“She gives him loving that his body can’t handle, but all he can say is ‘baby it’s good to me’. One day he goes and takes a glimpse in the mirror. But he doesn’t recognize his own face. His health is fading and he doesn’t know why three letters took him to his final resting place.”
This verse from the song, Waterfalls, as recorded by TLC, depicts the life of young person who has contracted AIDS by not practicing safe sex. In the music video, the young man and his girlfriend soon become sick and die. This song is just one way that the topic of AIDS has entered the realm of the entertainment industry.
With movies like Philadelphia, starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, the topic of AIDS has become an open topic in the film industry.
In the movie Hanks’s character, is a homosexual man who was fired from his job for being gay and having AIDS. Washington’s character is the lawyer who helped him successfully sue the company for discrimination. This film, like so many others form of entertainment opened many eyes to this dreaded disease.
Who can forget certain black television shows which showcased episodes focused on AIDS? An example is the now syndicated college sitcom A Different World. In a very special episode, Tisha Campbell-Martin portrayed a young woman with AIDS. This let young African Americans know that AIDS does not discriminate.
Now that the topic of AIDS has become of vast importance, it is important for children to understand the prevention and detection of this deadly disease.
On television in South Africa, Sesame Street introduced a new muppet named “Kami.” Kami is five years old, cuddly and HIV positive. Through this show, children are taught not to be afraid of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. This new muppet will not appear on the American version of Sesame Street, but it will grab the attention of children, as reported in Jet magazine.
With 4.7 million South Africans infected with the disease, it is important for children to gain an understanding of HIV and AIDS at an early age.
With a tremendously large number of American and African American cases of AIDS, this boom in television shows and movies pertaining to this disease are now a common fixture on the big and small screen.
