Thursday, August 23, 2018

Queer As Ever

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The remake of Papillon starring Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek is out in theaters this weekend but this post isn't about that - although we have previously posted the trailer here and a clip right here in case you'd like more about that. No, this post isn't even technically about Charlie Hunnam at all, even though I am using him as the face of it. But who doesn't want to look at Charlie Hunnam's face? Nobody but nobody, that's who. What this post is about is Charlie's former boss, the man who gave him his big break, the creator of Queer as Folk (not to mention plenty o' other stuff) Russell T. Davies, who's just announced a new series

It's called The Boys and it's about three young men ("boys" you might say!) in the early 1980s who move to London to wham AIDS in the face. You can read more about it at the link. Anyway I'm glad there's been a renaissance in gay creativity about the AIDS epidemic as of late  (BPM being the best example) - for awhile there it was a dirty word; we were tired of "gay" being synonymous with "AIDS" and of being thought of as victims. Tom Hanks singing opera in a hospital gown and all that. I get it. But we're still reckoning with it - it reshaped the world, it reshaped gay creativity period, and it's a massive part of our modern narrative. We need to own that legacy - we owe it to the folks we lost at the very least - while also not allowing the tragedy to totally define us.
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2 comments:

Bucky said...

We owe it to those we lost to never forget.

Dale M. said...

It's also important to remind the new generation that the AIDS epidemic started a new wave of activism and demand for LGBTQ+ visibility that, in many ways, is the reason we have come as far as we have.