Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Cultural depictions of Matthew Shepard

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was no consensus as to whether to keep or merge. With no one else arguing for deletion, this conversation does not need to be atAfD and can be handled editorially Star Mississippi 02:54, 1 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Cultural depictions of Matthew Shepard[edit]

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Yet another textbook example of "X in popular culture" being used to mean "literally any work of fiction that name-dropped this". Wikipedia is not TV Tropes. Examples like "a gay man is brutally murdered in a way that mirrors Matthew Shepard's death" and "Shepard's manner of death is mentioned in United States of Tara, when Marshall is cautioned about his relationship with another character" are entirely subjective Most of the examples are not cited and do not stand on their own. The few that do are already sufficiently mentioned in their own articles and/or that of Matthew Shepard. Ten Pound Hammer • ^{(What did I screw up now?)} 16:46, 23 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Film, Music, Television, Popular culture, and Lists. Ten Pound Hammer • ^{(What did I screw up now?)} 16:46, 23 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
See also Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2022_April_23#Category:Songs_in_memory_of_Matthew_Shepard
Keep, this list contains mostly substantial and justifiable entries, and is long enough to remain spun out from the main article Matthew Shepard. – Fayenatic London 20:26, 23 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
How are they "substantial" though? 99% of them are unsourced. And I just pointed out a few that have nothing to do with Matthew Shepard whatsoever and are just people claiming that it's "similar" to his situation. Ten Pound Hammer • ^{(What did I screw up now?)} 20:28, 23 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I think that this can be dealt with mostly by cleaning the article and removing anything that cannot be sourced. This should be limited to only those works that were about Shepard or where he was clearly indicated to have been an inspiration. For example, if we can find a RS where Tori Amos states that the song "Merman" is about or heavily inspired by Shepard - or that she changed it to honor him akin to "Candle in the Wind", it should be included. If it's just that she dedicated it to him, then that's not something to include since there were likely many singers who dedicated performances to Shepard, as they rightfully should. We can also help find sourcing - I started with the book section since some only have a single source and I'm finding that there's many that do appear to be quite notable. ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 19:27, 24 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Merge to article on Shepard himself, and probably limit to what is actually sourced. I see no good reason to split this off as a seperate article from the article on Shepard.John Pack Lambert (talk) 13:28, 25 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Keep, though cleanup is needed. Tenpoundhammer already removed some of the more major issues mentioned. There are enough rigorously verifiable cultural depictions in the article now to justify a keep, and more still to be summarized. I would support a heavy trim of the TV and Music sections, which appear largely unsourced and unexplained. But, part of Shepard's notability is his ongoing inspiration of a vast amount of art. More than twenty years later, this legacy is receiving ongoing coverage in reliable sources.
This article is a list by another name, and the list's grouping is covered extensively by reliable sources.
- Casper Star Tribune (pt. 2) lists numerous works of art, summarized with "Artists have used theater, paintings, scultpure, film, books, poetry, music and even teddy bears to examine Shepard's story."
- Duluth News Tribune: "so much art"; goes on to list some
- Wyoming Public Media: "Shepard's death compelled a lot of artists to respond in unique ways over the past twenty years. There are countless paintings, musical interpretations, poems, and theatre." It goes on to list many, including a passing mention of the Six Feet Under episode TPH removed (not enough to truly verify, though)
- WBUR lists a few, saying Shepard "inspired an outpouring of responses from artists over the past 19 years"
- Global News: "His story also spawned several plays and films — including the acclaimed The Laramie Project and the made-in-Toronto TV movie The Matthew Shepard Story — and inspired songs by artists like Elton John and Melissa Etheridge." The piece goes on to discuss the documentary Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine.
Much of the unverified content I spot-checked is verifiable, and I wasn't looking at the works that seem obviously connected, with Shepard's name or Laramie in the title. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 02:17, 30 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Keep or merge (do not delete), at least some of the content is worthwhile keeping, which parts exactly is up to editorial discussion. Marcocapelle (talk) 16:11, 30 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.