When we get up
Welcome to the weekend frenzy. Each week, we’ll bring you a compelling title designed to keep you from going too crazy. Check back throughout the weekend for even more gloriously queer entertainment.
The crash course: when we get up
As Pride Month gives way to July 4th and Americans step out to celebrate their nation’s history – warts and all – we believe the time has come to light fireworks in the honor of patriotic and LGBTQ pioneers.
When we get up traces the gay rights movement in San Francisco from the days of Harvey Milk to the days of marriage equality. When it debuted on ABC in 2017, the series had something raw about it: Critics questioned some weird casting choices and attacked the series for focusing too monotonically on the advances coming from of San Francisco. It’s a shame: although defective, When we get up at least reached the highs (and lows) of the history of equality.
The show follows the lives of activists Cleve Jones, Ken Jones and Roma Guy, beginning with the early days of gay liberation under Harvey Milk. Jones sort of becomes Milk’s right hand man while Guy becomes a community organizer around disenfranchised women. Meanwhile, Ken Jones returns to San Francisco as a decorated Vietnam veteran where he became director of the city’s pride committee. As the series progresses, Cleve, Ken, and Roma struggle to cope with homophobia, the murder of Milk, the AIDS crisis, and ultimately the fight for marriage equality. Their own maturation and evolution becomes a metaphor for that of the community, whose influence extends beyond the conclaves of gay neighborhoods in major cities to reach the corridors of power in Washington DC.
When We Rise doesn’t tell the whole story of LGBTQ culture in America, but then, it doesn’t try to (FX’s recent Pride series does a much better job with that). The series focuses on San Francisco as a starting point for advancing legal rights, and given the city’s history with Harvey Milk, AIDS, marriage equality and more, it’s fitting. Mary-Louise Parker, Guy Pearce, and Michael K. Williams could star as Cleve, Roma, and Ken, though actors playing the youngest of the three lead roles – Austin P. McKenzie, Emily Skeggs, and Jonathan Majors – give the best of the series. performances. We suspect that the involvement of Williams, Pearce, and Parker likely resulted in ABC funding the series. Business pragmatism aside, we wish the show had just aged McKenzie, Skegges, and Majors and let them continue their roles in every episode. They just seem to embody their characters a lot more.
At its best, When We Rise captures the ups and downs of the LGBTQ community after Stonewall, condensing a rich history into a sort of version of Cliff’s Notes. It’s a good introduction to understanding the history of queer rights in the United States and a reminder that despite the best efforts of the religious right and the Republican Party, this land is also our land.
Feeds on Amazon.
