Today we were on campus and looked at film as a type of art that creates social change. We specifically focused on the HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s. In the morning we watched portions of And The Band Played On. The film (adapted from a true story), explored the beginning of the epidemic in the US. At the start of the epidemic, it was wrongly believed that HIV/AIDS only affected gay men, so people suffering from AIDS were discriminated against. In fact, before the name “AIDS” was adopted, the disease was called “gay cancer” or the “gay plague.” The film gave us the background knowledge necessary to appreciate the film we watched after lunch, Philadelphia (Mrs. Galler was an extra!). It’s a story about a lawyer who sues his law firm after he gets fired for having HIV. The movie, released in 1993, was made to change people’s perspectives and stop the discrimination towards people with AIDS.