Dallas Buyers Club and the AIDS Scare of the 80s

By Jesse Nussman

A movie that has been gaining a lot of attention, especially in the Oscar race, is Dallas Buyers Club. The movie tells the mostly true story of Ron Woodroof, played by Matthew McConaughey, who was diagnosed with AIDS back in the 1980’s. Sadly, at the time there was very little know about AIDS and many often stigmatized as being only found in homosexuals. 1. By 1983, there were up to 3,064 people diagnosed with AIDS in the US and of those 1,292 had died. In 1985 the US government gave pharmaceutical companies licenses to develop tests to see if medication could be made commercially available. 1. Because many people had no idea what caused HIV and AIDS or how it was spread those who contracted the virus were typically discriminated against. Some medical professionals even were reluctant to determine the cause of AIDS because of their prejudice against gays.1.  In fact, not even the Reagan administration was aware of the AIDS epidemic at the time. The movie shows how Woodroof’s friends out of fear that they may catch the virus themselves shun him. At the time there was also little treatment for AIDS victims, meaning Woodroof had to smuggle unapproved drugs from other countries such as Mexico and Japan. Throughout the film Woodruf also learns to be more excepting of the gay community and uses Dallas Buyers Club in order to help give medication to other AIDS victims. 2. However, those who have seen the movie should note that the transgender character of Rayon played by Jared Leto and Jennifer Garner’s characters are fictional although they do allow us as viewers to take a look into the other aspects of the AIDS issue.  2. He would cross the border of Mexico over 300 times wearing various disguises. Eventually Woodruf would get into trouble with the US government for shipping in Peptide T from Denmark. The organization was involved with several lawsuits but this was probably the largest. The judge ended up ruled that Woodruff could use the drug for his own use but could not sell the product to others. 2.The Dallas Buyers club would send drugs to labs in order to be tested. The club held a reputation for using lots of experimental drugs. Woodroof said that he had nothing to lose and nothing he put into his body could be more toxic than HIV and was willing to take the risk. Woodroof even sued the FDA for not allowing him to try the drug AZT. Woodroof eventually would die in 1992 but his story remains a powerful story of one mans determination for survival and willingness to help others.

11.     AVERT, "History of HIV and AIDS in the U.S.." Accessed February 26, 2014. http://www.avert.org/history-hiv-aids-us.htm.

22.     Eliana, Dockterman. TIME Magazine , "The True Story of Dallas Buyers Club." Last modified November 08, 2013. Accessed February 26, 2014. http://entertainment.time.com/2013/11/08/the-true-story-of-dallas-buyers-club/.

33.     Dallas Buyers Club. Theater viewing. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee. Los Angeles: Focus Features, 2013