Depicting Reality: Portrayals of Gay and Bi-Racial Individuals

After garnering public attention in the early 1980s, AIDS began appearing in film and on television. Communications professor Kylo-Patrick Hart (University of Virginia-Wise) says generally AIDS sufferers have been portrayed as either “innocent victims” or “guilty villains.” Homosexuals with AIDS are often portrayed as villains, he says. Hart, author of The AIDS Movie: Representing A Pandemic in Film and Television, looks at media portrayals of AIDS and homosexuality.

Also featured: The 2000 U.S. Census shows that an increasing number of Americans identify themselves as members of several ethnic groups. Theater professor Jasmin Lambert (William & Mary) discusses how drama over time has portrayed the “mulatto,” a person of both African-American and white ancestry.