Welcome to the Weekend Binge. Every week, we’ll suggest a binge-able title designed to keep you from getting too stir crazy. Check back throughout the weekend for even more gloriously queer entertainment.
The Elegaic: It’s a Sin
Television dynamo Russell T. Davies produced some of the best work of his life earlier this year with the limited series It’s a Sin. In a career as long and lauded as his, that says something.
Davies takes a chapter from his own, personal history in the series, following the lives of a group of friends–mostly queer men–living in London in the early 1980s. At first, the young gays revel in their newfound sexual freedom, even as rumors of a so-called “gay cancer” begin to circulate. Then people start dropping dead, quietly and in the shadows at first. Within a few years though, the entire LGBTQ community is under political assault as HIV claims the lives of scores of gay and bisexual men, as well as transgender women.
By now, the story of HIV should be familiar to you, dear reader. It’s a Sin sets itself apart from the slew of other movies and TV shows that deal with the subject by embracing the youthful idealism of its characters. Ritchie (Olly Alexander), Roscoe (Omari Douglas), Colin (Callum Scott Howells), Jill (Lydia West), and their friends have a familiarity to them: these seem like people we could meet today walking down the street. We first revel in their joy and fabulously queer lives before watching them suffer. That makes the pain of it all cut so much deeper.
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Various critics have commented on the cautious optimism that Davies often weaves into his stories: Years & Years, Cucumber, Queer as Folk and his stint on Doctor Who all have that quality about them. It’s a Sin breaks with that trope: when it concludes, we’re not filled with hope so much as burning rage: rage at the cold indifference with which society treated the AIDS crisis, rage against the political demagogues that demonized the gay community, rage for the families that abandoned their children to disease, rage over the suffering the community endured. For all the praise heaped on the gay, male leads of the show, it’s Lydia West’s Jill that becomes the backbone of the series. We attribute that to her rich gifts as a performer, and to Davies letting her character articulate that righteous anger in the final scenes of the series.
It’s a Sin ranks alongside Pose and Angels in America as one of the greatest works in TV history to ever confront the AIDS crisis. That owes to a capable cast and, above all, to the power of Davies’ writing. As voices from within the queer world continue to cry out that “Pride is a Protest,” It’s a Sin reminds us why. It’s a potent reminder of the love of a chosen, queer family, the preciousness of life, and of a crisis we must never forget.
Streams on HBO Max.
Cam
Apparently “It’s a Sin” was supposed to be several episodes longer but the studio pushed back. It was a great show! I wish they’d had more of it!!
WashDrySpin
Paris is Burning another movie with POC front in center
This documentary focuses on drag queens living in New York City and their “house” culture, which provides a sense of community and support for the flamboyant and often socially shunned performers. Groups from each house compete in elaborate balls that take cues from the world of fashion. Also touching on issues of racism and poverty, the film features interviews with a number of renowned drag queens, including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija and Dorian Corey.
WashDrySpin
Search for movies made by Marlon Riggs
There has never been a filmmaker like Marlon Riggs: an unapologetic gay Black man who defied a culture of silence and shame to speak his truth with resounding joy and conviction. An early adopter of video technology, Riggs employed a bold mix of documentary, performance, poetry, and music in order to confront the devastating legacy of racist stereotypes, the impact of AIDS on his community, and the very definition of what it means to be Black. Bringing together Riggs’s complete films—including his controversy-inciting queer landmark Tongues Untied and Black Is . . . Black Ain’t, the deeply personal swan song that was completed after his death at the age of thirty-seven—The Signifyin’ Works of Marlon Riggs traces the artistic and political evolution of a transformative filmmaker whose work is both an electrifying call for liberation and an invaluable historical document.
WashDrySpin
A FRONTLINE special presentation, “ENDGAME: AIDS in Black America” is a groundbreaking two-hour exploration of one of the country’s most urgent, preventable health crises. People on the front lines tell moving stories of the battle to contain the spread of the virus, and the opportunity to finally turn the tide of the epidemic.
mudgeguy
HIV/Aids has now been around 40 years as of this month and black men in the USA continue to refuse to wear condoms so this is one crisis that won’t be going away. It just proves you can’t fix stupid.
Maybe give black women free condoms and see what happens…
BoomerMyles
Oh Colin. You broke my heart.