philadelphia
Jonathan Demme did not choose to call this movie "Andy's struggle", or "prejudice against gays". Instead he decided to name the film after one of America's most proud and famous cities, Philadelphia. He chose to do it like this because it is not a story about one man and it is not a story about gays. It is a story about society and how back in 1993, we were ignorant to the HIV virus and we thought of gays and homosexuals as lesser people. Never before had any director attempted to portray this issue in a film, but it was a long over due theme that needed to be addressed. And Mr. Demme portrayed this message wonderfully through the use of complex characters. He used their transformation throughout the film and character arcs to show how we as a society acted towards this serious issue and as the story progressed, we began to see just how ignorant we all were. The story begins with the director taking us through the streets of Philadelphia while the ever so talented Bruce Springsteen's "streets of Philadelphia" plays softly in the background. Once the short introduction comes to an end, this is when we meet our two protagonists, Andrew Beckett (played by Tom Hanks) and Joe Miller (played by Denzel Washington). It is through the
He imitates gay people as little fairy's and ballerinas and calls them fruits and queers. At the very end of the party, Joe and Andy have a very intimate moment together and this is where Andy freely expresses his inner pain and feelings to Joe. This is where we really see how Andy has evolved from being ashamed and frightened, to openly accepting reality and not letting it get him down. But he did grow as a human being and he did finally realized that he was not going to let this obstacle come in his way of living his life to the fullest. As the movie continues we see a slow transformation in Andy. Unfortunately, he is fired from the job that he loved so much and he is sure that it was under wrongful dismissal. Also, through Andy's character, he sends a message indirectly to homosexuals, to show them that there is nothing to hide anymore. These are all ways of showing us how nice of a guy Andy really is and from the very get-go, the audience takes a liking to Andy. This shows us that he has not yet accepted reality. We see that he has passed the first step but he has not yet fully transformed because when approached by a homosexual in a drug store we clearly see that he is still very homophobic. After viewing this touching piece of art, many people at that time experienced their own character arc at the same time that Joe Miller was going through his. Through these two fantastic characters and the arcs as the movie progresses, Jonathon Demme delivers a message to society about the rights of gays and enlightens us in a time that clearly needed enlightenment on this particular subject. Instead he goes straight home to kiss his child and hold his wife to show the viewer that he is appreciating everything he has and that he feels compassion for Andy. Andy is asked to switch to another room by the librarian but he refuses.
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Acceptance Essays
