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For everyone loving #ItsASin there's a long legacy of writing about the era of AIDS that you can engage with (and as soon as pandemic-bandwidth allows I'll make a list)
It's a messy, emotive, complicated set of work but for starters a mini thread for a Sunday.
It's a messy, emotive, complicated set of work but for starters a mini thread for a Sunday.
Ok, given it's allegedly my area of expertise, Tony Kushner's Angels in America is probably the gold standard of theatre on the subject.
7.5 hours of poetry, politics and ...something very intangible.
The HBO version is magic. The NT version more so. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Angels-America-Millennium-Approaches-Perestroika/dp/1848426313/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=angels+in+america&qid=1611500026&sr=8-1
7.5 hours of poetry, politics and ...something very intangible.
The HBO version is magic. The NT version more so. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Angels-America-Millennium-Approaches-Perestroika/dp/1848426313/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=angels+in+america&qid=1611500026&sr=8-1
You can't have Tony without Larry... and Larry Kramer's 'The Normal Heart' is a ripped from the heart narrative of activism in the early days. It's angry and a bit messy, but full of passion. Just like Larry was. A true activist.
The film is also beautiful.
The film is also beautiful.
My other main PhD text was Rent.
Yes a musical, an imperfect unfinished one. But for many of us it was our first glimpse into musicals, and what happened in the AIDS crisis.
And well worth a listen.
Yes a musical, an imperfect unfinished one. But for many of us it was our first glimpse into musicals, and what happened in the AIDS crisis.
And well worth a listen.
Holding The Man- Timothy Conigrave. It's a biography and a play. An Australian perspective that perhaps is often overlooked in our American-centric perspectives.
(I haven't seen the film because this one destroys me) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Holding-Man-NHB-Modern-Plays/dp/1848421087/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=holding+the+man&qid=1611500293&sr=8-3
(I haven't seen the film because this one destroys me) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Holding-Man-NHB-Modern-Plays/dp/1848421087/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=holding+the+man&qid=1611500293&sr=8-3
Non-Fiction, back to Larry: Reports from the Holocaust.
Kramer's account of activism told in almost real time. Harrowing, messy. Essential. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reports-Holocaust-Kramer-1998-12-31/dp/B01K3J7TGK/ref=sr_1_3?crid=35HUU4JQGMCP4&dchild=1&keywords=reports+from+the+holocaust&qid=1611500407&sprefix=reports+from+the%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-3
Kramer's account of activism told in almost real time. Harrowing, messy. Essential. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reports-Holocaust-Kramer-1998-12-31/dp/B01K3J7TGK/ref=sr_1_3?crid=35HUU4JQGMCP4&dchild=1&keywords=reports+from+the+holocaust&qid=1611500407&sprefix=reports+from+the%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-3
Another 'on the ground' account was Randy Shilt's 'And the Band Played on'
More scientific, obviously at times outdated. But fascinating, and emotive. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Band-Played-Politics-People-Epidemic/dp/0285640194/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=and+the+band+played+on&qid=1611500477&sr=8-1
More scientific, obviously at times outdated. But fascinating, and emotive. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Band-Played-Politics-People-Epidemic/dp/0285640194/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=and+the+band+played+on&qid=1611500477&sr=8-1
For a more up to date documentary overview 'How to Survive a Plague' both the documentary and the later book are probably the current gold-standard on this. https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Plague-David-France/dp/B00OYLG1GI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CXG1TI4P98Q0&dchild=1&keywords=how+to+survive+a+plague&qid=1611500528&sprefix=how+to+survive+a+pla%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-1
Back to fiction!
Watch the movie Philadelphia. If only to see how far we've come. It's not the movie for today, it's inherently problematic. But it's the movie that had to be made then. I don't hate it for existing, it's part of the path to here.
Watch the movie Philadelphia. If only to see how far we've come. It's not the movie for today, it's inherently problematic. But it's the movie that had to be made then. I don't hate it for existing, it's part of the path to here.
Sneaking in with a couple of films that are 'stealth AIDS films'
Pride
Philomena
Both excellent in their own right.
Pride
Philomena
Both excellent in their own right.
Tales of the City.
The books, the TV series. Not entirely unproblematic but entirely unique in how they were made, and how they catalogue an era. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-City-1/dp/0552998761/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tales+of+the+city&qid=1611500728&sr=8-1
The books, the TV series. Not entirely unproblematic but entirely unique in how they were made, and how they catalogue an era. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-City-1/dp/0552998761/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tales+of+the+city&qid=1611500728&sr=8-1
Ok stopping for now but with 'Jeffery' a film that maybe does hold up maybe doesn't, it's been a while since I saw it. But there's a reference to 'Cats' that is delightful.
This topic is vast and complicated. The conversations are complicated. I'll write properly at some point soon, but art was vital (I haven't touched here on visual artists and art as activism)
But engage with the past too if #ItsASin has made you curious.
But engage with the past too if #ItsASin has made you curious.
