From Angels in America to Oxygen Masks Will (Not) Drop Automatically, TV series have largely contributed to building the collective memory of AIDS. Through stories from around the world, they tell as much about the disease as about lives, loves, and struggles disrupted by the epidemic.
By Florian Ques & Laure Dasinieres
Cinema does not have a monopoly on AIDS-era narratives. If Philadelphia, 120 Beats Per Minute and many others have left a mark, several series have, too, told this period with breadth. From the United States to Brazil, via Australia, they explore the human, social and political consequences of the epidemic on the LGBT community. As Oxygen Masks Will (Not) Drop Automatically has just arrived on Canal+, a look back at these fictions that helped recount the history of the pandemic but also the urgency to live and the strength of the community.
- Angels in America (2003)
In New York City in 1985, Prior learns that he has AIDS. As his condition worsens, he is haunted by visions of angels. His story intersects with that of Roy Cohn, a conservative lawyer who refuses to admit his homosexuality, and with Joe, a Mormon lawyer tormented by the same contradictions. Adapted from Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play, Angels in America is the first series to place the AIDS epidemic at the heart of its narrative. In six episodes, this epic blends realism and fantasy to tell of an America shaken by a public health catastrophe unprecedented in scale. More than twenty years after its original broadcast, it remains one of the most striking works on the subject.
>> Angels in America is available on HBO Max.
- Snö (2012)
Adapted from Jonas Gardell’s trilogy N’essuie jamais les larmes sans gants (Actes Sud), Snö (“snow”, in Swedish) plunges us into early-1980s Stockholm. We follow a young graduate freshly arrived from his provincial hometown, determined to discover the gay scene of the capital. There he meets his chosen family as well as another boy, with whom he falls in love. But while this youth longs above all to party, to love, and to live freely, HIV/AIDS begins to strike a community still far from grasping the scale of the catastrophe to come. A magnificent Bergman-inspired fresco, the series blends a romantic chronicle with collective tragedy with heartbreaking sensitivity.
>> Snö is available on Prime Video.
- Pose (2018)
With its predominantly trans cast, a first in American television history, Pose made its mark by tracing the golden age of New York’s ballroom scene. But behind the voguing competitions and the stories of chosen families, Ryan Murphy’s series (Glee, American Horror Story) also tells of the ravages of AIDS. The third and final season particularly focuses on the battles of patients and activists and recalls the era’s reality: treatments still largely inaccessible and thousands of people abandoned in the face of the disease.
>> Pose is available on Disney+.
- It’s a Sin (2021)
In the same vein as Snö, but with humor and energy that is truly British, It’s a Sin by Russell T Davies (Doctor Who, Queer as Folk, Years and Years) follows a group of young gay men and their best friend in early-1980s London. Inspired by the writer’s own youth, the series, led by an incandescent Olly Alexander, tells ten years of hopes, friendships and losses as AIDS strikes with full force. A narrative as rhythmic as it is moving that paints the vibrant portrait of a generation that continued to seek joy at the heart of tragedy.
>> It’s a Sin is available on Canal.
- In Our Blood (2023)
Hailing from Australia, In Our Blood focuses on the unprecedented alliance formed at the outset of the epidemic between LGBTQIA+ activists, doctors and political leaders to try to curb its progression. This four-episode miniseries stands out for its deliberately camp aesthetics and its musical-theatre vibes: a chorus frequently breaks the fourth wall to comment on the action and revisit the 1980s hits. A bold choice that infuses lightness into tragedy without ever diminishing the gravity of the ongoing epidemic.
>> In Our Blood is available on Canal.
- Fellow Travelers (2023)
Fellow Travelers tells the meeting between an influential American State Department official (Matt Bomer) and a young idealist recently recruited to Congress (Jonathan Bailey). The two men embark on a passionate relationship over thirty years whose course shifts when one of the lovers contracts HIV. With nuance, this miniseries shows the concrete consequences of the disease, when immune suppression opens the door to opportunistic infections. One also remembers a heartbreaking scene from the final episode, in which one of the characters discovers the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, the enormous patchwork memorial to AIDS victims in Washington.
>> Fellow Travelers is available on Canal.
- Oxygen Masks Will (Not) Drop Automatically (2025)
Brazil, 1988. As the HIV/AIDS epidemic strikes gay and trans communities as well as heroin users, authorities still refuse to authorize AZT, the first treatment for the infection. A seropositive flight attendant then decides to organize a clandestine drug trafficking of medications with the help of his doctor and his best friend, an air hostess. Inspired by a true story, the series captivates with its pop energy, its sex scenes with striking honesty that convey the urgency of living in the face of the disease, and its sensitive look at community and intergenerational solidarities.
>> Oxygen Masks Will (Not) Drop Automatically is available on Canal.
