Watching gay dramas, I feel a little conflicted every time I see homophobic content. On the one hand, this is a necessary part of the show, especially in the 1980s with an AIDS background; on the other hand, PTSD is inevitable when watching it. I have to admit that I was a little uncomfortable hearing some of the lines, but RTD is always not overdone, it's just right; and homophobia is all kinds of expressions.
There are obvious homophobic sentiments - such as the homophobic family in Gloria, almost no research in the beginning of AIDS and the complete isolation of patients, and the homophobic remarks of passers-by around the protests.
There are deeper layers that may not be noticed, such as Ritchie's mother.
In the beginning, Keeley Hawes' role is so unobtrusive that one can't help but wonder why she's playing such a supporting role. In the last episode, she almost supported most of the episodes.
With so much plot twist, we probably forgot by the last episode that Ritchie never came out with his family. It doesn't seem like the character's setting, he doesn't seem like a closet who hides his sexuality. In fact, LGBTQ people all know that coming out is their own thing. The situation of each family is completely different. Only you can know when or even whether to come out. Subconsciously, you know the success rate of coming out. It looks like Ritchie shouldn't have a hard time coming out, his family doesn't seem to care about homosexuality or the ravages of AIDS, but you can tell his mom still loves him very much. However, there must be a reason for him not coming out - and the final episode lays out the underlying reasons in full.
It is true that your child directly throws out the two messages of coming out of the closet and AIDS, and it will take time for parents to digest it; but in the opposite scene with Jill shortly after hearing the news, Ritchie's mother never believed that her son was gay, and even provoked him. The aunt in the next ward had to say, "If you're a mother and you haven't found out that your son is gay, you can only say that you're blind."
Anyone who has come out of the closet should know that if you have the characteristics of a sexual minority in the traditional sense, for example, you are a "boy who can sing and dance", "a girl who likes submarines", etc. Parents, especially mothers, Usually, it suddenly occurs to the subconscious that it has always been known. Ritchie is a typical image, so why does his mother seem to ignore these characteristics? Actually, I can understand that because my mom is just like Ritchie's mom. Because in the minds of these parents, their own homophobia made them feel that the LGBTQ group was a "low-class" that had nothing to do with their children, and in the 1980s, they thought about the AIDS-stigmatized gay community More so. So, despite being aware that their children are different from other people, they internally deny that their children will be sexual minorities because they feel that their children will not "go bad" by having contact with these groups.
So how did Ritchie's mom react? She was angry, angry that Jill had lied to her with her son for so many years, and that she had not understood the life of her real son for so many years. It seemed that she was isolated from the outer layer of his son's life by these people. You seem to think this is normal. After all, it takes time for parents to accept these news, not to mention that Ritchie's mother still clearly stated that she still loves her son. So we're looking forward to an American-style ending at the end, with Ritchie's friends saying goodbye to him and reconciling with his mom.
However, in the end, no one expected that it would be Ritchie's mother's cold sentence "He passed away yesterday." Only then did we realize how cold-blooded Ritchie's mother was. In fact, it has long been foreshadowed. When Ritchie said that he didn't want to hide his condition from outsiders, his mother's silence, and when she chatted with Ritchie, she said that before he went to London, "It's good to go back to the old days. ". She said this without ever asking her son the story of being himself over the years, trying to really understand his heart. Maybe she's angry that she didn't know her kids at all for so many years and lost her time with them, so she doesn't want Ritchie's friends to see her one last time; however, I'm still leaning that it's because of her homophobia . Many LGBT people have to leave because of homophobia in their native families and find their queer chosen family. For them, they are their real family. Indeed, if your family can't even accept the real you, you have the right to find a family who cares about you. And Ritchie's mother may have always felt that it was their fault that made her child like this, and she did not reveal the truth to herself, so even if her son asked to see his friends on his deathbed, she still did not agree.
And in the end what Jill said to her was "it's all your fault", in one sentence. Ritchie is not a perfect character either. He didn't believe in AIDS at first, but later he was extremely afraid that he had AIDS. Even though he took the test, he refused to know the result and kept trying remedies hoping to prevent it. sex. You can certainly judge what he does, but the reasons behind those actions are more important. To this day, LGBT teens are still three to four times more likely to suffer from depression and even suicide than heterosexual teens. Even in adulthood, LGBT people are more likely to enter toxic relationships and self-destructive behavior, and the reason is still this world where there are still many homophobia even after improvement, and the impact of homophobic families of origin on everyone.
Finally, thanks to RTD. The younger generation always seems to forget what happened to sexual minorities in the age of AIDS. We forget about those Colins from the small town, cute and harmless, who did nothing wrong and were deprived of their lives when they were about to begin. Like a bean friend said, we always say that the UK is a corrupt country, but we forget that this is exchanged for blood and tears. The world will truly be free of homophobia if one day there isn't a gay teen suffering from coming out, or thinking "it would be easier if you were straight". AIDS is not scary, homophobia is.
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