Erasure in 'Stonewall' further demonstrates Hollywood's failures of representation

This Friday, the controversial film "Stonewall," directed by Roland Emmerich, will be released. It has already garnered appalling reviews. To give you a good idea of its reception thus far, Vanity Fair titled its review of the film, “Stonewall Is Terribly Offensive, and Offensively Terrible,” and other critics are similarly addressing Emmerich's exclusive celebration of the mainstream, white gay rights movement by falsely pushing people of color, trans people and drag queens to the sidelines and centering the narrative on a white, cis male. Buzzfeed quipped that the powerful true story behind the riots was reduced to “a coming of age story” and committed a huge offense when it positions the fabricated main character, Danny, as the first brick-thrower in the riots when many believe it to be Marsha P. Johnson, a black trans leader.

The controversy around the film draws attention to a plethora of social issues. One of the first glaring disappointments is that the first big-budget film focusing on LGBT rights to be released following the Supreme Court’s decision on marriage equality fell so short. What could have been a groundbreaking cultural development capturing  a critical movement in American history failed to come together as more than a one-dimensional, historically inaccurate attempt. Based on the reviews and the trailer, it seems as though the film is entirely detached from the current social climate of the United States, where racial, gender and sexual marginalization constitute major subjects of national conversation and activism. This is a glaring problem that exemplifies Hollywood's continuing erasure of whole experiences and identities and its whitewashing of history in order to appeal to mainstream audiences for greater profits.

Hollywood has a near monopoly on storytelling and cultural curation, and "Stonewall" constitutes an abuse of that formidable power. The lens or perspective used to represent narratives can be incredibly damaging if it distorts the truth, especially if that lens observes and produces from a position of massive influence. By choosing to tell the story of “where pride began” through the journey of a fictional cis-white gay male, Emmerich is blurring real and important histories of LGBTQ rights movements.

The one positive attribute of "Stonewall" is the way it serves as fodder for overwhelmingly negative -- but widely read -- criticism. There is no telling for sure how much success it will see at the box office, but its hefty and far-reaching promotional campaign has yielded responses of equal magnitude. If we as an audience continue to share and listen to conversations that put pressure on storytellers to check their perspectives, we will have artistic and cultural creations that more accurately convey our social worlds.