The Death Of Matthew Shepard

# The Laramie Project 3/10

* 2:10-3:42 What they did to him
o On October 7th, 1998, shortly after midnight, Matthew Shepard was offered a ride home, then robbed, tied to a fence, pistol whipped, tortured, and left to die in a remote area in Laramie Wyoming.
o They pistol whipped him with a .357 Magnum gun which officers later found bloody in the back of MiKinney's truck
o They also stole his shoes and wallet (also later found in MiKinney's truck)
o The two assailants tied Matthew to the post with rope that they found in the back of MKinney's truck
* 4:19-5:36 When they found Matthew (cut out part about the kid yelling at him to get up)
o 18 hours later he was rescued by officer Reggie Fluty who saw that his shoes were missing, and that Matthew was covered in blood everywhere except for where he'd apparently been crying. She proceeded to carefullly cut him loose and keep him breathing until they could get him to a hospital.
* 5:47-5:54 "begging for his life."
* 8:55-9:28 Matthew first admitted to the hospital
o When admitted into the hospital, he was placed in the intensive car unit with fractures to the back of his head and in front of his right ear.
o He had severe brain stem damage, affecting his body's ability to regulate heart rate, body temperature, and other vital functions.
o There were dozens of small lacerations around his head, face, and neck.
o The doctors deemed his injuries to severe to operate.

# Framing - The way these clips are filmed really sets the scene for how this information was retrieved. They're very factual, and appear to be the complete and whole truth as the audeince feels as though they are sitting there with the interviewee and they are the ones conducting the interview. In reality, all of these scenes and information is correct. They may have left out a few minor facts about all of Matthew's injuries, but they didn't fabricate anything, and they included all the major events with perfect accuracy.
# Cultivation - This part of the movie is presented in a way that makes the audience feel like all of this is happening all in the moment. This gives them a closer tie to their emotions which in turn creates them to feel more sympathetic towards Mathew and less likely to believe any of the data that comes out later in the show questioning whether or not it was a hate crime at all. This movie gives a very clear opinion that this was a hate crime and therefor cultivates the minds of the audience to feel as though gay rights and hate crime legislation needs to be passed as well as the two assailants receiving the death penalty.
# Gatekeeping - The movie does a really job of giving the audience all the facts when concerning the death of Matthew Shepard. They didn't leave out any vital information, and do a good job of covering it in a way that appears to be highly objective.
# Overall, this aspect of the movie was covered very factually.

-Jessica Black