‘It’s a Sin’ REVIEW: An ode to victims of AIDS
‘It’s a Sin’ REVIEW: An ode to victims of AIDS
Nathaniel Curtis, Callum Scott Howells, Omari Douglas, Lydia West, and Olly Alexander in It’s A Sin (2021).
It’s A Sin is not another teen-drama romance about a boy who comes to terms with his sexuality or the usual LGBTQ+ dramas that are continually popularized in today’s media. This miniseries puts on an unconventional turn to the AIDS crisis in 1983, and the affected lives from the catastrophe. The story centered on a group of homosexual friends who strive to live liberated and fabulously adventurous as they all meet and move together in a flat in London, all happening in a span of a decade from when we first met our main character in 1981 ‘til the withering finale in 1991. Their lives were jolly and gay, partying at night and trying to live their dreams when it all flipped upside down during the rise of AIDS. The group struggled to understand the situation and are confronted with the horrible disease where they all try to fight it together. This is a heavy queer historical lesson, and it takes itself in high places.
Citizens panicked when the victims and deaths from AIDS skyrocketed. The AIDS crisis was the huge dilemma in the miniseries where in the second episode, it became clear that the ones being targeted by the disease were mostly homosexuals in the first months of the virus. In the series, homophobic citizens took advantage of the situation to promote their holier-than-thou prejudices. Hospitals also made medications more expensive and unavailable to people who badly needed them, forcing characters to make bold moves and challenges. Families were seen bringing their sons back home for their final days of life, unbeknownst to the son that his parents are ashamed and disgraced by their child’s actions and his identity/sexuality. The victims’ parents even burned the possessions of their children linked to homosexual paths to erase the shame, and also from the fear of the virus being contracted from the material objects and memories they hold. In the span of 5 episodes, the vicious and dark reality that our characters had to face can be seen during the time of the crisis; the never ending fear that you may have contracted the virus and your life is in danger, just because of your sexuality, is prominent.
A scene from It’s A Sin, Episode 4 (2021).
This miniseries remains relevant to this day as the dangers of HIV/AIDS linger, unwavering, and still feared by the public. However, what mostly caused this issue was misinformation; the main characters made a mistake by showing denial of the existence of AIDS, assuming that the virus was the community’s ruse to stop homosexuality. And with all the conspiracy revolving around the disease, the main characters didn’t want some hearsay to affect the positivity and freedom they had. As a result, their ignorance puts the characters’ lives at risk. The miniseries provides an ideological and powerful message in stopping the stigma on AIDS and homosexuality, accepting it for what it is and fighting this virus together.
Series creator Russell T. Davies uses bold honesty and a fashionable approach to give the LGBTQ community a voice and representation that the community badly needed. Watching this series felt like experiencing the 5 stages of grief all in each episode. It is dramatic, fantastic, and worth-while, making you experience all of emotions that not even melancholy can fully describe the crushing finale it showed. The performances, especially with that of the main leads who are new in the industry, already show so much potential. Olly Alexander especially, who has only starred in very few small roles, manages to give his all in this miniseries, with a show that promotes LGBT, since he is an advocate himself. Keeley Hawes also delivers a petrifying and heart-rending performance in the final episode when she becomes this ruthless, punchable character in a one-take scene that felt so claustrophobic and anxiety-inducing. The main characters were likeable; you are introduced to a group of friends with big dreams and hopes for acceptance and the happiness of just being free to be themselves, but it is crushed by the life-taking virus that spreaded throughout the world. Each character is bound with a touching story of acceptance, freedom, love, and the life-changing friendships we encounter.
It’s a Sin is an eye-opener in the horrors homosexuals faced during the rise of AIDS; it is an essential revolutionary piece of media that the LGBTQ+ needs now more than ever. We need more works that reflect on the past and stories of the LGBTQ+ community—and we are slowly getting there with the likes of Pose and the highly-acclaimed documentary Paris is Burning that mostly represents drag queens and the ‘house’ culture from the 1980s. It’s a Sin is one big step to helping inform the media about the struggles and crisis that the LGBTQ+ community experiences everyday, and ever since the show’s release, news said there has already been an upsurge of HIV testing, and this show deserves the voice it needs to also spread awareness.
It’s a Sin is an ode to the victims of AIDS, to the ones who are struggling now, and to the ones who already have. To the families who have had to suffer watching their loved ones die thinking they were given a death sentence for being gay. To the people who died and declined immediate care because of homosexuality looking sinful and disgraceful, for being what you are. This is one of the finest works of LGBTQ+ media with its pure honesty and realistic approach on the AIDS crisis. Everything about it is like coming straight out of the gay handbook, from the sheer awkwardness to extravagant feelings of sex; the petrifying lies we tell and secrets we keep when we are in the closet, and the agonizing struggles of homophobia especially during the time AIDS rose. This miniseries captures not only the truest forms of being gay, but the real truth about homophobia, the social stigma, and the missing equal rights the LGBTQ+ community rightfully deserves.
It’s a Sin is now available on HBO Max.
