maybe Henderson and McKinney shouldn't have tortured Matthew Shepard just for hitting on them! The ignorance of some people really puzzles me sometimes. However, not every scene in “The Laramie Project” was negative. there were a few scenes that filled me with hope. For example, during the municipal parade scene with the section for Matthieu, I was happy to see that the section had gathered more and more supporters! To me it showed that there were still good people in this town.