I finished watching Philadelphia about an hour ago and I'm still in tears. What a beautiful film. Tom Hanks won the Academy Award that year for his role. I have to say he fully deserved it. And the song "Streets of Philadelphia" was awarded Best Original Song. Two well-deserved awards. The sad part is that movie is fiction, but a majority of the underlying themes - the seriousness of the disease, the sexuality issues, and most importantly, the prejudice - are most certainly factual. This movie was made in 1993, when I was three years old, but eleven years later all three of these factors are still major issues. But why? Why is it that people are prejudiced for being themselves, by choice or otherwise? Andrew Beckett (played by Hanks) is indeed a fictional character, but he represents so many victims of AIDS who were once alive and their own person. Where, in any written form, does it say we must all be the same? Who would want the people in this world to look alike, dress alike, and dream to do the same things as everybody else? If everyone in the world aspired to be a lawyer, everyone would be out of a job, since there would be nobody to serve. And, in my opinion as a semi-ignorant teenage girl, how is it possible that eleven years after the making of this film, that people are still being discriminated against, and worse, killed, because of their sexual preferences in particular? I will most likely be slandered for saying these things, just because I am a heterosexual who does not have AIDS. People may think that I'm saying this to look good. And yes, I know people like that. But you know what? That's wrong. I have a voice, and here I am using it, asking why. Thank God for the makers and creators of this film. I really wish more eyes were opened by watching it. I urge everyone who reads this to go out and rent Philadelphia. It's been eleven years. Isn't it time something was done?

Just some random thoughts from a 14-year-old.