History Theatre / TheNormalHeart

It was turned into a movie in 2014 by Ryan Murphy, with Creator/MarkRuffalo in the lead role of Ned Weeks, Creator/MattBomer as his partner Felix Turner, Creator/JuliaRoberts as Dr. Emma Brookner, and Creator/JimParsons as Tommy Boatwright.

* TriangRelations: There are a few [[LoveTriangle Love Triangles]] throughout the play.
** Tommy has a serious crush on Ned, despite Ned being in a relationship with Felix, creating a classic Type 4.
** Ned's lasting feelings for Bruce throughout Bruce's various relationships (specifically with Craig and Albert) is another Type 4, though it lessens when Ned starts seeing Felix.
** Type 8 is implied to have existed before the play, when Ned (A) unrequitedly loved Bruce (B), who loved Craig (C), who had a crush on Ned. However, the play opens with Bruce and Craig happily in love in a long-term relationship, while Ned's one-sided crush on Bruce continued.

%%* BasedOnATrueStory: Again, duh.

* TragicAIDSStory: A 1985 play about the dawn of the AIDS epidemic in the gay community in the early '80s. Painfully TruthInTelevision; it is an essentially autobiographical account of Larry Kramer's founding of the Gay Men's Health Crisis and, later, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). The main character, Ned Weeks, is essentially Kramer; his "great, true love" Felix dies of AIDS at the end of the play, as do several other main characters and hundreds offscreen. The play's raw fury at the government's and the rest of the world's refusal to help -- even as the death toll exceeded that of the American Civil War -- when the play debuted in '85 is in part credited with bringing national attention to the crisis for the first time.

* BasedOnATrueStory: Again, duh.

* BigApplesauce: The film is set and filmed in New York City.

%%* BasedOnATrueStory: Again, duh.
%%* BigApplesauce

* AdultFear: Your friends are dying all around you, through a disease nobody can explain, spreading in a way that no one can understand. You have no way of knowing who may be next, or if you or the person you love might already be sick. And no one in any position of power will do a damn thing to help you. ''And it all really happened''.

* MrFanservice: The film stars Matt Bomer and is produced by Creator/{{HBO}}. They took advantage of it. Mark Ruffalo also gets some exposure, [[CarpetOfVirility and with good reason]]. Further, the copying has Taylor Kitsch, Jonathan Groff, and countless extras walking around in tiny bathing suits. [[spoiler: Only to be brutally and harrowingly subverted after AIDS begins to ravage Felix's body, as the resultant ShowerScene proves. Not even a healthy (and naked) Ned can distract from that.]]

* MrFanservice: The film stars Matt Bomer and is produced by Creator/{{HBO}}. They took advantage of it. Mark Ruffalo also gets some exposure, [[CarpetOfVirility and with good reason]]. [[spoiler: Only to be brutally and harrowingly subverted after AIDS begins to ravage Felix's body, as the resultant ShowerScene proves. Not even a healthy (and naked) Ned can distract from that.]]

* DanceOfRomance: After a GMHC fundraiser pays off in a big way, clubbing ensues -- during which a slow dance breaks out. Cue Felix and Ned in the most adorable gay example of this trope ''ever'', as they just hold each other close. And then there's the dialogue that cements it:

* LoveDodecahedron: Tommy has a crush on Ned, who is dating Felix but also has a lingering crush on Bruce. Bruce lives with Albert, but used to live with Craig, and Craig liked Ned.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Julia Roberts seems to portray Emma as [[spoiler:having a huge crush on Ned]].

* BittersweetEnding: The movie ends with [[spoiler:Felix and Bruce both dying of AIDS, general apathy continuing with Reagan slashing funding for AIDS research and no cure in sight for AIDS, but Ned goes to the "Gay Weekend" at Yale, and notices how gay men and women can love openly and without discrimination, leading to the modern gay rights movement.]]
* BrokenAesop: A big plot point, leading to [[spoiler:Ned's firing from GMHC]], is that the gay people of New York would rather not stop having sex, even in the face of a deadly and incurable disease that might well be sexually transmitted.

* IWasQuiteALooker: Felix seems to have an issue [[spoiler:with the effect of AIDS on his body]].
* IdealizedSex: The first time Ned and Felix make love in the film (and the only instance of this shown), complete with IntertwinedFingers, {{Hollywood Kiss}}ing, and TearsOfJoy. The point is presumably to show that the two characters have at last found their OneTrueLove (which, of course, they have). It's a striking contrast to a later scene in which [[spoiler:Ned gently bathes and cleans up after an obviously AIDS-stricken and dying Felix]], which -- while equally tender -- is not in the least erotic.
** Actually, the first time they had sex was as an anonymous hook-up in a bathhouse a few years earlier (as Felix reminds Ned during their first date). The sex is also idealized, but in a different way: It's very rushed and almost aggressive, the upright position would likely hurt the bottom due to the angle of penetration, and there's only a perfunctory bit of spit as lube, yet Felix shows no particular sign of pain and seems to hold the encounter in fond memory. Considering how many people involved in the filming of this have lots of personal experience (i.e. it's not like with ''Film/BrokebackMountain'' which was originally written by a woman and acted out by straight actors), this depiction anal sex is rather weird, to say the least. Though apparently [[http://www.buzzfeed.com/jsherman/whats-lube-got-to-do-with-it#.miEm4elW9 this is not a rare phenomenon in gay romance movies.]]
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: [[spoiler:Craig in the beginning, who coughs while blowing out his birthday cake. He's dead not soon after.]]

* LoveHurts: Oh, God, ''Ned''. Finds the kind of transcendent, once-in-a-lifetime romance with the man of his dreams... and [[spoiler:has to watch him slowly die from AIDS]]. It ''hurts''.

* MoodWhiplash: The movie begins with everyone happily celebrating Craig's birthday. [[spoiler:Within 20 minutes he is dead after a bout of pneumocystosis/tuberculosis and epilepsy.]] It gets worse from there.
* MrFanservice: The film stars Matt Bomer and is produced by Creator/{{HBO}}. They took advantage of it. Mark Ruffalo also gets some exposure, [[CarpetOfVirility and with good reason]]. [[spoiler:Only to be brutally and harrowingly subverted after AIDS begins to ravage Felix's body, as the resultant ShowerScene proves. Not even a healthy (and naked) Ned can distract from that.]]

* OneTrueLove: Felix tells Ned while they are dancing that "All I was imagining all those years [before we met] was you," and calls Ned his "great, true love" when [[spoiler:he is dying]]. Ned agrees instantly with this, and earlier in the film says point-blank that Felix is the man he's been waiting for all his life.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: The last shot of the movie informs us that [[spoiler:Bruce did get AIDS and died of it]].

* {{Adorkable}}: Ned, in the film, though it's in the script as well. He has ''no'' idea how to express his attraction to another human being -- witness his introduction to Felix, which is "I'm Ned Weeks -- and you're very cute," -- and is an absolutely ''hopeless'' romantic to boot. And... well, he's played by ''Creator/MarkRuffalo''.

''The Normal Heart'', a landmark play by Larry Kramer, is a romanticization of Kramer's life in New York City during the early 1980s at the dawn of the AIDS epidemic. It depicts the events leading to the creation of the nonprofit GMHC, as well as his relationship with [[Creator/MattBomer Felix Turner]].

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Ned comes off that way whenever he is getting interviewed on TV.

''The Normal Heart'' is a play by Larry Kramer. It premiered in 1985.

The play is a romanticization of Kramer's life in New York City during the early 1980s at the dawn of the AIDS epidemic. It depicts the events leading to the creation of the nonprofit GMHC, as well as his relationship with [[Creator/MattBomer Felix Turner]].

%%* AuthorAvatar: Duh.

** Actually, the first time they had sex was as an anonymous hook-up in a bathhouse a few years earlier (as Felix reminds Ned during their first date). The sex is also idealized, but in a different way: It's very rushed and almost aggressive, the upright position would likely hurt the bottom due to the angle of penetration, and there's only a perfunctory bit of spit as lube, yet Felix shows no particular sign of pain and seems to hold the encounter in fond memory. Considering how many people involved in the filming of this have lots of personal experience (i.e. it's not like with BrokebackMountain which was orignally written by a woman and acted out by straight actors), this depiction anal sex is rather weird, to say the least. Though apparently [[http://www.buzzfeed.com/jsherman/whats-lube-got-to-do-with-it#.miEm4elW9 this is not a rare phenomenon in gay romance movies.]]

* MrFanservice: The film stars Matt Bomer and is produced by {{HBO}}. They took advantage of it. Mark Ruffalo also gets some exposure, [[CarpetOfVirility and with good reason]]. [[spoiler:Only to be brutally and harrowingly subverted after AIDS begins to ravage Felix's body, as the resultant ShowerScene proves. Not even a healthy (and naked) Ned can distract from that.]]

This play and its movie adaptation provide examples of:

* AuthorAvatar: Duh.
* BasedOnATrueStory: Again, duh.
* BigApplesauce

* TokenLesbian: Estelle.

* IWasQuiteALooker: Felix seems to have an issue [[spoiler:with the effect of AIDS on his body]].

* BrokenAesop: A big plot point, leading to [[spoiler:Ned's firing from GMHC]], is that the gay people of New York would rather not stop having sex, even if a deadly and incurable disease is spreading and might be sexually transmitted.

* {{Adorkable}}: Ned, as played by Creator/MarkRuffalo, though it's in the script as well. He has ''no'' idea how to express his attraction to another human being -- witness his introduction to Felix, which is "I'm Ned Weeks -- and you're very cute," -- and is an absolutely ''hopeless'' romantic to boot. And... well, he's played by ''Mark Ruffalo''.

It was turned into a movie in 2014 by Ryan Murphy to critical acclaim, with Creator/MarkRuffalo in the lead role of Ned Weeks, Creator/MattBomer as his partner Felix Turner, Creator/JuliaRoberts as Dr. Emma Brookner, and Creator/JimParsons as Tommy Boatwright.