By Sharon & Sean
Silence=Death
Act Up
Introduction:
The film watched in class was “How to Survive a Plague” by David France in 2012, it was 110 minute movie that had some graphic scenes of the gay community suffering with Aids in New York and how a group formed called Act Up decided to stop watching their love ones die. They decided to stand up and fight together. The other movie watched within our group was “We Were Here” by David Weissman and Bill Weber in 2011. Within this 90minute film we also see how the gay community in San Francisco suffered through this awful period of time and how the people worked together to help someone die more peacefully. During these two films there are many issues raised between discrimination towards the gay community, government response to the crisis of Aids and learning about Aids. Aids was something relatively new at that time, due to the fact the disease never seemed to be discovered till that point but Aids has been around since mankind.
How to Survive a Plague:
The theme this week was “Global Activism” which related to the film because the issues brought up within this film had eventually made an impact on the world. It also shows people from the state acting up together to stop the discrimination towards the gay community. The issues that were raised throughout this film were discrimination, government response towards the crisis and the activist. Also, we saw the challenges the group Act Up had to face just to create awareness and a treatment.
Discrimination was shown throughout this film very often when we saw the homophobic people react to the gays when they were out publicly fighting for help. When Peter was doing an interview on what Act Up was all about and the efforts they had put to become successful. The two host seemed very judgmental to Act Up's movement especially homophobic, since it seemed they were more against the idea of homosexuals. We also saw how badly the police had treated them, sometimes they were just being so violent just because they weren't supportive in their cause because of their sexuality. Another thing which seemed so frustrating was how George Bush was handling the situation. He was completely homophobic, the audience could see it clearly. He just did not put any importance to the fact that so many young men were dying everyday. He seemed so heartless. Also when one of the men were talking in the congress and how someone had said it was their right to have freedom of speech. He was like yes but if they aren't disturbing everyone else. It seemed like by forming this activist group, Act Up, it ended up being the best thing these people did. They eventually were able to have medication they could take to slow down their process.
Aids became something people could live with just could not cure for the moment. This film is special because the director uses the media clips and how they presented the view on Aids. We see video clips on what the president at that time thought about Aids. The viewers saw all the protest and riots going on. We could see the activist going to all the pharmaceutical companies saying they would not sit around but were going to force them to let out those drugs they needed. In class we discussed similar topics as in how the activist had responded by causing awareness, creating social services and doing medical practices. How they organized themselves and how they took control to have less discrimination against themselves.
Concepts such as learn, fight and love also helped Act Up take more stands because then people saw how much they learnt, fought and their love to another. The people catching the aids started off by learning everything they could possible about the disease, how they caught it and the process of how the bacteria was going to kill them. They sometimes even knew more then the doctors but they never knew too less. That created them to ask the right questions because they knew the same information and wanted to find solutions to how to cure this disease. When it came to fighting, well the people fight this organization never backed down, knowing the consequences of fighting they still did it. This lead many to go to jail but they knew that if they did not fight, that nothing was ever going to be done about this terrible disease. These people were dedicated, since they knew they were ill and dying yet they flew on planes to talk to over cities. They went outside having riots, knowing police would abuse them. Nothing stopped Act Up from making sure they would succeed. Lastly, their love brought the furthest in this war against government, society and pharmaceutical companies. They all came together as a whole, even the lesbians were standing up there with their gay men, taking a charge. They had compassion for each other, love, warm and so much more. They were dedicated to another knowing the fact that some would not make it for the medication, they still did it for the future generations to have a treatment. That way not everyone had to die a miserable death that they were about to face.
We Were Here:
During this film, we see how the gay people in Castro, San Francisco were dealing with Aids in their city. Castro was known for having a city full gays, it was their community and all of a sudden these men living here were dying within weeks from these spots all over their bodies. Some were turning blind, while other had gotten pnuemonia. Some lost weight quickly and others seemed to be ageing rapidly. Media took it as if it was some gay disease but over time they realized this was Aids.
Watching this documentary, the audience can see how the theory of Aids had developed and it is a sexually transmitted disease. In this film, they are interviews of people who survived the terrible disease and how they talked about the loved ones who did not make it. They talked about their story throughout this tragic time. The difference with this film compared to "How to Survive a Plague" is they are regular member of society, that did not carry this disease that took a charge to help the men that did have Aids. Some had volunteer hours to make these people have someone to spend their last few days with to make it seem less terrible, like a companion. Such as one nurse talked about what she watched this people go through and how sometimes they knew so much more then her. She said they had their research, they knew what they were about to go through. This brought up one of the ideas of the learning process. How these patients made sure they knew it all, that way no one could lie to them about anything. They had the knowledge on the disease that was about to take away their life.
Act up ended helping these suffering people more then anything when they had started their protest against government. Government did not do much other then close down their clubs. They thought the clubs in Castro were not sanitary enough. The issues they faced were discrimination and people who just did not want to help. Like they were trying to get help from government and it just was not working. They knew they weren’t going to make it so they did their best to fight for the future generation to not have to go through the same tragedy like them. This caused these people to fight for what they believed in. In Castor the lesbians decided to have other donate blood because their boys needed it. This led people to come together to fight for the men dying but this also created these men to fight. Not only to fight for their life but for others. Just like one of the men who were interviewed had said, some people became lab rats for these new medications just to try to find some treatment to help. They knew if these treatments were successful not only would they make through it but that everyone they loves would too. They all took chances to win this battle with Aids. They fought as hard as they could to survive.
These public affairs caused awareness for the future men and women who were capable of catching this disease, so that maybe they had a chance to still live their life and not die at a young age. They wanted to find a treatment or even a cure to just help someone live through it, that way these young women and men did not have to be ill at all times. They did not have to suffer the pain or the scaring/spots left behind from Aids. The gay community in Castro also wanted to aware other how to be careful from Aids, which lead them to promote safe sex. By promoting safe sex to the people around them, to their community and especially younger generation show the love they had for another. The gay men wanted to help another to make no one had to lose anyone they loved, since many of them watched their friends, brothers, family members and their boyfriends die. It was this one disease after every person in this one happy community that lost every soulful person. Love is what created so many people to get through Aids and to even fight so hard for a treatment.
This film was special because we also saw the live interviews with these people and what they lived through. How they saw their loved ones pass away. One man had lost three of his boyfriends. He said at one point he never knew how he made it through the many that didn't. He was glad he did though because lead him to tell all the stories those men couldn't, the world needed to hear the stories they could not witness. This film brought many emotions out because they showed many graphic scenes and interviews with people who lost too many friends. Fits in the the topic “Global Activism” because we see how this impacts the world and how active these people were within their own community. They took their problem in their city worldwide because this was not the only city of people dying from Aids. The world had to be aware of all that was happening and how they could prevent people from catching Aids. How they were slowly creating test that let people check if they had Aids and if they did not how to prevent not catching it. They were activist because these men took it out on the streets fighting hard for that they believed in. They did the best they could for make sure no one else was going to die young from Aids.
We Were Here Website
Reflection:
Aids is a disease caused from HIV. It causes your body’s immune system to shut down and make it easier for you to attract other sickness’s. ‘We were here’ takes a look at the aids epidemic in San Francisco. HIV dates back to the late 19th century in west-central Africa but was only first recognized in the 1980’s. Maintaining the perfect balance between the political and the personal, this is a documentary that will make you feel as well as think. The aids epidemic changed hundreds of thousands of lives. Everyday loved ones and family members would be killed and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
There is not one single documentary that could really explain the devastations faced through this period. Living under our parents roofs, eating our parents food, having school being paid for, getting gas money for your car. We don't always realize how extremely lucky we are. We don't think of what else is out there and how much people can suffer. These documentaries focus in on what the filmmakers wanted us to see; the sick, the help, and the drug companies. For a long time the government did not care at all about “these people”. They were different and nobody wanted to be seen or to see two men kissing. It just didn't make sense and more then 95% of the population outcasted them. So when they all started to get HIV positive a lot of people were happy to get rid of them. If someone does not believe in homosexual relationships does not mean they should agree with human beings suffering. This world needs less judgments, love is love, does not what who or what you love. It should not impact the world on who one is loving.
We learn a lot by watching films such as these. The biggest message we were able to grab from both these films was the perseverance to never give up. Act up, always let your messages and demands be heard. Without the pursuit of these young men and women we would not be where we are today in the fight against HIV’s. Silence = Death! The world is not a perfect place but we know that by uniting and fighting for what we believe in, we can accomplish wonders throughout. Before watching these two documentaries we did not know much on Aids or ever heard anything on these events. That shows us just how much media and news hide more from us and how much there is out there for us to learn on our own. “When faced with the unimaginable, they did the impossible and fought back!’’ - (How to survive a plague intro.)
Act Up Website
Conclusion:
In conclusion, "We Were Here" and "How to Survive a Plague" both represented very well the Aids epidemic in San Francisco and New York. Fighting for every last bit of their lives, the lesbian and homosexual communities came together to change the world as we know it. Through countless years of protesting and watching loved ones die, these activists stood up for what they believed in! They are a lost generation with a great deal of success. They show us to pursue our dreams and regardless of the consequence at some point, the work we put in makes a huge difference. These two documentaries will remind you that there are way bigger problems in our world and that without the freedom of speech, our culture would not be where we are today.
The film watched in class was “How to Survive a Plague” by David France in 2012, it was 110 minute movie that had some graphic scenes of the gay community suffering with Aids in New York and how a group formed called Act Up decided to stop watching their love ones die. They decided to stand up and fight together. The other movie watched within our group was “We Were Here” by David Weissman and Bill Weber in 2011. Within this 90minute film we also see how the gay community in San Francisco suffered through this awful period of time and how the people worked together to help someone die more peacefully. During these two films there are many issues raised between discrimination towards the gay community, government response to the crisis of Aids and learning about Aids. Aids was something relatively new at that time, due to the fact the disease never seemed to be discovered till that point but Aids has been around since mankind.
The theme this week was “Global Activism” which related to the film because the issues brought up within this film had eventually made an impact on the world. It also shows people from the state acting up together to stop the discrimination towards the gay community. The issues that were raised throughout this film were discrimination, government response towards the crisis and the activist. Also, we saw the challenges the group Act Up had to face just to create awareness and a treatment.
Discrimination was shown throughout this film very often when we saw the homophobic people react to the gays when they were out publicly fighting for help. When Peter was doing an interview on what Act Up was all about and the efforts they had put to become successful. The two host seemed very judgmental to Act Up's movement especially homophobic, since it seemed they were more against the idea of homosexuals. We also saw how badly the police had treated them, sometimes they were just being so violent just because they weren't supportive in their cause because of their sexuality. Another thing which seemed so frustrating was how George Bush was handling the situation. He was completely homophobic, the audience could see it clearly. He just did not put any importance to the fact that so many young men were dying everyday. He seemed so heartless. Also when one of the men were talking in the congress and how someone had said it was their right to have freedom of speech. He was like yes but if they aren't disturbing everyone else. It seemed like by forming this activist group, Act Up, it ended up being the best thing these people did. They eventually were able to have medication they could take to slow down their process.
Aids became something people could live with just could not cure for the moment. This film is special because the director uses the media clips and how they presented the view on Aids. We see video clips on what the president at that time thought about Aids. The viewers saw all the protest and riots going on. We could see the activist going to all the pharmaceutical companies saying they would not sit around but were going to force them to let out those drugs they needed. In class we discussed similar topics as in how the activist had responded by causing awareness, creating social services and doing medical practices. How they organized themselves and how they took control to have less discrimination against themselves.
Concepts such as learn, fight and love also helped Act Up take more stands because then people saw how much they learnt, fought and their love to another. The people catching the aids started off by learning everything they could possible about the disease, how they caught it and the process of how the bacteria was going to kill them. They sometimes even knew more then the doctors but they never knew too less. That created them to ask the right questions because they knew the same information and wanted to find solutions to how to cure this disease. When it came to fighting, well the people fight this organization never backed down, knowing the consequences of fighting they still did it. This lead many to go to jail but they knew that if they did not fight, that nothing was ever going to be done about this terrible disease. These people were dedicated, since they knew they were ill and dying yet they flew on planes to talk to over cities. They went outside having riots, knowing police would abuse them. Nothing stopped Act Up from making sure they would succeed. Lastly, their love brought the furthest in this war against government, society and pharmaceutical companies. They all came together as a whole, even the lesbians were standing up there with their gay men, taking a charge. They had compassion for each other, love, warm and so much more. They were dedicated to another knowing the fact that some would not make it for the medication, they still did it for the future generations to have a treatment. That way not everyone had to die a miserable death that they were about to face.
During this film, we see how the gay people in Castro, San Francisco were dealing with Aids in their city. Castro was known for having a city full gays, it was their community and all of a sudden these men living here were dying within weeks from these spots all over their bodies. Some were turning blind, while other had gotten pnuemonia. Some lost weight quickly and others seemed to be ageing rapidly. Media took it as if it was some gay disease but over time they realized this was Aids.
Watching this documentary, the audience can see how the theory of Aids had developed and it is a sexually transmitted disease. In this film, they are interviews of people who survived the terrible disease and how they talked about the loved ones who did not make it. They talked about their story throughout this tragic time. The difference with this film compared to "How to Survive a Plague" is they are regular member of society, that did not carry this disease that took a charge to help the men that did have Aids. Some had volunteer hours to make these people have someone to spend their last few days with to make it seem less terrible, like a companion. Such as one nurse talked about what she watched this people go through and how sometimes they knew so much more then her. She said they had their research, they knew what they were about to go through. This brought up one of the ideas of the learning process. How these patients made sure they knew it all, that way no one could lie to them about anything. They had the knowledge on the disease that was about to take away their life.
Act up ended helping these suffering people more then anything when they had started their protest against government. Government did not do much other then close down their clubs. They thought the clubs in Castro were not sanitary enough. The issues they faced were discrimination and people who just did not want to help. Like they were trying to get help from government and it just was not working. They knew they weren’t going to make it so they did their best to fight for the future generation to not have to go through the same tragedy like them. This caused these people to fight for what they believed in. In Castor the lesbians decided to have other donate blood because their boys needed it. This led people to come together to fight for the men dying but this also created these men to fight. Not only to fight for their life but for others. Just like one of the men who were interviewed had said, some people became lab rats for these new medications just to try to find some treatment to help. They knew if these treatments were successful not only would they make through it but that everyone they loves would too. They all took chances to win this battle with Aids. They fought as hard as they could to survive.
These public affairs caused awareness for the future men and women who were capable of catching this disease, so that maybe they had a chance to still live their life and not die at a young age. They wanted to find a treatment or even a cure to just help someone live through it, that way these young women and men did not have to be ill at all times. They did not have to suffer the pain or the scaring/spots left behind from Aids. The gay community in Castro also wanted to aware other how to be careful from Aids, which lead them to promote safe sex. By promoting safe sex to the people around them, to their community and especially younger generation show the love they had for another. The gay men wanted to help another to make no one had to lose anyone they loved, since many of them watched their friends, brothers, family members and their boyfriends die. It was this one disease after every person in this one happy community that lost every soulful person. Love is what created so many people to get through Aids and to even fight so hard for a treatment.
This film was special because we also saw the live interviews with these people and what they lived through. How they saw their loved ones pass away. One man had lost three of his boyfriends. He said at one point he never knew how he made it through the many that didn't. He was glad he did though because lead him to tell all the stories those men couldn't, the world needed to hear the stories they could not witness. This film brought many emotions out because they showed many graphic scenes and interviews with people who lost too many friends. Fits in the the topic “Global Activism” because we see how this impacts the world and how active these people were within their own community. They took their problem in their city worldwide because this was not the only city of people dying from Aids. The world had to be aware of all that was happening and how they could prevent people from catching Aids. How they were slowly creating test that let people check if they had Aids and if they did not how to prevent not catching it. They were activist because these men took it out on the streets fighting hard for that they believed in. They did the best they could for make sure no one else was going to die young from Aids.
We Were Here Website
Reflection:
Aids is a disease caused from HIV. It causes your body’s immune system to shut down and make it easier for you to attract other sickness’s. ‘We were here’ takes a look at the aids epidemic in San Francisco. HIV dates back to the late 19th century in west-central Africa but was only first recognized in the 1980’s. Maintaining the perfect balance between the political and the personal, this is a documentary that will make you feel as well as think. The aids epidemic changed hundreds of thousands of lives. Everyday loved ones and family members would be killed and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
There is not one single documentary that could really explain the devastations faced through this period. Living under our parents roofs, eating our parents food, having school being paid for, getting gas money for your car. We don't always realize how extremely lucky we are. We don't think of what else is out there and how much people can suffer. These documentaries focus in on what the filmmakers wanted us to see; the sick, the help, and the drug companies. For a long time the government did not care at all about “these people”. They were different and nobody wanted to be seen or to see two men kissing. It just didn't make sense and more then 95% of the population outcasted them. So when they all started to get HIV positive a lot of people were happy to get rid of them. If someone does not believe in homosexual relationships does not mean they should agree with human beings suffering. This world needs less judgments, love is love, does not what who or what you love. It should not impact the world on who one is loving.
We learn a lot by watching films such as these. The biggest message we were able to grab from both these films was the perseverance to never give up. Act up, always let your messages and demands be heard. Without the pursuit of these young men and women we would not be where we are today in the fight against HIV’s. Silence = Death! The world is not a perfect place but we know that by uniting and fighting for what we believe in, we can accomplish wonders throughout. Before watching these two documentaries we did not know much on Aids or ever heard anything on these events. That shows us just how much media and news hide more from us and how much there is out there for us to learn on our own. “When faced with the unimaginable, they did the impossible and fought back!’’ - (How to survive a plague intro.)
Act Up Website
Conclusion:
In conclusion, "We Were Here" and "How to Survive a Plague" both represented very well the Aids epidemic in San Francisco and New York. Fighting for every last bit of their lives, the lesbian and homosexual communities came together to change the world as we know it. Through countless years of protesting and watching loved ones die, these activists stood up for what they believed in! They are a lost generation with a great deal of success. They show us to pursue our dreams and regardless of the consequence at some point, the work we put in makes a huge difference. These two documentaries will remind you that there are way bigger problems in our world and that without the freedom of speech, our culture would not be where we are today.
Act Up. Fight Back. Fight Aids.
It's a disappointment to see these people, these humans being untreated because of their sexual orientation. If this epidemic happened started with white heterosexual people, research and medicine would have started from the beginning with a lot faster process comparing to event that happened in How To Survive A Plague. It's degrading to see how we treated people in the past and some still treat them the same way. I knew a little about AIDS but not to this extend and I did not realized the amount of hard work from Act Up in order to make a change.
ReplyDelete-Jonathan Wong
This documentary film really exposed how things were handled in the past.It was shocking to see how the governement wasn't paying any attention to those poor people, the aid was killing more and more people, but they didn'nt care mainly because of their sexual orientation.They had to really beg them and eventually they decided to manifest.To me its just stricking to see how you were treated when you weren't heterosexual.
ReplyDeleteAbdel Ndiaye
I really felt bad for the victims of the epidemic in the film. Although I do look up to them because instead of just dying off, they decided to take action and fight for their cause. They had very creative ways of demonstrating like “dying” at the churches or kissing each other to raise awareness. One protest which I didn't agree on was when they told the pharmaceutical companies that they we’re killing them. The pharmaceutical companies we’re following the FDA regulations, which they unfortunately don’t have much control on. Overall, it was a great film.
ReplyDelete-Philippe Cook
This was a great film. It really depicts the lack of humanism in the world back when aids first broke out. The fact that no one cared that millions of people were dying simply because the pandemic was said to affect gay people only is shocking. I had a hard time believing that almost none of the protesters were heterosexual, as though it doesn't concern them. Overall, it was great film and it sent the message not to repeat the same mistakes again.
ReplyDelete- Eric Deko
Is shocking to see people with same rights just like us, die because the government does not want to give them what rightfully deserve. They are not asking for something impossible is just health. I'm impressed by how they were united and fought for a common cause; the question now is what would happen if all of us fight for what we deserve and finally we will put a stop to all discrimination.
ReplyDeleteHow to Survive a Plague
ReplyDeleteWell done for the blog, the movie had my full attention; the people that were involved in the epidemic went beyond the expectations of anyone. When the people educated themselves and actually came out with their plan, they made themselves a real factor. They were no longer just looked over. Their plan is what I think lead them to have the enormous success that they had achieved also with the unity that they had. Being able to always have such turn outs to their protestations also helped them a lot.
franco d