Abstract
Facing Fear follows the stories of two men and their search for reconciliation, forgiveness, collaboration, and ultimately, friendship in the aftermath of intolerance. Matthew Boger was 13 years old when he was kicked out of his home for being gay. One night on the street, he was nearly beaten to death by a gang of neo-Nazi skinheads in a brutal anti-gay hate crime. Twenty-five years later, Boger is a manager at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, California. Tim Zaal is a reformed white supremacist turned advocate for social acceptance who is a speaker at the Museum of Tolerance. While introducing themselves, these men realize they have met once before. Zaal was one of the men who almost killed Boger 25 years earlier.
The film begins with Boger and Zaal describing their childhoods. Zaal was a loner who never “fit in.” Boger was bullied in elementary school. Zaal’s brother was shot by a black man. Boger was abused and thrown out of his home after coming out to his mother. Zaal joined a gang of “Nazi punks” who spent their evenings starting fights. Boger resorted to hustling on the street to survive. One night, these men meet on the streets of Los Angeles when Zaal’s gang brutally assaults Boger because they wanted to “kill [a] faggot.”
The second half of the film explores the lives of these men 25 years after this incident. Initially uncomfortable around one another, Boger and Zaal are asked by the Museum of Tolerance to facilitate programming on confronting hate in America by telling their stories as a victim and perpetrator of violence. Although both were resistant to this idea, they agree. Both Boger and Zaal describe this difficult process as encouraging forgiveness and necessary for healing. Through their work together, these men are able to reconcile and become close friends.
Facing Fear promises to delve deep into the ideologies that shape these men’s experiences (Cohen 2014), but these biographical details are only as far as the film goes to explain how this violent hate crime happened. Zaal becomes a skinhead because he finds his way into the punk scene and gravitates toward neo-Nazism. There’s no further explanation as to how right-wing ideologies flourish and why they are so enticing to young white men. Additionally, Zaal explains, “[w]e have to look at both the perpetrator and the victim [of hate crimes] as . . . being able to change. . . . If I can change, anybody can change.” Unfortunately, Zaal does not explain how he was able to change in the film beyond the recognition that his hate no longer “felt good” or made him feel powerful.
As the film lacks a sociological imagination, an instructor might challenge students to extrapolate from the idiosyncrasies of this anti-gay assault committed by a white supremacist and connect it to larger social issues. Some questions one might ask are: How do whiteness and masculinity contribute to anti-gay violence? How does a homophobic white supremacist become an advocate for social tolerance? How can we reach the most bigoted and productively challenge their worldviews?
Facing Fear is a compelling human interest story about overcoming intolerance, but the film requires supplemental information for it to facilitate sociological learning. The film is best suited for undergraduate courses that can unpack the violence on which the film focuses. A criminology, deviance, or social problems course could use this film to provide a personal account of a hate crime from the perspective of both victim and perpetrator. In this context, I would recommend pairing this film with Levin and McDevitt’s (2002) Hate Crimes (Revisited), especially the second and third chapters, which explore how hateful ideologies are internalized and spread through popular culture. A gender or men and masculinities course might emphasize the consequences of narrow constructions of white heterosexual masculinity, and I’d suggest assigning Madfis’s (2014) “Triple Entitlement and Homicidal Anger,” which uses black feminist theory to explain how white entitlement, heterosexual masculinity, and middle-class privilege and instability predispose straight white men toward violence. Additionally, while this book primarily focuses on white men in the Trump era, the first chapter of Angry White Men (Kimmel 2013) analyzes the manufacturing of white men’s entitlement and rage and underscores Zaal’s own behaviors.
Facing Fear is a unique story exploring hate and forgiveness from the perspectives of both the victim and the perpetrator of a hate crime. This film successfully illustrates that even the most virulently homophobic and racist members of society can be reached and change, which is an important message in our current political climate. However, for sociological student learning, instructors will need to connect Boger’s and Zaal’s individual experiences to social concepts like white supremacy, heterosexism, and hegemonic masculinity.