Growing Up In The Age Of AIDS

After a patently disgusting MTV-like opening montage in which images of emaciated, dying young men are edited to pulsating music, Growing Up in the Age of AIDS takes us "live" to an ABC News studio in New York where Peter Jennings walks into a ring surrounded by people sitting on bleacher seats. Tabloid TV meets the AIDS crisis head-on, and in this kind of confrontation between information and theater there can be only one winner: theater. Which means, of course, that personality always takes priority over issues. So, we get a prolonged argument between David Barr, legal advocate for the Gay Men's Health Crisis Association, and Stephen Young from the Health Insurance Association: the subject, work-related insurance benefits or the lack thereof for workers with AIDS (a subject of enormous relevance to the young teens the show is aimed at). It's not terribly germane to the entry-level discussion of AIDS, but the boys know how to pitch a bitch and the constant cutting of eyes towards ringmaster Peter leaves little doubt as to which is more important: what they're saying or how they're saying it. The circus analogy is not lightly chosen: a humongous screen carries "live" interviews from Amsterdam; a flashing toll-free number encourages viewers to call in with their questions which might be answered on the air; and Peter courts the audience ala Donahue, mike in hand, concern on face. The show hits rock-bottom with a pair of skits. In the first, two teenage boys perform a father and son playlet about putting a condom on a banana. After the playlet, various "experts" offer critiques (often on the performance rather than the information.) For the second skit, the lights dim down while a spotlight focuses on an audience member named "Carrie" who plays "Jessie," the girlfriend who didn't know that her boyfriend "Eric" shot up. The audience applauds wildly, and "Carrie" now has a clip to show the soap talent scouts. In spite of all this, some good information does get passed along: viewers will get the standard spiel of how AIDS is transmitted and how it works. But they'll also be hit with questionable information: Dr. James "Focus on the Family" Dobson asserts that condoms fail 15.7% of the time (a ludicrous number, and no one even blinks; in fact, it becomes the accepted standard for discussions later in the program). And, in answer to the question "will I die from AIDS?," ABC News medical correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman allows that the "chances are very high" (not the most sugar-coated euphemism I've ever heard, but not the most honest response either.) AIDS is not entertaining; making it the subject of tabloid TV may or may not advance some knowledge (along with dispensing a lot of trash). Regardless, there are better programs on the subject available. Not recommended. (Available from most distributors.)