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.
Homophobia was rampant, because those dying in the early years were almost all gay men, which is NOT so true nowadays; and lifestyle choice because a lot of intravenous drug users also can develop HIV and AIDS (Julie). It's a blood transmission disease; and condom use because unless you know 100% and see the test results of both yourself and your partner, you are still taking a risk with your life if you h...
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The Announcment. Dir. Nelson George. Perf. Magic Johnson. ESPN Films, 2012. Television.
Wow, I never expected to sit home on a Saturday night watching a documentary about AIDS, and needing a box of tissues. The film a Closer walk was definitely an eye opener!! As mentioned in the film, “AIDS is the grandfather of all diseases”, such a true statement after watching this film and realizing how it affects so many lives in so many ways ( ). AIDS in Africa is a nightmare. As Oliva Nantango, the girl that cared for her mother at age 12, because relatives were afraid of catching AIDS, stated “How do you tell your child you are dying”? I can’t imagine the heartache the children go through seeing their parents die at such a young age and leaving them orphaned. My heart was ached for many on that film, but for some reason, Oliva’s story really got to my heart. She was a very brave, strong young woman and I was so happy she was getting treatment, but it was too late, such a upsetting situation. But, I was happy she got to tell her story at the White House, and hopefully made a difference in someone’s life.
...In conclusion, since the first documented case of HIV and AIDS in the 1980s, it has affected health care in several ways. Donor centers have changed their screening of donors and testing ways of the blood collected. It has increased the awareness needed for taking universal precautions when dealing in any patient care. Medical equipment modified to protect health care providers from accidentally being stuck with infected needles. Health programs designed to educate patients and raise awareness of the disease among the at-risk population. HIV and AIDS have had an impact on patient care but in a positive way also.
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.
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.
Even after the disease and its modes of transmission had been correctly identified, fear and ignorance remained widespread. In the mid 1980s, “AIDS hysteria” became a well known term in the media and public life. For example, a magazine published details about how extensive AIDS/HIV related discrimination became. “Anxiety over AIDS in some parts of the U.S. is verging on hysteria,” the authors wrote; they later published this disturbing example:
Different people define success in many different ways. What is considered success by one person may be viewed as failure by another person. Randy Shilts, a homosexual newspaper reporter / author, attempts to make fundamental changes in America’s opinion on AIDS. In Randy Shilts’s essay, "Talking AIDS to Death," he speaks of his experiences as an "AIDS celebrity." At the core of Shilts’s essay is the statement, "Never before have I succeeded so well; never before have I failed so miserably"(221). Shilts can see his accomplishments from two points of view- as a success and as a failure. Despite instant fame, Shilts is not satisfied with the effects his writings has on the general public. Shilts’s "success" and reasons for failure can both be considered when one decides whether or not his efforts were performed in vain.
...ore careful as to whom they slept with and they were surer to be wearing protection in the form of condoms. Nobody knew where AIDS was coming from, but it was blamed on the gay community. It was assumed that if you were gay you had AIDS, and vice-versa. This mindset kick started the first major gay rights movements in America. These movements did not gain much traction, but they left a lasting impression that is felt today. The movements of the eighties were a stepping stone for today’s movements for gay marriage and anti discrimination laws. Cocaine has indirectly led to gay rights.
The truth is that the long-game of dealing with how HIV/AIDS affected the United States medically and economically is much more complex and naturally, can’t be told in a two hour movie. While there have been movies that have dealt with AIDS, they have mostly been fictional dramas about the emotional toll on one or a few characters and their friends and family, like Longtime Companion and Philadelphia, not really the fight to how the U.S. has got to a place where it has managed the disease and perhaps come close to finding a cure, and the grassroots movement that help make it happen. In fact, there really hasn’t been anything outside the documentary world; the recent We Were Here and How to Survive a Plague come to mind. So, it goes without saying that this film will ruffle the feathers of some of the activist segment of the gay population. It will also be courting controversy with its hardline stance against AZT, as well as perhaps its portrayal of Burroughs Wellcome, the research firm behind the drug which greatly benefitted from it
The Magic Johnson Foundation has an intriguing background and currently hosts many events and activities. The Magic Johnson Foundation began when Magic Johnson was diagnosed with the HIV virus. In 1991 Magic Johnson was diagnosed with the HIV virus that put a stop to his Hall of Fame career (“Magic Johnson Foundation Home”). Once he announced he had the virus the local community gave him support to help him with his fight against the disease (“Magic Johnson Foundation Home”). The Magic Johnson Foundation was a created to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic donating money to those in need (“Wilson”). The goals of the Magic Johnson Foundation are to provide grants to fight HIV-AIDS virus. Throughout Community Empowerment Centers, it provides people all ages with the power to learn with different online classes (“Magic Johnson Foundation Home”). It develops of funds programs of address the HIV-AIDS prevention (“Magic Johnson Foundation Home”). Through the Taylor Michaels Scholarship Foundation it helps people who don't have enough money for college, go to college (“Magic Johnson Foundation Home”). The beneficiaries of the Magic Johnson Foundation are people who live with the virus, or poor citizens. It helps people living with HIV-AIDS (“Magic Johnson Foundation Home”). Citizens in urban communities are also being assisted thanks to the foundation (“Magic Johnson Foundation Home”). It also help...
The main point of this speech, was Mary Fisher’s demand for an end to the silence and prejudice surrounding HIV/AIDS and to inform about the spread of infection. She begins the speech with strong influential words of willingness to inform her listeners. This bears the message of how important and personal the
One important scene in the film ‘The Age of Aids’ is “Port Au Prince, Haiti”. In this scene it outlines the conditions in Haiti, which were very poor and it turn left the city defenseless against the new disease. In 70’s and 80’s the disease began to be seen by doctors and priests who were being sought after to cure a unseen disease which left the people with the “look of death, [making them] so skinny you could see their bones”. The scene then goes on to take a look at one of the first HIV clinics in Port Au Prince, which was opened in the roughest parts of town. One of the surprising things that this clinic found when they were looking at the patients coming in was that the mean they were analyzing had more contact with women then they had with men. This was extremely interesting because this was completely different from what the pattern of the disease had been in the US. The doctors believed this was because homosexual males had been coming into Haiti as tourists and where having sex with locals, who in comparison didn’t call themselves homosexuals because even though they had been having sex with men, the number of women they were having sex with greatly outnumbered the men. This was extremely important because it allowed people to open their eyes, and realize that this was not a homosexual disease, that anyone could get the disease. And that’s exactly what happened within the Haitian community. Within three years the disease had spread across the entire island effects all aspects of society. This scene was effective because it is able to change a viewer with little knowledge of the disease to understand how doctors were able to come to the conclusion that the disease was not in fact a homosexual ...
In the movie “And the Band Played On”, illustrated the origin of the AIDS virus, how it was spread across the world quickly. It began with a scene in 1976, Central Africa, shows how the Ebola disease affected a village and was contained before it was spread. This was to show the beginning of another serious disease called AIDS. The world was not prepared to handle such a contagious plague. Doctors treating people with this virus thought that the first cases of the HIV virus was just an abnormality disease. The disease started to spread all over, especially gay men. Throughout the movie, I was able to see different points, such as the beginning of AIDS, the misconceptions it had, and the anguish it brought to the doctors as well as people around the world.
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
“And the Band Played On” was an HBO movie that illustrated the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and early 1990s. The movie touched on subjects concerning the reaction of the gay community, the heterosexual community, and the medical community. It showed not only the research in AIDS, but also the way that the US government dealt with it. The movie expressed the consequences the gay community suffered, the plight of the medical community in researching the disease, and the issue of government response to it.
In 1981, a new fatal, infectious disease was diagnosed--AIDS (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome). It began in major cities, such as New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco. People, mostly homosexual men and intravenous drug users, were dying from very rare lung infections or from a cancer known as Kaposi’s sarcoma. They have not seen people getting these diseases in numerous years. Soon, it also affected hemophiliacs, blood recipients, prostitutes and their customers, and babies born from AIDS-infected women. AIDS was soon recognized as a worldwide health emergency, and as a fatal disease with no known cure, that quickly became an epidemic. When high-profile victims began to contract the virus, such as basketball star Magic Johnson, the feeling spread quickly that anyone, not just particular groups of people, could be at risk. AIDS impairs the human body’s immune system and leaves the victim susceptible to various infections. With new research, scientists think that the disease was first contracted through a certain type of green monkey in Africa, then somehow mutated into a virus that a human could get. AIDS is a complicated illness that may involve several phases. It is caused by a virus that can be passed from person to person. This virus is called HIV, or Human Immuno-deficiency Virus. In order for HIV to become full-blown AIDS, your T-cell count (number of a special type of white-blood cells that fight off diseases) has to drop below 200, or you have to get one of the symptoms of an AIDS-induced infection.