This essay examines the representation of AIDS in the popular Fox television series Beverly Hills, 90210 during the 1996–97 television season. At a time when AIDS has become a leading cause of death among 25- to 44-year-old Americans of various sexual orientations, mass media offerings still typically represent the person with AIDS as a lone gay white male dying in a cold hospital room. By jumping on the prime-time bandwagon and making a gay white male the central character with AIDS, 90210 provided an inappropriate representation that ignored the changing demographics of the epidemic, perpetuated heterosexism, reinforced the stigma associated with homosexuality in American society, and failed to adequately serve audience member needs. The psychological literature on stereotyping and prejudice, social stigma, and attitude formation and change is employed to critique this media representation.
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