AIDS and ‘Beauty’

I read with great interest Dan Rather’s guest film commentary “The AIDS Metaphor in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ ” (March 22).

While I agree with his idea of the Beast as a symbol of “AIDS victims,” I wish he had extended the metaphor to include a vital aspect of the AIDS crisis as America has come to view it: We sympathize with the Beast, and identify with him, but only as long as he is attractive to us.

Would the movie’s heroine, Belle, have fallen in love with a warty, slimy, hunched, small mess of a creature? Granted, the Beast was, well, a beast , but a well-groomed, even dapper, beast, a proud, strong, noble, likable animal.

If indeed the American public can finally sympathize with those who are physically affected by HIV, AIDS and AIDS-related complexes, it is only because AIDS is now visibly affecting “attractive” populations: heterosexuals, Anglos, professional athletes, non-drug users. Before, the Beast was always “them”: gays, druggies, the promiscuous.

Rather’s article is telling, both for what it says and doesn’t say. The Time Before Magic is very different from the Time After. Now there is more funding, education and attention devoted to AIDS. The Beast that society could not bear to look at before now wears a noble form.

ANTHONY REED

Santa Barbara