13 - Survivors of the Plague

By: Jean-Cedrick, Nick and Stephanie

What can you do when everyone around is dying and no one will listen? This issue was addressed in the two films we watched this week, How to Survive a Plague directed by David France and We Were Here directed by David Weissman. These films followed the struggle of gay men in New York and San Francisco living through the rise of AIDS. They opened our eyes to a new way of getting your voice heard and taught us love can easily surpass violence.

How to survive a plague

When you hear the word plague your head is instantly swarmed with images of death and destruction. People that fall victim to a plague often feel helpless and may even want to give up their fight. Although it is true that no individual could ever combat a plague alone, if people would join together and use their minds they would be able to accomplish a lot more.

How to Survive a Plague is a 2012 documentary film directed by David France, portraying the struggles of AIDS activists like Larry Kramer, Gregg Bordowitz and Peter Staley. The movie takes place in New York City at the rise of a pandemic no one could have predicted. The story is about the rise of the soon to be global crisis of AIDS. The main focus of the movie is on the gay community that was forming in New York and the organisations like Act Up were creating. France demonstrates what these men went through with modern interviews, videos of the protests and old news clips.

Homosexuality and AIDS were very taboo subjects in the 80s. It wasn’t uncommon that an infected man would keep his secret to himself. To make matters worse, at first nobody wanted to talk about it so nobody was well informed. The media spread lies about the disease, saying that it was possible to transmit it through touching a doorknob. The U.S. government wasn’t much help either. Because the subject of AIDS was so taboo, many senators and even presidents denied its existence for years! It is not until 1984 that Ronald Reagan even speaks publically about AIDS. Yet another enemy of Act Up is the Catholic Church. The Catholic are extremely against contraception and condoms are the best way to slow the spreading of AIDS. The Catholic are also against homosexuality in general so there was a lot of hate coming from them.

Gays have always been the victim of discrimination, but it was certainly at a high point during the AIDS epidemic. Victims of the plague would often be fired from their job or not be admitted into a hospital. People that were infected lived in fear that every day could be their last and there were no drugs to treat them. Another movement to come out of Act Up is TAG (Treatment Action Group). It was TAG’s job to get the government to put safe drugs on the shelves. The plague was also very emotional for those not infected. Every other day a friend or lover would be killed by AIDS and nobody was doing anything about it. It definitely takes a toll on someone when they need to go to four funerals in the same week. People were actually afraid of the gays and though that they were trying to spread the disease to others. They nicknamed it gay cancer, gay plague and gay related Immunodeficiency.

Many blamed the action of the gays for the spread of AIDS and some even thought they deserved what they were going through. Senator Jesse Helms, senator of North Carolina for thirty years, said “AIDS is God’s judgment on a society that does not live by its rules”. Everyone had abandoned them and the only way they could conquer the plague is by joining together.

After being shut down and silenced for a few years, they decided to stand up for themselves and began protesting. They accused the government and drug producers of being murderers, because they were doing nothing to advance the creation of AIDS curing drugs and the process was way too slow. They also protested against the Church by lying in the aisles to try to show how narrow minded their thinking was. But basically, what they were doing was trying to prove that they are just as human as anyone else and should be treated with equality. Their unique approach to protesting is what ultimately got people to listen and gave them a victory.

They adopted harmless strategies to inform people about what was really going on. They made their own “gay media” that told the truth, opposite what the popular media was doing. They also made pamphlets that explained the disease and made agendas to give the government to help with the drug production. They also tried to educate people about gay sex, like Peter Staley did when he got some air time on Crossfire.

http://youtu.be/uUq9gSNil2A

While trying to take control of the situation, they made very diplomatic events to get their points across such as kiss-ins and die-ins. A kiss-in involves going to a public place like a hospital lobby and openly kissing people around you. Similarly, a die-in is where people lie in a public place pretending to be dead, to raise that point that that will be a reality if no actions are taken.

The people talking over the story are all survivors of the plague so we get a genuine sense of what happened in those years. It is heartwarming to see these people telling their story because people got the impression few would make it out alive. Having the testimony and opinions of survivors really gives the film a sense of authenticity.

We Were Here

We Were Here is an American documentary that was produced and directed by David Weissman. It’s a 90 minute film that was released in 2011. The documentary is about the AIDS crisis, also named pejorative names such as the ‘’Gay Plague’’, that took place in San Francisco during the early 1980’s. It is the first documentary that dared to look back at the arrival and the impact of the crisis in San Francisco. The whole documentary is told by five people that had a role during the epidemic, whether their friends had AIDS and passed away or they suffered and almost died themselves. The documentary received a lot of good review because of its initiative and its ability to extend beyond San Francisco and the AIDS crisis; ‘’It speaks to our capacity as individuals to rise to the occasion, and to the incredible power of a community coming together with love, compassion, and determination.’’1

http://youtu.be/oCxqJgpejbs

Hard times

The fact that the documentary is told by people who have been there and who have lived with it makes the movie very real and powerful. We can really feel the emotions portrayed through the movie by the people involved. It shows us how difficult it was to be gay during that time and how hard it was to live while being different. People suffered a lot during the epidemic, but not only the ones infected. We Were Here is very similar to Surviving a Plague because New York and San Francisco had very similar situations. For this reason, it was also very hard for men in San Francisco to have their good friends and lovers dying around them. Because they had to attend so many funerals, they often could not even afford flowers. So one of the men being interviewed, Guy, would donate some flowers from his flower shop to the unfortunate mourners. Guy was also witnessing the destruction around him and wanted to do his part to help. The help of woman was greatly appreciated in this time of need. Whether it came from nurses that did not discriminate or from lesbians who were fighting with their gay brothers. The reason that the participation of the woman was so important is that it was the first time that the gays felt that they were not alone, that someone else cared for them.

The AIDS crisis came as a huge shock to the gay community. They were so used to living their lives freely and having casual sex whenever they wanted. When AIDS started appearing, it was like a restraint to them and they didn’t like it. They had to limit the number of sexual relations they had and had to live in constant fear that they or someone they love could be next to go. This once open and vibrant community had to hold back for once and live in the shadows for a while because no one listened to their problem. However, by being strong and rising up together, they were able to defeat, or at least subdue, the spread of AIDS in America.

 

One among many others

Fighting for our lives: Facing AIDS in San Francisco is a short documentary that has been co-produced and co-directed by Ellen Seidler and Patrick DuNah. It shows us the San Francisco gay community’s response to the AIDS crisis. This documentary is one among many others that have been made to inform about the AIDS crisis, not only domestically but globally as well.

http://youtu.be/IEAY03ZsiSs

Our Thoughts on the Film

Both films were very similar but their main differences are that they took place in two different cities. The distance between New York and San Francisco, the two cities focused on, is approximately 4 680 kilometers. This proves that it is a disease that could affect any place at any time and nowhere is safe, no matter how well developed they are. For these reasons, AIDS must be treated as a global issue and requires the participation of the entire world to treat it for good. The areas most affected by AIDS today are poor part of Africa. Unfortunately, these Africans do not have the luxury to demonstrate and have their government listen to them, so we must speak up for them.

Although the global issue of AIDS is an incredibly difficult concern to tackle, the directors of the two films we watched did an excellent job portraying the “local” history of AIDS.  With the mix of modern interviews and old footage, we really got the sense of how life was living through those hardships while at the same time getting the raw emotion that comes with recounting the terrible events that took place.

Before watching the movies, we thought that the best way to getting your way was being disruptive and even violent. However, in contrast to actions taken out in films like If a Tree Falls and This is What Democracy Looks Like the way the Act Up got their way was with peaceful protests and discussions. Even when riot police abused and arrested them, they were able to keep their cool and keep their dignity. Compassion and empathy are really the key tactics they use to get their way and it pays off. The movies also taught us that nothing can get done by lying around hoping for change.

The way the gays were treated and how the disease wasn’t recognized before it had taken thousands of lives speaks volumes about our society. The discrimination that these men need to face is absolutely disgusting and we think it is inhumane that the gays had to suffer discrimination on top of the widespread disease they were already trying to fight alone. Coming out of the closet is one of the hardest things a gay person will experience in their lives because there are few physical signs to suggest it and it usually comes as a shock to everyone. The fact that gays are still bullied and looked down upon makes it even more difficult. The music video for Make it Stop by Rise Against deals with this topic.

http://youtu.be/XP4clbHc4Xg

Although people can be hated by individuals and feel the pain of discrimination, it is also possible to feel hate coming from a whole group of people. This is case with the Westboro Baptist Church, led by pastor Fred Phelps. This organization is a disgusting, hateful church that pickets funerals of gays, soldiers and even children that were victims of elementary school shootings! That’s their kids holding the signs, who have been taught hate from a young age. Although it is common knowledge that Christianity is against homosexuality, we are not trying to say that all Christians are hateful. The values of the religion are actually very honorable, but as long as we have one group of people like the    WBC tainting the name for everyone, progress is achieved much slower.

What these films are trying to convey is that under no circumstances, should we abandon our fellow man and leave him to die. Whether they are a different race, sexuality, social status or gender they deserve the right to fight for their struggle and possibly survival and no one can take that right away from them. Everyone needs to have a chance to be heard and we must help give a voice to the ones who are being ignored.

After having viewed the film, we have learned many valuable lessons. First of all, even an obstacle as big as AIDS can be overcome if people stick together and don’t give up. The power of many people joined together is much greater than that of the individual. We also learned that violence is not always a good way to react to a situation and usually much more can get done through demonstrations of peace and love.

1: http://wewereherefilm.com