Philadelphia

Philadelphia is a movie made in 1993 about the stigmas and prejudices that follow HIV positive victims and homosexuals. Tom Hanks played the main character, Andrew Beckett, who was diagnosed with AIDs and was fired from his job not long after. He believes he was fired for unjust reasons and was discriminated against because he was a homosexual with AIDs. Tom Hanks struggled through his sickness while trying to press charges against the firm he worked at. He approached another attorney, Joe Miller, played by Denzel Washington, for help and Miller originally said no for his own personal prejudices against gay people. After realizing the severity of the discrimination Andrew Beckett endured everyday, Joe Miller agreed to represent him against the firm.

This movie really brought home how the majority of the population felt about homosexuals during this time. Addressing the unknown and popular stigmas surrounding AIDs. The discrimination was found everywhere in the movie, but as the lawsuit continued and developed, the people who were originally homophobic and scared of AIDs, saw the strength and devotion of Andrew Beckett and started to change their views.

The standard homosexual man’s power was questioned throughout this movie. Constantly when different men were confronted about their sexuality they became extremely defensive and macho. For example, there was a scene when Joe Miller was approached by a homosexual in the super market and Joe was instantly offended. Joe then threatened the homosexual physically across the isle to prove his heterosexuality. The heterosexual men were very protective of their title and status as a heterosexual.

The true feelings of society were brought to the table in one of the scenes when Joe started yelling homosexual profanities and it started a profound uproar. He proceeded to describe how everyone’s aggressiveness towards the gay community was due to their underlying homophobia. This scene proved that the culture was hypocritical because they claimed to be righteous when their actions prove otherwise.

Philadelphia did an amazing job bringing the reality of homophobia to the mass public. It showed the power struggles as well as the down right cruelty the gay population suffer.