From time to time some folks think about AIDS and they ask themselves: Suppose this very dangerous, virulent virus was not transmitted through bodily fluids. Suppose instead it was transmitted as the flu is transmitted: airborne and [thus] was everywhere.
Can you then imagine they would point out the widespread reaction to gays if it was thought that this affliction was derived from homosexuality?
Things can always be worse, I suppose. Life is, after all, existential.
Of course, AIDS is not everywhere because it is not an airborne pathogen. But that doesn’t stop any number of folks from using it as an excuse to express their own virulent fear of or hatred toward gays.
And this film unfolds at a time when there was considerably more uncertainty about the nature of the disease. The Reagan era. Reactions were more deeply rooted in the fear that just being around gays was a kind of, well, death sentence. And not just in working class communities where there was ignorance regarding a lot of things relating to homosexuality.
This all transpires in a prestigeous law office. Educated, sophisticated folks surely. But no less scared shitless about AIDS. And no less wallowing in prejudice.
Is this based on a true story?
No, but it bears similarities to events in the lives of attorneys Geoffrey Bowers and Clarence B. Cain. IMDb
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Bowers
Anyway, AIDS is truly what one might construe to be an “existential crisis”. Especially back then. There is your life before and your life after you contract it. It changes how you think about a lot of things. Or it certainly can.
IMDb
[b]Tom Hanks had to lose almost thirty pounds to appear appropriately gaunt for his courtroom scenes. Denzel Washington, on the other hand, was asked to gain a few pounds for his role. Washington, to the chagrin of Hanks, who practically starved himself for the role, would often eat chocolate bars in front of him.
The protestors outside the courthouse holding signs are based on the members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, led by “Reverend” Fred Phelps. Phelps calls this movie “one of my favorite comedies”.
Director Jonathan Demme wanted people not familiar with AIDS issues to see his film. He felt Bruce Springsteen would bring an audience that would not ordinarily see a movie about a gay man dying of AIDS. The movie and the song, “The Streets of Philadelphia”, did a great deal to increase AIDS awareness and take some of the stigma off the disease.[/b]
The song: youtu.be/4z2DtNW79sQ
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_(film
trailer: youtu.be/cl4B9AU45P4
PHILADELPHIA [1993]
Directed by Jonathan Demme
[b]Walter: What’s that on your forehead, pal?
Andrew: What? Where?
Walter: That… right there on your forehead.
Andrew: Oh, I got whacked in the head with a racket ball.
…
Joe: What happened to your face?
Andrew: I have AIDS.
[Joe lets go of his hand and backs away]
…
Andrew [after explaining that he got fired]: That’s their story. Wanna hear mine?
Joe: How many lawyers did you go to before me?
Andrew: Nine.
Joe: Continue.
…
Joe: All right. Explain this to me like I’m a two-year-old, okay? Because there’s an element to this thing that I cannot get through my thick head. Didn’t you have an obligation to tell your employer you had this dreaded, deadly, infectious disease?
Andrew: That’s not the point. From the day they hired me to the day I was fired I served my clients consistently, thoroughly, with absolute excellence. If they hadn’t fired me, that’s what I’d be doing today.
Joe: And they don’t want to fire you for having AIDS…so, in spite of your brilliance, they make you look incompetent. Thus, the mysterious lost files. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?
Andrew: That’s correct. I was sabotaged.
Joe: I don’t buy it, Counselor.
Andrew: That’s very disappointing.
Joe: I don’t see a case.
Andrew: I have a case. If you don’t want it for personal reasons…
Joe: Thank you. That’s correct. I don’t.
Andrew: Well, thank you for your time, Counselor.
Joe: I’m sorry about what happened to you. It’s a bitch, you know?[/b]
Of course the first thing Joe does is go to his doctor to make sure he doesn’t have AIDS – just from being in the same room with Andy and shaking his hand.
[b]Doctor: The HIV virus can only be transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids… namely, blood, semen and vaginal secretions.
Joe: Right. Yeah. But isn’t it true they’re finding out new things about this disease every day? Now, you tell me today there’s no danger. Go home. I go home. I pick up my little baby girl. Then I find out six months from now on the news or something: Whoops! Made a mistake. Yeah, you can carry it on your shirt or your clothes or…
…
Wife: You have a problem with gays, Joe?
Joe: Not especially.
Wife: Yes, you do. How many gays do you know?
Joe: How many do you know?
Wife: Lots. Karen Berman, my aunt Theresa…Cousin Tommy who lives in Rochester… Eddie Meyers from the office… Stanley, the guy who’s putting in our kitchen cabinets.
Joe: Aunt Theresa is gay? That beautiful, sensuous, voluptuous woman is a lesbian? Since when?
Wife: Probably since she was born.
Joe: Oh, man. All right. Well, hey, I admit it, okay? I’m prejudiced. I don’t like homosexuals. There. You got me. I mean, the way these guys do that…thing, don’t they get confused? You know, I don’t want to be in bed with anybody who’s stronger than me…or who has more hair on their chest. Now, you can call me old-fashioned, conservative. Just call me a man. Besides, I think you have to be a man to understand how really disgusting that whole idea is anyway. Think about those guys pumping up together… trying to be macho and faggot at the same time. I mean, I can’t stand that shit. Hey, I’m bein’ totally honest with you, okay?
…
Joe [to his wife]: I got a question for you. Would you accept a client if you were constantly thinking, “I don’t want this person to touch me. I don’t want him to even breathe on me”?
Wife: Not if I was you, honey.
…
Joe: The Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination against otherwise qualified handicapped persons who are able to perform the duties required by their employment. Although the ruling did not address the specific issue of HIV and AIDS discrimination…
Andrew: …subsequent decisions have held that AIDS is protected as a handicap under law, not only because of the physical limitations it imposes, but because the prejudice surrounding AIDS exacts a social death which precedes…which precedes the physical one.
Joe: This is the essence of discrimination: formulating opinions about others not based on their individual merits, but rather on their membership in a group with assumed characteristics.
…
Charles [after learning of Andrew’s discrimination lawsuit]: Now, regarding Andy, I want to know everything regarding his personal life. Does he frequent those pathetic bars on Chestnut Street? What other homosexual facilities does he go to? What deviant groups or organizations does he secretly belong to?
…
Bob: Let’s make a fair settlement offer and put this tragic business behind us.
Charles: Andy brought AIDS into our offices into our men’s room. He brought AIDS to our annual goddamn family picnic.
Walter: We ought to be suing him, Bob.
…
Joe [to the jury]: Forget everything you’ve seen on television and in the movies. There’s not gonna be any last-minute surprise witnesses. Nobody’s gonna break down on the stand with a tearful confession. You’re gonna be presented with a simple fact: Andrew Beckett was fired. You’ll hear two explanations for why he was fired: Ours and theirs. It is up to you to sift through layer upon layer of truth…until you determine for yourselves which version sounds the most true.
…
Joe [to the jury]: There are certain points that I must prove to you. Point number one: Andrew Beckett was…is…a brilliant lawyer. Point number two: Andrew Beckett, afflicted with a debilitating disease made the understandable, the personal, the legal choice to keep the fact of his illness to himself. Point number three: His employers discovered his illness. And, ladies and gentlemen, the illness I’m referring to is AIDS. Point number four: They panicked. And in their panic, they did what most of us would like to do with AIDS…which is just get it and everybody who has it as far away from the rest of us as possible. Now, the behavior of Andrew Beckett’s employers may seem reasonable to you. It does to me. After all, AIDS is a deadly, incurable disease. But no matter how you come to judge Charles Wheeler and his partners in ethical, moral and human terms, the fact of the matter is when they fired Andrew Beckett because he had AIDS they broke the law.
…
Belinda: Fact: Andrew Beckett’s performance on the job varied from competent, good, to oftentimes mediocre…to sometimes flagrantly incompetent. Fact: He claims he’s the victim of lies and deceit. Fact: It was Andrew Beckett who lied…going to great lengths to conceal his disease from his employers. Fact: He was successful in his duplicity. The partners at Wyant, Wheeler did not know that Andrew Beckett had AIDS when they fired him. Fact: Andrew Beckett is dying. Fact: Andrew Beckett is angry because his lifestyle, his reckless behavior has cut short his life. And in his anger, his rage, he is lashing out. And he wants someone to pay.
…
Joe: Let me tell you something. These people make me sick. But a law’s been broken. You remember the law?
Bartender: At least we agree on one thing, Joe.
Joe: What’s that, Charlie?
Bartender: Tutti-fruttis make me sick too.
…
Lawyer: Ms. Benedict, how did you contract the AIDS virus?
Ms. Benedict: Through a transfusion. I lost a lot of blood giving birth to my second child.
Lawyer: So, in your case there was no behavior on your part which caused you to be infected with the virus. It was something you were unable to avoid. Isn’t that correct?
Ms. Benedict: I guess. But I don’t consider myself any different from anyone else with this disease. I’m not guilty. I’m not innocent. I’m just trying to survive.
…
Joe: Did you have something to do with this file being lost accidentally on purpose? Did you have anything to do with this file being misplaced?
Jamey: Absolutely not.
Joe: Are you a homosexual?
Jamey [startled]: What?
Joe: Answer the question! Are you a homo? A faggot? A punk? A queen, pillow biter, fairy? Bootie snatcher, rump roaster? Are you gay?
Lawyer: Objection!
Judge: Order!
Belinda: Where did this come from? Suddenly counsel’s attacking his own witness? Mr. Collins’ sexual orientation has nothing to do with this case.
Judge: Please have a seat, Miss Conine. Would you approach the bench, Mr. Miller?
[Joe approaches the bench]
Judge: Could you kindly share with me exactly what’s going on inside your head…because at this moment, I don’t have a clue.
Joe: Your Honor…everybody in this courtroom is thinking about sexual orientation, sexual preference…whatever you want to call it. Who does what to whom and how they do it. They’re looking at Andrew Beckett. They’re wondering about it. They’re looking at Mr. Wheeler, Miss Conine, even you, Your Honor. Trust me, I know they’re looking at me and thinking about it. So let’s get it out in the open. Let’s get it out of the closet. Because this case is not just about AIDS, is it? So let’s talk about what this case is really all about: The general public’s hatred, our loathing, our fear of homosexuals…and how that climate of hatred and fear translated into the firing of this particular homosexual…my client, Andrew Beckett.
…
Judge: In this courtroom, Mr.Miller, justice is blind to matters of race, creed, color, religion, and sexual orientation.
Joe: With all due respect, your honor, we don’t live in this courtroom, do we?
…
Andrew: Congratulations, Counselor.
Joe: Congratulations?
Andrew: You’ve survived what I assume to be your first gay party intact.
Joe: Let me tell you something. When you’re brought up the way most people are in this country…there’s not a whole lot of discussion about homosexuality…or what do you call it, alternate lifestyles. As a kid you’re taught that queers are funny, queers are weird. Queers dress up like their mother, that they’re afraid to fight…that they’re a danger to little kids. That all they want to do is get into your pants. That pretty much sums up the general thinking, if you want to know the truth about it.[/b]