What Is The Theme Of The Movie And The Band Played On

1133 Words3 Pages

The Movie “And the Band Played On” The Movie “And the Band Played On” is the framework of the earliest years of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Also known as the Gay disease. The movie examines HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States in the earlier 1980’s and emphasizes on three crucial components. An immunologist with knowledge in eradicating smallpox and containing the Ebola virus, joins the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to attempt and recognize just what this disease is. The film also deals the administration and government side that does not seem to care. The homosexual community in San Francisco is separated on the nature of the disease but also want to know what should be done …show more content…

The book and movie is a detective story, this must read/ must see movie covers all aspects of the disease, from history, to journalism, to politics, to people. Randy Shilts, in his thorough investigative report, highlights the many blunders along the way, blunders that are unbelievable in retrospect. It is not an anti-Republican rant, rather it is a very fair assessment of the collective failure of all entities involved. Because the individuals initially infected were mostly gay or drug users, the public was extremely apathetic. Due to the transmission methods (sodomy, IV drugs, etc.), AIDS was seen as an "embarrassing" disease and was ignored by the media and government officials (federal AND local, Dems AND Reps, Feinstein, Reagan, and many more). Gay activists considered calls for safe sex to be homophobic slurs, scientists were uncooperative and only interested in earning the Nobel Prize, and blood banks were only concerned with the bottom line, refusing to admit that their supplies were contaminated. The "Patient Zero" theory, in which, one extremely promiscuous man knowingly spread the disease to many men in several regions, is touched upon. In addition to the disasters, the director also mentions many heroes, including Rock Hudson (the first celebrity who went public, making the cause more relevant to the general population) and C. Everett Koop (Reagan 's surgeon general who published the first realistic and understandable report on the insidious disease, disregarding common "pc-isms"). Shilts himself was infected with the virus while writing the book, but he did not want to bias the book by getting tested before he was finished. This movie is extremely interesting, well researched, and worth the time

Show More
Related

  • How To Survive A Plague By David France

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    For this assignment, I chose to watch How To Survive A Plague, directed by David France. The documentary focused on the aid crisis in the 1980s. The men were introduced to an illness called HIV positive or AIDS. The majority of people who had aids were the gay people when they had sexual interactions with each other and did not use protection. There were a couple of women who were HIV positive as well, but it was to their understanding that their husband was gay.

    Read More

  • Randy Shilts And The Band Played On

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    And the Band Played On is a nonfiction book that tells the story of the AIDS epidemic in the gay community during the 1970s and 80s . It was written by Randy Shilts a gay journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Shilts spends the book emphasizing the fact that the AIDS crisis was allowed to happen. The apathy and ignorance of many different groups lead to many deaths that could have been avoidable. And the Band Played On is essentially a large work of investigative journalism. Shilts writes in chronological order starting with the death of Dr Ib Bygbjerg a Danish physician working in Zaire.

    Read More

  • The Mission Movie Theme

    407 Words  | 1 Pages

    Identify two themes of the movie and link them to particular parts of the movie

    Read More

  • A Social Worker's Perspective on the Gay and Lesbian Community

    1771 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kayal, Philip. 1993. Bearing Witness. Gay Men's Health Crisis and the Politics of AIDS. Westview Press. San Francisco.

    Read More

  • Film Analysis: The Dallas Buyers Club

    428 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Dallas Buyers Club was a film based on an individual Ron Woodroof who was diagnosed with AIDS outbreak during the 1980s. This was a time in which research of HIV/AIDS treatment was significantly underdeveloped as there was no effective medication for the patients diagnosed with this condition. Also during this time period, a stigma had developed in which only homosexuals/bisexuals could contract the life-threatening disease as this particular group of individuals were not favored by the public “eye.” Today, this stigma still exists even with the advanced amount of research that has been done to thoroughly prove that this particular group were not the only individuals to acquire the disease.

    Read More

  • Tony Kushner's Angels In America

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    Conservativism found connection between the AIDS epidemic and homosexuality, and George Piggford finds, “AIDS theorists in the 1980s and 1990s closely associate the discourses of the syndrome with cultural perceptions of homosexuality; AIDS is seen in many theoretical texts as a horrifying literalization of the disease that homosexuality is already perceived to be” (Piggford 20). By extension, the lesions which identify the contraction of AIDS in Angels in America are not only representational of the illness itself, but point to an undesirable societal implication of effeminacy, socio-economic status, and promiscuity. The public had limited knowledge of the disease and in the panic, the homosexual community was further demonized in the political

    Read More

  • Aids In The Crucible

    419 Words  | 1 Pages

    Just as Arthur Miller, the writer of “The Crucible”, said, “Sex,sin, and the devil were early linked” (Miller,1125). During the AIDS hysteria, homosexual intercourse was thought to be the cause of widespread immune deficiency, so the disease was soon labeled “Gay Men’s Health Crisis” (“History of HIV and AIDS”). As time progressed AIDS, it was discovered, could also be spread through heterosexual couples(“History of HIV and AIDS”). This

    Read More

  • Steve Lott Analysis

    414 Words  | 1 Pages

    The story of Steve Lott is something that millennials who live on the internet might find foreign. In an age in which HIV is no longer a death sentence, often treatable with antiretroviral medications, the disease is thought of as a circumstance more so than a death sentence. This video, a rare and very private glimpse into a life in an era where AIDS was a ticking time bomb in the gay community, starkly points out the reality of this very serious epidemic. It’s startling to consider just how far we’ve come.

    Read More

  • Film Analysis: And The Band Played On

    359 Words  | 1 Pages

    “And the Band Played On” is a movie about the epidemiological discovery of AIDS in 1980’s. In the movie, an epidemiologist named Don Francis and his team travel to Central Africa and discovers a community that has been riddled with death due to an unknown illness later identified as the Ebola Fever. Years later, with the effects of the devastating epidemic that he witnessed in Africa still plaguing him, he became aware of the augmented frequency of death among gay men in areas of Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco from a mysterious illness with symptoms such as pneumocystis, and Kaposi’s sarcoma, and decided to investigate it. Thus, his examination of the outbreak ultimately led to the discovery of AIDS. During his discovery, he is met

    Read More

  • Arthur Ashe Ethical Issues

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    AIDS was referred to as GRID (Gay-related immune deficiency) until the U.S Department of Health and Human Services announced that the probable cause of AIDS is a retrovirus referred to today as the human immunodeficiency virus. The general public and the medical community believed that AIDS was attributed to and the consequence of a homosexual lifestyle and/or the use of intravenous drugs, and this notion persists even though AIDS is no longer referred to as GRID. In the eyes of the general public and community today, AIDS is a disease associated with homosexuality or drug abuse. This presumption bleeds into how those who contract AIDS are perceived by the general public, and in the case of Arthur Ashe, USA Today’s article has the ability to severely tarnish his reputation. People living with AIDS, as a result of the stigmas associated with the disease, are often subject to discrimination by their communities. This can manifest itself through violence, rejection, and prejudice. Arthur Ashe, because of the article published by USA Today, will now be subject to these same forms of discrimination. His role as a public figure will only worsen the situation for him, because he is subject to scrutinization and condemnation from any individual in the world that has access to the news. This discrimination will also beset Ashe’s wife and six-year-old daughter. USA

    Read More

  • The Announcement: Magic Johnson and HIV

    1289 Words  | 3 Pages

    The documentary The Announcement was mostly about the era in which Magic Johnson lived and explained how HIV victims were perceived at the time (2012). America had a "plague" scare about AIDS in the 1980s when all this broke out which really a great deal to make people reflect on their "free-wheeling" sexual ways and social interactions and relationships. Today in 2014, people are still advised to talk openly with potential sexual partners and even get tested before having sex because AIDS is still very much alive and well in the world and in America. The documentary dived into social factors and also the stigma and ignorance that to this day persists whenever HIV issues arise. The documentary attempts to pull apart some of the fear and reality that Americans have about this disease of the immune system (2012). The stigma of AIDS patients and HIV positive people still exists but armed with knowledge America can all move ahead with a positive approach and not go alienating the very ones who Americans may know or love and who need them the most. In the early years of this disease people Americans were dieing because Americans knew so little about this disease, but now Americans know a great deal and people are living fairly normal lives because of certain treatments. A lot of credit should be given to Magic Johnson for this.

    Read More

  • And The Band Played On Epidemic

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    The movie, And the Band Played On, directed by Roger Spotswood demonstrates how the AIDS epidemic spread rapidly across the world. An epidemiologist, Don Francis learns about a very rare epidemic outbreak among gay men known as AIDS. A disease that bought 4,123 cases and was given little importance caused 2,917 deaths. Dr. Francis joins the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to find the cause of the disease and afterward a cure. Working with less money and old equipment Dr. Francis also has to deal with politicians and the gay community. Furthermore, he has to reason with the CDC who thinks the disease is transmitted through blood. Throughout the movie, Dr. Francis faces many controversies and rivalries among CDC, FDA, blood bank, and the government who doesn’t seem to care about this epidemic.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Movie And The Band Played On

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the movie And the Band Played On, stakeholders’ interests stymied public health efforts to research and implement health policy to control the rapidly emerging disease, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The stakeholders within the movie, those whose interest would be impacted by policy change, included the affected populations, scientists, state and federal public health officials, and organizations including blood banks. Early in the epidemic, the Center for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were tentative in disclosing vital information – many homosexual men were becoming infected in the bathhouses (Pillsbury, Sanford, & Spottiswoode, 1993). Despite having the supporting evidence of patient zero and a sexual cluster

    Read More

  • Discrimintation Of Aids Patients

    1553 Words  | 4 Pages

    AIDS, or the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome has been one of the most threatening diseases of the 20th century. Ever since it has been discovered in 1981, it has been constantly infecting men, women, adults, newly born children, homosexuals and heterosexuals. In definition AIDS is an extremely serious disorder that results from severe damage to the body’s defense against disease. Even though AIDS was born in an era of sophisticated medical and surgical developments, it still remains incurable. The ways through which the HIV, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, can be transmitted are: blood transfusion, contaminated needles used in drug addiction, from an infected husband to his wife through sexual intercourse, or from an infected mother to her new born baby during pregnancy. Because it is that much spread and so far incurable, AIDS has aroused a lot hysterical fears and a number of controversies and ethical questions related to the patient’s rights, doctor’s rights and the right of the public at large. While some people think that AIDS patients should be isolated in quarantines, alienated from the rest of the world, others find no reason in this harsh form of separation and discrimination against the infected patients. The patients must also have the right to lead a normal life that must be respected by all the public, and government too. Although AIDS is not more contagious than any other disease, its patients are suffering both social and medical discrimination, and that is not only unethical but could also cause an increase in the spread of the disease. The fact that AIDS is no more contagious than any other disease, makes the reasons behind the people’s fear of AIDS totally illogical. All people are thinking of is that it’s a deadly virus, but there is a lot more to know about AIDS than this. People must be more educated about this virus and how it may be transmitted in order to protect themselves and avoid their constant paranoia about AIDS patients. AIDS, unlike many diseases, is not transmitted by shaking hands, or through coughs, or by swimming in the same pool with an HIV positive. It has also been proven that even the exposure to body fluids such as saliva through deep kissing wouldn’t transmit the virus. This is because the HIV is found to be very weak in open air; it can easily be killed by ordinary household disinfectants (Kelly 33-34).

    Read More

  • Derek Jarman’s film Blue

    4152 Words  | 9 Pages

    The intersection between queer activist politics and post modernist culture was important to the practice of many western artists working around issues associated with HIV...

    Read More

More about What Is The Theme Of The Movie And The Band Played On

Open Document