Teens today don’t get how ground breaking and revolutionary THE REAL WORLD was back when it hit the airwaves in 1992. It rocked my world. It captivated everyone my age. It spoke to teens in a way that television never had before. It represented American youth, good bad and the ugly in a way that seemed respectful and almost educational.

I sat there in awe of the social experiment before me and I fell in love with seven strangers because they were REAL!

For the last decade, the show has become a heinous train wreck full of despicable human beings and STDs. If The Real World of my youth taught me tolerance and diversity, The Real World of today is teaching people how to be whores, rageaholics and walking breast implants.

Before you jump down my throat, I have watched the Brooklyn cast and for the first time in a long time, the show seems like the show I fell in love with 17 years ago. Sure I wanna punch some of them in the face and tell them to grow the fuck up but overall, this season has been about tolerance and diversity. I like that. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that they featured the AIDS Ride (and The Center) I participate in heavily.

So… out of nowhere this MTV flick pops up called PEDRO: THE MOVIE and I’m sitting here shaking my head. WTF?!

Why make a fictionalized account of something we all witnessed on television and in the closest thing to reality we could? MTV surely has thousands of hours of footage from the San Francisco season so I don’t understand what the purpose of this film is.

Why hire 3rd rate actors (sorry kids) to sleep and/or ham their way through scenes we all know, love and can probably recite word for word when you have THE ACTUAL FUCKING FOOTAGE?

The target demo for MTV today is not people that remember Pedro or what he did for the face of AIDS in America. I don’t want to rehash it all but he really did give a face to a disease people thought always happened to “them.” It hit home for a lot of parents and he made an impact on America. He was a gay man living with AIDS who was well spoken, incredibly smart, handsome and genuinely beautiful as a person. It was good for people to see this and for President Clinton to embrace him. It helped lessen the stigma.

So what I don’t understand is why they’re making this movie and not just airing a documentary to honor him with real footage of the real man that is Pedro Zamora?

It’s really working my nerve. This bugs the shit out of me. It seems like exploitation at its finest but for what reason? I don’t get it.

I had just come out to my family right before the San Francisco season aired and it was huge for me to see an openly gay and normal guy representing my life in some way, shape or form. I grew to admire what he was doing, his mission and his importance. I watched as he and Sean committed themselves to each other. I watched as he got sick and was hospitalized. I watched his funeral for heavens sake and cried my eyes out. It was real and it was important to me. That’s why I’m pissed.

Whatever…

Have I seen the film? No. I’m passing judgment because well, the previews and the clips I’ve seen are horrifyingly bad. I know that Dustin Lance Black wrote the screenplay but that means nothing. There shouldn’t be a screenplay. He lived his life in front of the camera for a reason, to teach people about AIDS and tolerance. This only cheapens his mission in my eyes. That’s my right and my opinion.

Here’s the only thing I’ll promote that’s accompanying this film. Here’s a clip of President Clinton talking about Pedro and the impact his life had on all of us. It’s tasteful which is more than I can say for what MTV’s concocted… allegedly!

If you want to see what the real Pedro was all about, check this video out. Someone has placed the 1994 tribute MTV did about Pedro on youtube. It’s a duped VHS recording and that makes it all the more kick ass.

Part 1:

The rest of the Pedro tribute videos after the jump…

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 1:04 am and is filed under Ducky Does TV, Gay, Jensen Ackles, TV Boyfriends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.