HIV/AIDS in TV and Film
The media can be used as a political outlet, and to artistically voice an opinion on an important issue in society. This is still going on today with shows like One Day at a Time, that has great representation for Latina women, people with mental illnesses, queer youth, and so on. These shows help people understand what’s going on in a way that people can understand without the bias of the news. It can apply perspectives on real issues, and personifies situations that could actually happen. Television and Film are great outlets for representation on pressing issues. When it come to HIV/AIDS, there is a lot of different shows and movies that talk about the issues, but in a lot of ways that almost surprise me. The epidemic was centered mostly around queer people, especially gay men, and yet most of the representation in the media seems to be about straight people, and if there is any queer representation, it’s usually negative.
Take the movie (and music) RENT, for example. There is a lot of AIDS representation from many different perspectives in that story. However, they’re both represented in different ways. There is a straight couple, one who is white, and one who is a woman of color, who both have AIDS, and there is a queer couple of color, who both have AIDS. Many people like this story because of how it represents queer people, people of color, poor people, and people with AIDS. However, it wasn’t perfect. About half of the characters in the story have AIDS, but only one of them dies, (not counting Mimi or April) and the person who dies is queer, a person of color, and gender non-conforming. I guess straight white people are immortal, because they never seem to be the ones to die in these kinds of stories. I don’t count Mimi because she eventually comes back to life, and I don’t count April because she isn’t necessarily a character, but instead, just a person from Roger’s past. One thing I did like about the show, was that it was mostly about the people living with AIDS, rather than AIDS being the focal point, like most other shows featuring a story with AIDS. It shows how different people cope with the fact that they have AIDS. For example, Mimi and Angel just want to have fun, while Roger decided to hide away from the world, especially since he has already lost someone very close to him because of AIDS (1).
One of the worst queer oriented shows that I’ve ever had the misfortune of watching is Queer as Folk. Everything that could ever be bad about a show is included in this TV show, but here is one thing that they sort of did right. In season 2, one of the main characters, Michael, meets Ben. The two begin to date, but Michael soon finds out that Ben is HIV positive, and decides to end the relationship. Later on in the show, Michael realizes that Ben is the one for him, and they end up dating for the rest of the show. The couple talks about many important issues surrounding HIV, like the importance of safe sex, the risk of infection, and the possibility that they might not have as such time as they’d like to have together. They had many real conversations about how Michael can never fully understand what Ben is going through, and the fights that would become of it. There was also once a very emotional scene where Michael was begging Ben to “infect him” because he didn’t want to worry about any of that anymore (2). This show represented HIV in a very real way, without all the sickness and death. It showed how people lived with HIV instead of dying from it.
A movie called An Early Frost, was the first movie to talk about the AIDS epidemic. It came out in 1985, which was just 4 years after the start of the epidemic. It was a great film that squashed a lot of stereotypes and fears that people had about the disease. There is a scene in the trailer where the protagonists nephew, who was a toddler ran up to hug him. When he ran up to hug him, the child’s mother screamed, and ran to catch the child. She was afraid that her child might get AIDS through physical contact, which is a common misconception that has been debunked (3). The writers and directors took a big risk making this movie, but it ended up being a big hit, and was nominated for 14 Emmy awards (4).
When Rock Hudson told the world that he was HIV positive, there was a huge shift in how people viewed the disease. They realized that anyone could get it, even celebrities that they adored. People say that there was the world before Rock Hudson had AIDS and the world after he had AIDS (5). Since there was really only two ways that people could get AIDS, through IV drug use, or unprotected (usually gay) sex, once Hudson announced he had AIDS, he inadvertently came out as gay as well.
Now that the epidemic is over, we don’t see much representation in the media anymore. It’s as if people don’t see it as a problem, or a need to talk about it anymore. This could be seen as a good or a bad thing. With all these medical advances like PrEP and PEP that help reduce the spread of HIV before or after someone has been exposed to it, we may be able to wipe out the disease completely, so hopefully we won’t have to worry about it anymore. We just need to make it accessible to everyone around the world. I’ve also noticed that HIV representation today isn’t completely queer focused, which is great. We’ve come to understand that anyone can contract this disease, and it’s not about gay men anymore. Soon enough it won’t be about anybody, and AIDS will be a thing of the past.
References:
“Ben, Hunter, Vick and HIV.” Recent Entries. April 26, 2008. Accessed May 11, 2018. https://queerasfolkfans.livejournal.com/2870467.html.
Eschner, Kat. “The Hollywood Star Who Confronted the AIDS ‘Silent Epidemic’.” Smithsonian.com. October 02, 2017. Accessed May 11, 2018. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hollywood-star-who-confronted-aids-silent-epidemic-180965059/.
MacIsaac, Emily. “AIDS Represented Within the Media.” DJIM. 2017. Accessed May 11, 2018. https://ojs.library.dal.ca/djim/article/download/6923/6046.
Rocknrollheart67. “An Early Frost (1985) HQ Movie Trailer.” YouTube. October 09, 2013. Accessed May 11, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSZ7MDptwjc.
TheAdvocateMag. “An Early Frost 25 Years Later.” ADVOCATE. November 10, 2010. Accessed May 11, 2018. https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/television/2010/11/10/early-frost-25-years-later#article-content.
