Major Blog Post #3 - Sally Andarge

In the play Angels in America, Tony Kushner challenges us to think differently about HIV/AIDS and queerness, most specifically gay men. Most of Kushner’s analysis and questioning of the stereotypes and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS and queerness his audience may have come from the development of one of the characters, Prior Walter. In the play Prior is an openly gay man who is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS at the beginning of the play.

The first way that I believe Kushner challenges stereotypes about HIV/AIDS is the way that Prior character seems to develop more and become stronger throughout the plot after his diagnosis. Shortly after his diagnosis Prior’s partner, Louis, leaves him because he (supposedly) cannot handle the strain that Prior’s illness has put on their relationship. Prior is initially beside himself and completely distraught but soon find strength and independence from Louis. This can even be seen in their initial argument in Prior’s hospital room before Louis leaves, at first Prior pleads with him begging him to stay but then he gets angry with him and tells him to leave. He goes from being hurt and abandoned to strong and independent. The progress in Prior’s character after his HIV diagnosis helps to overcome the stereotype that people with HIV/AIDS are hopeless. This state of mind is often adopted by society when discussing or looking at illness and disability, many people who study disability history and culture refer to it as the “charity model”. It operates under the mentality that disability is awful and people with it need our pity and help. Although Prior still has HIV/AIDS his disease no longer dominates him or every aspect of his life, rather he becomes a person with a calling and a purpose who just so happens to have HIV/AIDS.

Now another way that Kushner challenges stereotypes or misconceptions that we may have about HIV/AIDS is by creating scenes where Prior is sexually active. A lot of the time when people are temporarily or indefinitely disabled or incapacitated society tends to view them as asexual or sexually inactive. This assumption is both demeaning and inaccurate. This is especially relevant today because there are ways for people with HIV/AIDS to practice safe sex. I believe that Kushner’s use of the scene where Prior reaches sexual climax with the angel is meant to debunk the misconception that people with HIV/AIDS cannot be sexually active, and the fact that it occurred with an angel was symbolic in showing that HIV/AIDS sex is no less pure than any other type of sex. This is very important because of the way that HIV/AIDS is treated like a dirty disease, not just in the play, but in life. Even when Roy’s doctor, Henry, tries to give him his diagnosis, he does so in an accusatory manner, insinuating that the only way he could have contracted HIV/AIDS was if he was a “drug addict” or a “homosexual”. Kushner uses Prior’s orgasm as both an ironic tool and a way to tear down misconceptions about illness and sexuality.

Next, Tony Kushner challenges stereotypes surrounding queerness, specifically gay men. He starts by establishing the stereotype of gay men in Roy’s conversation with Doctor Henry. Roy says, “Your problem, Henry, is that you are hung up on words, on labels, that you believe they mean what they seem to mean. AIDS. Homosexual. Gay. Lesbian. You think these are names that tell you who someone sleeps with, but they don't tell you that. No. Like all labels they tell you one thing and one thing only: where does an individual so identified fit in the food chain, in the pecking order? Not ideology, or sexual taste, but something much simpler: clout. Not who I fuck or who fucks me, but who will pick up the phone when I call, who owes me favors. This is what a label refers to. Now to someone who does not understand this, homosexual is what I am because I have sex with men. But really this is wrong. Homosexuals are not men who sleep with other men. Homosexuals are men who in fifteen years of trying cannot get a pissant antidiscrimination bill through the City Council. Homosexuals are men who know nobody and who nobody knows. Who have zero clout. Does this sound like me, Henry?” Now, Roy as a character has a lot of internalized oppression and an unhealthy fear of having no power, but Kushner really turns the tables when Prior, an out, gay man with HIV/AIDS becomes what many would consider the most powerful character in the play, he is called to be a prophet. Now biblically this holds a lot of weight. Proverbs 18:21 reads, “Death and Life are in the power of the tongue,” which gives new meaning to Prior’s appointment as a prophet. Prior is literally given the power to pass on life or death through the message that the angel asks him to deliver. Prior’s newfound power directly contradicts Roy’s statement about homosexuality equaling no power or clout. Kushner’s contradiction is almost ironic and works to challenge his audience’s thinking surrounding HIV/AIDS and queerness.