Film Journal | Philadelphia (1993)

Introduction and Story Development

Philadelphia is an America legal and gay film that released in 1993. This movie is directed by Jonathan Demme and the screenwriter is Ron Nyswaner. The main characters are Tom Hanks as Andrew Beckett and Denzel Washington as Joe Miller (AFI catalog of feature films, n.d.).

This movie is talking about the main character, Andrew is a brilliant and shrewd attorney in Wyant, Wheeler, Hellerman, Tetlow & Brown, Philadelphia. He is a homosexual and accidentally infected with AIDS. His boss let him to in charge of the Highline, a vital case for the company. However during the discussion, one of the partners, Walter Kenton has discovered Andrew's AIDS lesion and decides to give Andrew a sack by setting up a trap. Andrew falls into the trap and facing attrition. Although his advocate, Joe Miller is having a stereotype on Andrew, he eventually helps Andrew to win the lawsuit, appealing to the masses to accept and respect the homosexual subculture. 

Homosexual and Heterosexual

In the definition of Heterosexual: Cambridge dictionary(n.d.), homosexual refers to someone that is sexually attracted to people of the same sex and not to people of the opposite sex. On the contrary, heterosexual refers to someone that sexually attracted by people of the opposite sex (Homosexual: Cambridge dictionary, n.d.). The strong contrast between both sexual orientations causes many disputes among society. Homosexual is always the colony in a weak position and need to bear discrimination from others since the society is mainly constructed by heterosexual.

Characters -Joe Miller

This movie is mainly narrating the changes of Joe Miller, a heterosexual after taking over the lawsuit of a homosexual, Andrew Beckett. In the beginning, Andrew visits Joe's office and asks for advocacy from Joe due to improper attrition. However, Joe declines his inquiry and shows his aversion and stereotype to Andrew after he knows Andrew is gay with AIDS. During the conversation is going on, Joe stares fixedly at every movement and lesion on Andrew, worrying about the infection of AIDS. Since Andrew is homosexual, Joe never gives any trust to him. 

After the coincidence in the library, Joe finally gives up the stereotypes of homosexual and helps Andrew to defeat the opponent although he was dying at that moment. He starts to understand the discriminated circumstances of being a homosexual and retorts the questions from reporters. To have more understanding of the homosexual colony, Joe even involves himself in a gay party. After they win the lawsuit, Joe visits Andrew in the hospital as he is now terminally ill and helps him to wear the oxygen mask intimately. These changes on Joe is obvious since he completely alters his position on homosexual issues.

Stereotype

Career

In Andrew's career, he was a reliable employee and consistently done his job well. There is a scene that Andrew attempts to do his work overtime until 10:15p.m. He doesn't give himself a good rest time since he is settling his dinner while dealing with his work. Although he has a passion for law and work, he is eventually given a sack by the company since he is discriminated against for his sexual orientation and AIDS disease by the company head. After Mr Wheeler receives the summons, he immediately tells his partners to investigate the private life of Andrew especially for the issues that are related to his sexual orientation and sexual intercourse. The purpose of the investigation is to reveal the "inappropriate lifestyle" of a homosexual. 


Society

In society, the masses support the capitalists to defeat Andrew in the lawsuit due to his identity as a homosexual. In the discriminative heterosexual mindset, homosexuals have no rights for sodomites and do not deserve human rights. But the question is that the lawsuit is relating to the inappropriate sack but not a sexual harassment case. A lot of critical comments are assault Andrew's personality although he has done nothing wrong. 


Apart from that, when Joe is in the bar, the people are discussing Andrew's lawsuit and deride Joe's action as he strives to advocate for Andrew's case. They even doubt the sexual orientation of Joe, thinking that he is homosexual. These reactions and phenomena show the isolated and helpless of the homosexual colony because no one will give them support. The one who stands up bravely for equality will be derided and denied by others stereotype. Therefore, no one is willing to speak the truth out and helps the isolated colony in Philadelphia society.



Conclusion

To conclude, this is a movie with an avant-garde ideology that is the equality of sexual orientation. Philadelphia indicates discrimination towards the AIDS disease among society. The relating symptoms and infection method are mentioned in the movie, having an effect on disapproving the myths of AIDS. From my perspective, the stereotype of homosexual and AIDS is due to the lack of knowledge and intolerance of society. This is because people normally will have a negative reaction to the things that are unknown in their mindset. 

References

AFI catalog of feature films. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://catalog.afi.com/Film/59629-PHILADELPHIA?sid=aad52e31-a1fb-47d7-8994-12323cc432c8&sr=21.281605&cp=1&pos=0

Heterosexual: Cambridge dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/heterosexual

Homosexual: Cambridge dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/homosexual

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Film Journal | Sumatra's Last Tiger (2010)

Image
Introduction and Story Line  Sumatra's Last Tiger is a documentary film released in 2010. Its director is Harun Rahman and the story background is located in Tambling, Indonesia. (Pulfer, 2019) The film shows the Sumatra conservation area which also the territory for the Sumatra tiger. It shows the disadvantages of humans illegal activities that cause the extinction of Sumatra tiger. The Sumatra tiger's conservation activities and its difficulties were demonstrated in this film. Mode of Documentary Poetic A poetic documentary mode is implemented in this documentary film. In the plot development, the voice-over mentions the tiger is overcoming the food shortage problem and tries to attack humans since the poachers have hunted most of the animals in Tambling, Indonesia. Besides, the illegal logging activities causes Sumatras tiger to lose their territory and approach the village in Tumbling. A blurry and linear scene is shown to act as the vision of a starved tiger that perceives...
Read more

Film Journal | Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Image
Introduction & Story Development Bicycle Thieves (1948) is an Italian Neorealism movie that is directed by Vittorio De Sica and written by Cesare Zavattini. Its main characters are Lamberto Maggiorani as Anthony Ricci and  Enzo Staiola as Bruno Ricci. (Bicycle thieves, n.d.) This movie is narrating a poor family living in Rome the city. Anthonio is one of the unemployed men at that time. He strives to ransom his old bicycle and eventually grabs the opportunity of working. However, his bicycle is snatched by thieves on the first day of work. Hence, he launches the investigation of the stolen bicycle. In the end, Anthonio not only fails on the investigation but also try to steal others bicycle and being caught by its owner at that moment. MODERNISM Halting delivery In the Bicycle Thieves, a halting delivery is shown in many scenes. The characters will suddenly vary their direction while they are walking to some places. For instance, when Anthonio spots the th...
Read more

Film Journal | Braveheart (1995)

Image
Introduction and Story Development Braveheart is an action movie released in 1995. It's director and writer respectively are Mel Gibson and Randall Wallace. Mel Gibson is also the integral character in this movie as he acts as William Wallace. The other characters are Angus Macfadyen as Robert the Bruce, Catherine McCormack as Murron MacClannough, and Patrick McGoohan as Longshanks- Edward I.  ( AFI catalog of feature films ) In the thirteenth century Scotland, Edward I is an ambitious king as he has been trying to occupy Scotland for many years. In William Wallace lifetime, his secret lover and father both killed by the English. Therefore, William Wallace has mustered the Scottish and set up an army to grab the opportunity of freedom for the Scottish. Eventually, he was betrayed by the Scottish noble and was executed a death sentence by the English. Although he is unfortunately killed by the English, his legendary stories and noble spirit have be...
Read more