Analyzing 'Out in the Night': A Review on Race, Gender, and Justice

This essay provides a comprehensive review of the documentary 'Out in the Night,' which delves into the themes of race, sexuality, gender, and societal violence through the experiences of seven young lesbian women, known as the 'New Jersey Four.' The film explores their struggle for justice after defending themselves against a violent assault, highlighting issues of gender empowerment, racial bias, and the failures of the judicial system. The review emphasizes how the documentary connects to real-life instances of harassment against women, racial discrimination against Black individuals, and injustice towards the LGBTQ community, ultimately advocating for the film's use as an educational tool to raise awareness about freedom and rights.

Running head: MOVIE REVIEW-OUT IN THE NIGHT
MOVIE REVIEW-OUT IN THE NIGHT
Name of the student:
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Author Note:

1MOVIE REVIEW-OUT IN THE NIGHT
Introduction
The paper describes the review of 75 minutes documentary movie ‘Out in the Night’.
This movie raises the questions of race, sexuality, gender and violence of the society to its
audience. The film is about seven young lesbian women came to be declared as ‘New Jersey
Four’ on defending themselves against an assault on the streets of New York City’s West
Village.
Discussion
The plot revolves around these lesbian friends who one day gets knock down by a
man on being threatened to rape and getting physically harassed due to the fact that they are
homosexuals. However, the women defending themselves during the fight portrays the issue
of empowerment of gender in the society. The story revolves around how four of the women
pack in the end stand against the gang assault in the courtroom. The film challenges it’s
viewers to feel the experiences of the rebel women who were fighting for their existence and
rights in a society snatching their freedom of expression. The film shows how these seven
young homosexual women live their lives in a middle-class society and struggle to claim
justice in the court for the harassment. The punishment suffered by four of the girls through
serving in prison made us feel how society see homosexuality. The gender issue has
destroyed the meaning of ethical justice, the girls even through being victims served as
prisoners. Moreover, we learnt how the issue of racism is shown that how black women are
treated in a society claiming fairness and equality of freedom irrespective of class and race.
The fact of self-defense on the part of women is hugely highlighted as a major component for
standing up against the harassment and not considering the gender of women as weak. The
corrupted media and judicial system is also reflected in the documentary through the lens of
injustice to the LGBTQ community and women gender in a men dominated society.

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Conclusion
In conclusion, the documentary connects to the real life through the harassment of
women, racial biasness of black people especially the women gender and the injustice
towards LGBTQ community. It is highly recommended to show this movie as a part of
educational awareness in terms of freedom and rights as a citizen.

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Bibliography
Majd, K., Marksamer, J., & Reyes, C. (2016). Hidden injustice: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender youth in juvenile courts.
Varghese, F. P., Israel, T., Seymour, G., Becker Herbst, R., Suarez, L. G., & Hargons, C.
(2019). Injustice in the Justice System: Reforming Inequities for True “Justice for
All”. The Counseling Psychologist, 47(5), 682-740.