In 1993, academy award winning actors Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington starred in the movie, Philadelphia, the first major motion picture to address the issue of HIV/AIDS (Howard, 2015). One intent of this movie was to highlight homophobia, the irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals ("Homophobia", 2016), in addition to highlighting the Nation's baseless fear of those infected with HIV/AIDS. These fears were fueled by a lack of education regarding the disease and resulted in intense discrimination against those with the disease. Hanks refers to the influence of this type of fear in his 2011 Yale Commencement address, "Fear twists facts into fictions that become indistinguishable from ignorance"
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Hanks once again uses humor as he addresses this audience of graduates, however, he also shows compassion as he acknowledges the significance of the events that occurred on September 11, 2001, which marred the beginning of their freshman year. Concentrating the theme of his speech around "The Power of Four" (Hanks, "The Power of Four"), Hanks emphasizes the change that can come about if only four out of every one hundred people band together for a common purpose. His passion continues as he implores this class to "help", a word that demonstrates the power of four within its own four letters, emphasizing the need to eliminate indifference which "is so quickly filled by ignorance and evil" (Hanks, "The Power of Four"). He again implores them to help, emphasizing the need to "embrace diversity and celebrate differences" (Hanks, "The Power of Four"). He once again implores the class to continually help, emphasizing the impact they will have if "more than four out of one hundred" of them choose to make the "same choice to help" (Hanks, "The Power of Four"). By incorporating this passionate plea for help, Hanks is acknowledging a belief in the vast potential of his audience. This demonstration of faith in his audience's abilities to accomplish positive change along with an exclusion of his own personal achievements, contributes to an authentic feel in Hanks' 2005 Vassar College Commencement address that is not present in Washington's 2011 Penn Commencement address. While both speeches contain powerful messages and offer life lessons that, if applied, could result in positive change, Hanks' speech is more effective than Washington's as a result of the
Hanks once again uses humor as he addresses this audience of graduates, however, he also shows compassion as he acknowledges the significance of the events that occurred on September 11, 2001, which marred the beginning of their freshman year. Concentrating the theme of his speech around "The Power of Four" (Hanks, "The Power of Four"), Hanks emphasizes the change that can come about if only four out of every one hundred people band together for a common purpose. His passion continues as he implores this class to "help", a word that demonstrates the power of four within its own four letters, emphasizing the need to eliminate indifference which "is so quickly filled by ignorance and evil" (Hanks, "The Power of Four"). He again implores them to help, emphasizing the need to "embrace diversity and celebrate differences" (Hanks, "The Power of Four"). He once again implores the class to continually help, emphasizing the impact they will have if "more than four out of one hundred" of them choose to make the "same choice to help" (Hanks, "The Power of Four"). By incorporating this passionate plea for help, Hanks is acknowledging a belief in the vast potential of his audience. This demonstration of faith in his audience's abilities to accomplish positive change along with an exclusion of his own personal achievements, contributes to an authentic feel in Hanks' 2005 Vassar College Commencement address that is not present in Washington's 2011 Penn Commencement address. While both speeches contain powerful messages and offer life lessons that, if applied, could result in positive change, Hanks' speech is more effective than Washington's as a result of the