The Band Played On By Randy Shilts

This film goes in different directions from the setting to iconography. This is an interesting film that is intense and makes the viewer want to know what is going to happen

The parallels between the theme of the film and rising fears of communism and related topics of concern during that time are captivating. Communism was an ideology originating in the Soviet Union with the ideas of establishing a

1. What are the main themes, politically and socially, that are portrayed in the film?

The movie, And the Band Played On, discusses the origin of the AIDS virus and how it spontaneously spread across the world. It used the Ebola disease to foreshadow the forth coming of another serious disease. The world was not prepared to handle such a contagious plague. Doctors around the world assumed that the first cases of the HIV virus to be just an abnormality of a certain disease, their carelessness of this matter was the start to the spread of this disease. Throughout this movie, it illustrates different points, such as the beginning of HIV, the misconceptions it gave, and the panic it aroused amongst doctors and the common people.

Throughout the Age of AIDS film many topics that were related to AIDS were brought up that I did not know anything about before. I did not know that there could so many strings attached to a disease and have such an influence in people’s lives whether it was negative or positive.

And the Band Played On surprised me with its intricate character development. I found myself becoming attached to characters and heartbroken as I found they had contracted the HIV virus and made me root for research to find a vaccine or cure. Out of the characters presented in the film, I decided to focus on two main ones: Dr. Robert Gallo and Dr. Don Francis. These two characters stood out because they were so contrasting to one another. I also felt myself becoming angry at these characters and some of the decisions they decided to make. In summation, I will analyze these characters and determine which actions I believe were right and which were wrong in helping advance the research of AIDS in relation to the movie And the Band Played On.

The only memorable thing I remember about the history of AIDS before watching the movie, was that you could be contaminated through sexual intercourse, drug syringe sharing, and blood transfusion. I knew that if contracted that I would eventually die.

This rock musical has a majority of its cast “living with, not dying from disease.” We start out learning of Roger Davis who is an ex-junkie and a struggling musician. “His girlfriend April left a note saying ‘we’ve got AIDS’ before

The major themes of the movie follow Marxian theory. The first relates to Hopper and how the grasshoppers abuse their power and exploit the ant colony. The grasshoppers expect food knowing that the ants cannot

There were many issues and concepts that were arisen with this film. What seemed to be the major theme that predominated throughout the film was that being older does not mean that life ends. There are different issues that are dealt with when aging, but

This movie begins by depicting a bright articulate young lawyer named Andrew Beckett at work. Then the scene rapidly changes to Andrew at an AIDS clinic. You know at this point that Andrew Beckett has AIDS and a horrifying future as you see scenes of men with hollow expressions, open sores and skeleton-like features. It becomes obvious that Andrew was not telling his boss or coworkers that he has AIDS. Later we discover that he concealed this disease because he was afraid of being fired and people’s fear of him as a sick gay man.

Finally, the Age of AIDS and How to Survive a Plaque are important documentaries. To understand the background of the diseases, the way people were affected both emotionally and mentally, one must learn about those whose lives were afflicted. Both of these documentaries did an amazing job at showing different sides of the same coin that was HIV and AIDS. Moreover, the Age of AIDS delved into HIV, tracing the route of the virus from when it jumped from chimpanzees to humans before taking root in cities. With the small pox vaccine aiding transmission, HIV gained its foothold and spread quickly. AIDS and its' parent virus, HIV, are one of the deadliest viruses ever to appear. How to Survive a Plaque told a story about the people living with HIV

contest. Parallels can be drawn to many of the other themes of the film from this

In an interconnected world, the possibility for spreading diseases is incredibly high compared to centuries past. Notorious epidemics like the Black Plague or smallpox were relatively contained to a single continent, until the Europeans brought smallpox to the Americas. The HIV virus was an example of a rapidly spread virus that quickly made its way across the world, including North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Australia (http://www.avert.org/professionals/history-hiv-aids/overview). In And the Band Played On, the doctors of The Center for Disease Control do their best to follow scientific standards while trying to deal with the disease, even with the politics of Reagan breathing down their neck. The issues they encounter are like the ideas proposed by Merton, Longino, and Douglas, particularly with the way they conduct the experiment and deal with the findings.

Hired by the DOH (Department of Health) to do a documentary for their HIV/AIDS awareness program, Gil Bustamante (Jake Cuenca) is a young filmmaker. Using San Lazaro Hospital as a backdrop, he weaves a tale that combines various stories of people infected with the virus. Among those having their story told are heterosexuals, homosexuals, prostitutes, and intravenous drug users.