Bridegroom doing the CAPP analysis.

This documentary was released pre-gay marriage legalization. It is a bit outdated, but still relevant to issue in today’s society. The story talks about a long term gay relationship between two men, Shane and Tom. They traveled the world, lived together, and Tom even proposed to Shane (even marriage wasn’t legal). As committed partners, they shared a dog, an apartment, and many things inside the apartment. Immediately after Tom dies suddenly, Shane is left in the dark. Because of it being a legal issue, the hospital was not allowed to let Shane in to say goodbye to Tom’s body. They only allowed family or a spouse. Besides that Tom’s parents don’t give permission to see Tom one last time, Shane was also not allowed to come to Tom’s funeral. Shane was left heartbroken without ever saying goodbye to the love of his life and partner. This documentary speaks about the importance of Marriage equality for all, and calls for change of laws.

Bridegroom was most likely inspired through Shane’s tragic loss. When he lost his partner he also had to lose all the rights to Tom’s life. Tom’s memory was rewritten to everyone by his parents. They spoke of Tom saying he was a military straight man. This kept his life with Shane under wraps.

This documentary was made to inform those that do not believe gay marriage should be legal, but also to inform the voting public. People often say that they don't understand why Gay people feel the need to get married. “It’s just a paper, and a different title in your relationship”. This documentary throws away the misconceptions, and reminds the audience the importance of marriage. This goes not only romantically, but marriage is important for legal rights of your spouse after death. This documentary was made to change the laws. Shane selflessly wanted to change the laws in order to prevent this from happening to anyone else.

This documentary is made to get people to side with the LGBTQ community for legalization of Love. Because this is directly related to the government, this is a call to action for people to do something about the LGBTQ community gaining rights. This story is painful and saddening to watch and calls for everyone to take a stand. They pull heartstrings by presenting the couples relationship showing the audience how innocent and pure their love was. This makes the audience more emotionally connected with the story, and the emotions leading people to do more. 

This story is told by Shane himself. Shane was telling his story, while his mother, along with his two grandmothers answered interview questions. There are many friends of both Shane and Tom that are also included in the interviews. Everyone is interviewed to testify the truth of Tom’s life and personality. Friends from his childhood told their story giving details about Tom’s family, and personality. Because there are many points of views, and witnesses to Tom’s family’s actions, and character, Bridegroom is then more credible.

Even though this documentary is made to reach many audiences that can vote, it may fail to do so. Bridegroom streams on Netflix, and not everyone has Netflix. Besides that, this documentary is most likely never to be recommended for or watched by the audience that needs to have a call to action. People who vote liberally are more likely to watch this documentary, and already agree with it, and vote in favor of marriage equality. 

This documentary is definitely heartfelt, and deserve 4.5 cheesy chips. .5 are knocked off because of the minor faults in structure. The point of the documentary is often forgotten, and the story gets side tracked. Overall Bridegroom is a very good film that gets the viewers passionate about the issues at hand.