I find the primary theme in this film to be attitudes towards other genders, races, sexual orientation etc. in this case sexual orientation. Initially Ron States "I don't even know any faggots, I'm a rodeo". So even his interaction with homosexuals is extremely limited which is more than likely the cause of his ignorant attitude. This develops throughout the film as Rons relationship with Rayon develops as does his amount of interaction/encounters with the gay community. This concludes in Ron providing free medicine to those affected (whereas in the beginning he was doing it to help himself and make money) and Rons transformation as a human being as he embraces Rayon which is symbolic of Rons acceptance of alternative lifestyles. Running alongside this is the theory that the hospitals is supposed to be the place where you go for help whereas from Rons and Eves (overtime) perspective, the hospital is not necessarily helping people but doing what it can to get extra funding even if that's not necessarily in the interests of its patients. Ron on the other hand researches alternative forms of medicine and travels the world and manages to keep himself alive for a further seven years as opposed to the thirty days he was initially given. In retrospect I think the main theme is about not judging a book by its cover, as Ron learns and experiences more about the gay community the more he becomes accepting of it. On the opposite side the more he learns about the medicine and hospitals/pharmaceutical companies as businesses the less trusting he is of them. So I'd say the main theme is about knowledge being empowering and not judging or forming opinions on people/institutions from a position of ignorance.

Steve, you hit on some major themes in DBC and while moving beyond prejudice might seem to be the major one, your last point -- about how knowledge = power -- manages to encompass the nature of Ron's journey in totality. * The knowledge he gains in his personal relationships with the LGBT community, most notably Rayon, empowers him to move beyond his own personal biases and discover a 'family' beyond that which he's known. * The knowledge he gains in his quest to find appropriate medicine to help himself and others does precisely that, especially relevant due to the lack of focus on HIV-AIDS research from the very first outbreak of the condition, the Reagan administration turning a blind eye to it, many would argue due to the fact they saw it as a "gay thing," so who cares. * The knowledge he gains about the medical industry and Big Pharma which leads him to create the DBC, only to be met with resistance on the part of government officials. Another thematic lens through to look at the story, broadly speaking, is Ron goes on an innocence-to-experience journey. Not that he begins the story as a classic innocent figure, but in terms of the gay community, HIV-AIDS, medical institutions, Big Pharma and all the rest, he is acutely ignorant of basically all that. His learning curve is steep and quick, and it transforms him as a human being. Thanks, Steve, for that analysis. Sparked some thinking for me.

As a newbie to script analysis I thought this one was tricky to analyze because, as you mentioned, the biopic doesn't have to closely adhere to common spec-script conventions. But then we got to the subject of theme, which I took to be survival, and then everything was a little clearer. The script deals with a time when diagnosis = death and the only question is how long someone diagnosed with HIV-AIDS will survive. With that in mind, Ron is a character it's initially hard to empathize with in a movie about HIV-AIDS--he does drugs, has unprotected sex, is sexist, racist, and doesn't like homosexuals. Would the audience be terribly upset if he didn't survive if that's all we knew of him? But then Ron's survival instinct kicks in, and the audience watches it transform him. Ron begins the movie very "Us vs Them" until his diagnosis creates new teams: "Us" is everyone trying to survive (like Rayon and LGBT community) and those trying to help (Saks, Vass). "Them" is everyone else (Sevard, FDA, big Pharma). These new teams propel Ron beyond his personal biases, and the audience quickly discovers that Ron is that guy you want on your team in a fight, even if any other time you think he's an a**hole. I know people like that. Most of us do. The DBC represents survival--and not even survival indefinitely since this is a time when there is still no expectation of long-term survival. Probably more accurate to say the DBC represents the right of the Ron, Rayon and all other diagnosed people to fight death on their own terms, not terms dictated by the folks not faced with their own early death--Sevard/medical-thought leaders, Big Pharma, and the FDA. Looking through that thematic lens helped me better understand the structural framework--three acts based on creation and evolution of DBC--and narrative focus on three main characters who start the movie on different "teams" and become a more unified team as the opposing team--made up of Sevard, Big Pharma, and FDA--emerges. Losing Rayon "early" doesn't take away from the story's momentum because the team of fighters and it's will to win rolls on. The ending also doesn't give us a sense of futility or loss because we get the sense that the team's will to win is bigger than the setbacks and can survive individual loss.

Rashonda, great observation about survival as a theme. It's one of those dynamics which is so obvious, we may tend to overlook it, but you are absolutely right: Ron's will to survive lies at the very heart of the story. It motivates him to do everything he does, at least for the first half of the movie. As he becomes more and more 'selfless,' his cause moves beyond mere self-survival to helping the masses. Good points and thanks!