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Angels in America
Dec. 9th, 2003 09:27 amI got to curl up on the couch with Miami Chris (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dedos) last night, and we watched the Tivo'ed presentation of Angels in America. I will admit that I don't think I totally "get" it. Perhaps I'm struggling too much with the historical aspect of it, or I'm not looking at AIDS as the death sentence as it was in 1985. It's not that I'm trying to dismiss AIDS as being a devastating disease, it is. AIDS has caused a lot of grief, and certainly a lot of fear.
I know that AIDS hasn't had a significant impact on my life, but it has been there, and I remember being very concerned when I was considering coming out and being sexually active. It was and is scary. I remember the first safe sex rules that came out in the mid to late eighties, and kept thinking, well heck, maybe I'll just not have sex (a la Jeffery, huh?). Weather you believe that it was God's retribution or not, there was still a concern that this disease was primarily hitting gay men, and that made it harder to want to be a part of that population.
So here is the play, now translated to a movie, where everyone is looking toward the millennium trying to decide if salvation is coming or the world is going to hell in a handbasket. The characters are a hodgepodge of people, all with their specific journey, but their interactions seem a bit...stiff. The lovers are breaking apart as they deal with the deadly disease, the closet case hurts his wife even more when he confirms her fears and comes out, the lawyer who's to powerful to acknowledge that he's gay wants to protect the closet case, but can't without revealing his true nature. The lawyer is paying for his sins, being struck by the disease, but the lover who has it, he's the innocent, dumped by his lover, and he looks to be chosen by the angels as a prophet for the coming times.
Maybe I am starting to get it.
Perhaps I just think it strange to use AIDS as a plot device. Does the movie trivialize the disease more than it tries to instruct and inform? There were a couple of moments, when you truly see the moments of horror, and the devastation the disease brings, but the hallucinations the characters have, seem to be almost - charming, which is bizarre.
I guess I'll have to wait for the second part to come on next Sunday.
Otherwise, it was nice to curl up with Miami Chris. It's been nice to do so lately, but it makes me lonely for my own Chris, just as I'm sure Chris misses his husband, Tony. Miami Chris goes home on Friday, but unfortunately it looks like it will be after Christmas when I can see my Chris again. Ugh.
dedos) last night, and we watched the Tivo'ed presentation of Angels in America. I will admit that I don't think I totally "get" it. Perhaps I'm struggling too much with the historical aspect of it, or I'm not looking at AIDS as the death sentence as it was in 1985. It's not that I'm trying to dismiss AIDS as being a devastating disease, it is. AIDS has caused a lot of grief, and certainly a lot of fear.I know that AIDS hasn't had a significant impact on my life, but it has been there, and I remember being very concerned when I was considering coming out and being sexually active. It was and is scary. I remember the first safe sex rules that came out in the mid to late eighties, and kept thinking, well heck, maybe I'll just not have sex (a la Jeffery, huh?). Weather you believe that it was God's retribution or not, there was still a concern that this disease was primarily hitting gay men, and that made it harder to want to be a part of that population.
So here is the play, now translated to a movie, where everyone is looking toward the millennium trying to decide if salvation is coming or the world is going to hell in a handbasket. The characters are a hodgepodge of people, all with their specific journey, but their interactions seem a bit...stiff. The lovers are breaking apart as they deal with the deadly disease, the closet case hurts his wife even more when he confirms her fears and comes out, the lawyer who's to powerful to acknowledge that he's gay wants to protect the closet case, but can't without revealing his true nature. The lawyer is paying for his sins, being struck by the disease, but the lover who has it, he's the innocent, dumped by his lover, and he looks to be chosen by the angels as a prophet for the coming times.
Maybe I am starting to get it.
Perhaps I just think it strange to use AIDS as a plot device. Does the movie trivialize the disease more than it tries to instruct and inform? There were a couple of moments, when you truly see the moments of horror, and the devastation the disease brings, but the hallucinations the characters have, seem to be almost - charming, which is bizarre.
I guess I'll have to wait for the second part to come on next Sunday.
Otherwise, it was nice to curl up with Miami Chris. It's been nice to do so lately, but it makes me lonely for my own Chris, just as I'm sure Chris misses his husband, Tony. Miami Chris goes home on Friday, but unfortunately it looks like it will be after Christmas when I can see my Chris again. Ugh.
