Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Ing. Dana Volfová The Portrayal of Women in American Films about the Beginning of the AIDS Epidemic Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B. A. 2016 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature 1 I would like to thank Mr. Vanderziel for his guidance and valuable advice. 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 4 2. History of the AIDS Epidemic .................................................................... 7 3. The Influence of the Epidemic on the Gay Community ........................... 10 4. Women in the Epidemic ........................................................................... 13 5. The Analysis of the chosen films .............................................................. 16 I. An Early Frost .......................................................................................... 17 II. Longtime Companion ............................................................................ 20 III. And the Band Played On ....................................................................... 22 IV. Zero Patience ........................................................................................ 25 V. Angels in America ................................................................................. 29 VI. The Normal Heart ................................................................................. 35 6. The Trends and Stereotypes ...................................................................... 39 7. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 42 Works Cited ........................................................................................................ 44 Films................................................................................................................ 44 Literature ......................................................................................................... 44 Resumé (EN) ....................................................................................................... 49 Resumé (CZ) ....................................................................................................... 50 3 1. Introduction “Please, tell me you can use me for something,” begs Estelle in The Normal Heart. She desperately wants to help gay men fight against the new horrible disease which has been ravaging gay community for some time. AIDS was a disaster no one at the beginning of the 1980s expected. The gay community was enjoying hard-won (relative) freedom, enabling them to spend time together in gay discos, bars and bathhouses without the fear of being bullied by the police. The sexually transmitted diseases, dangerous in the past, were not seen as a threat anymore, because they were easily treatable. Promiscuity became the lifestyle for many gay men. The new disease no one knew anything about at the beginning meant, in many ways, the end of this old life. The number of deaths attributed to AIDS was so large, that the community practically lost most of one generation. With that being said, it is understandable that gay men are the focus of most historians, writers and filmmakers. However, it is important not to forget that they were not the only ones affected by the disease. There is no doubt that women played a significant role in the period when AIDS first emerged and in the difficult years that followed. They were caretakers, friends, support groups members, activists and, of course, family members. Although the lesbian and gay community had not always been close and they had their disagreements, the lesbians now rushed to help the men in need. They took care of them as volunteers, when doctors or nurses were too afraid to treat them properly. Moreover, they were sometimes the closest family the men had, because their own blood relatives refused to look after them. Yet, they often stay in the shadow 4 of men and their roles are marginalized or not mentioned at all, both in history and culture. This attitude is often mirrored in films about the AIDS epidemic, which mostly focus on the affected men and women then provide the background to their stories. This is the reason I have chosen this topic for my bachelor thesis; I would like to see how exactly are the female characters used and what are their characteristics. Connected to this is the problem of the change of this portrayal in time. The goal of this bachelor thesis is to analyze the role of women in American films about the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. It is going to explore the questions how the portrayal changes over time and in different genres. In addition, it is going to determine whether there is a stereotype present and if it is the case, what kind of stereotype it is. In the end, it is going to determine whether the thesis that the portrayal of women in these films changes towards more realistic over time is true or false. The analysis is based on following films as primary sources: An Early Frost (1985), Longtime Companion (1989), And the Band Played On (1993), Zero Patience (1993), the miniseries Angels in America (2003) and The Normal Heart (2013). The films were chosen in connection with the year of their origin, so they cover the span of thirty years. They also represent various genres, from a famous drama to a musical. Apart from these primary sources, the thesis arguments will be supported by secondary sources written about the films or having the topic connected to the subject of the thesis. The method I am going to use for analyzing the films and drawing the conclusion is qualitative analysis. The first chapter of the thesis will provide brief history of the gay community in the United States in the second half of the 20th century. The chapter will then focus on the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. It will also mention social and psychological 5 consequences of the epidemic on the gay community. The topic of the next chapter is the often forgotten help women offered the affected men. They were doctors, nurses, volunteers and in some cases even substituted for family members who cut ties with the gay men. Many of these volunteering women were lesbians; their personal experience will be also mentioned in this chapter. The practical part of the thesis will be divided into subchapters, each of them focusing on one of the chosen films. They will start with a brief plot overview and then will analyze the female characters, their personalities and role in the film in depth. The last part will then draw conclusion from the analysis and will decide whether there are some observable trends in portraying women as well as describe possible stereotypes. 6 2. History of the AIDS Epidemic Homosexuality was seen through history by many cultures as a crime or a mental illness. In the United States, gay men and lesbians faced violence from police, were ostracized by society or even their own families. Moreover, they were strongly discriminated against on a job market. In 1953, President Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10450 based on which it became perfectly legal not to hire someone or to fire them just because they were gay (Ford). The first change of this situation occurred in the 1960s, a period where various minorities were fighting for their rights. A not uncommon police raid on a gay night club in New York, Stonewall Inn, resulted in widespread protests which later became known as “The Stonewall Riot” and a starting point for a gay liberation movement (Brinkley 955-956). By the end of the 1970s, situation for gay men and lesbians was, when contrasting it with pre-Stonewall times, significantly better. In 1973, American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses, which was a step towards regarding homosexuality as an alternative sexual preference rather than a condition which should be treated and which people can be cured from. In 1977, Harvey Milk was elected into the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as one of the first openly gay officials. He fought discrimination of gay people in a job market by introducing a gay rights ordinance which would prevent them from being fired from their jobs ("Bringing People Hope"). The long struggle for equal rights was in no way over but the effect was already showing, especially in large cities with strong gay communities, such as New York and San Francisco. There were a growing number of places where gay people could go for entertainment, meeting new friends and, last but not least, seek sexual encounters – bars, discos or bathhouses. For the first – and the last 7 – time for this community, sex was “worry-free in the absence of significant health threats like HIV. Sexual freedom or promiscuity wasn’t seen as ‘dirty’ “(Comer). This would all change. In the 1980s, a thread that had already been present for some time, became apparent. In June 1981, some cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia were reported in previously healthy gay men, and soon there were other reports concerning rare skin cancer, Kaposi’s sarcoma in the same group ("A Timeline of AIDS"). This immune deficiency was first called GRID (gay-related immune deficiency) ("History of AIDS Up to 1986"), but later it became clear that gay men are not