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Memory and Matthew Shepard

Opposing Expressions of Public Memory in Television Movies

University of Cincinnati

In March 2002, two different movies about the murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard appeared on NBC and HBO. NBC's The Matthew Shepard Story falls into the movie-of-the-week genre and drafts a public memory of gay men that reinforces heteronormativity. HBO's The Laramie Project eschews the television movie genre and provides an alternative public memory that expresses a more progressive vision of gays and lesbians. This article highlights how public memory develops in a series of iterations or drafts that appear first in television and print journalism and then dramatized television treatments. If journalism is the first draft of public memory, then television movies are the second draft, and the public memories television movies express are shaped—and constrained—when they follow generic conventions.

Key Words: Matthew Shepard • public memory • television movies

Journal of Communication Inquiry, Vol. 31, No. 3, 222-238 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0196859907300948


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