And the Band Played On

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A film set in the 1980s about a group of epidemiologists investigating the spread of AIDS. It explores the multitude of topics that the spread of AIDS brought to the fore: most notably, the gay community and homophobia. It is something of a Tear Jerker. Based on a book of the same name written by Randy Shilts, a reporter for the San Fransisco Chronicle.

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Tropes

• Adam Westing - Alan Alda as a jerk doctor.
• All Gays Are Promiscuous - The airline steward. Almost borders on Depraved Homosexual.
• Arc Words - "What do we know, What do we suspect, What can we prove?"
  • "Gay Cancer"
• Armor-Piercing Question - "How many dead hemophiliacs do you need?"
• Brainy Brunette - Both Selma Dritz and Mary Guinan
• But You Screw One Goat! - AIDS was first transmitted to humans from apes.
  • Actually, the common belief is that the cross-species transmission occurred when a bushmeat hunter or vendor cut himself and blood-to-blood contact happened that way.
• The Chick - Mary Guinan
• Club Kid - Or more accurately, bathhouse kid
• Eureka Moment - Francis gets a new idea about how the disease works... by watching a game of Pac-Man.
• Even the Guys Want Him - The steward, naturally
• Fag Hag - Selma Dritz
• Film of the Book - Non-fiction book by San Francisco Chronicle journalist Randy Shilts.
• Ho Yay
• Ignored Expert - All of the scientists
• Jerkass - Bob Gallo.
• The Medic - All of the scientists, as well
• Obstructive Bureaucrat - Homophobic as well
• Only in It For the Money - The bathhouse owner
• The Plague - AIDS
• Precision F-Strike - Selma Dritz:

Let's cut the crap.

• Really Gets Around - The steward
• Science Is Bad - Inverted. The scientists are portrayed the most sympathetically of anyone
• Shirtless Scene - The steward
• Smoking Is Cool - Also the steward
• Straight Gay
• Truth in Television - A tragic Real Life example. From the CDC being underfunded to the bitter rivalry between Dr. Gallo and the Pasteur Institute. The whole thing is just Harsher in Hindsight - The Movie.
• Yaoi Fangirl - Selma Dritz