Media Analysis

For my media analysis I decided to watch the Dallas Buyers Club directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. The plot of this movie starts out with a man who likes to live on the wild side of life. What the wild side of his life consists of is using drugs, riding a bull, and having promiscuous sex. One day, Ron, the protagonist, finds out that he is HIV positive. At first, he is in denial about this news, but he slowly starts accepting it as he flashes back to a wild night of unprotected sex with a hooker. After he has fully accepted the fact that he has HIV, he starts receiving treatment. Ron soon finds out that the treatment that he is receiving is actually making him worse, so he finds a doctor with a revoked license in Mexico and that doctor gives him DDC and peptide T. Ron finds himself getting better immediately and realizes that with the amount of people that need this treatment, that they are willing to pay good money to get the treatment and get themselves better. Among a lot of troubles to be able to sell the treatment, the FDA makes unapproved substances illegal to sell. Towards the end of the film, Ron sues the FDA because of how hard it is to obtain the treatment he needs. He was not able to make the treatment legal, however, the FDA made an expectation towards Ron, and he was able to use it towards his own personal use.

The reason why I decided to write about the Dallas Buyers Club is because it shows a lot of homophobia and inequality. Quickly after Ron finds out that he is HIV positive, he tells a friend after a night of heavy drinking and doing drugs. The friend seems like he would keep quiet about the confession, but soon after, Ron finds his “friends” to be disapproving of him and making mean and unnecessary comments about him and his condition. Soon after losing his friends, everyone else finds out about his condition and he soon finds himself out of a job, kicked out of his home and excluded from his family. This all connects to the