According to Wikipedia it is, ‘2013 American biographical drama film... Matthew McConaughey stars as AIDS patient Ron Woodroof, who smuggled unapproved pharmaceutical drugs into Texas when he found them effective at improving his symptoms, distributing them to fellow sufferers by establishing the eponymous "Dallas Buyers Club" whilst facing opposition from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).'

I saw this film recently and it completely blew me away: the subject, the performances, the music, the fact that it’s based on a true story. Amazing, or totes amazeballs as we say in Essex. 

If you’ve seen Matthew McConaughey in other films, and you think you know what he’s about, you can think again. You know when you see an actor play a part and the real person completely disappears, and only leaves the character? Think Alison Steadman playing Beverley in Abigail’s Party, then Candice Marie in Nuts in May. During both those performances, you can’t see a shred of Alison Steadman, only the character. If you’re not familiar with Ms Steadman’s work, how about Meryl Streep in just about anything she’s done, except Mamma Mia, that’s ineffable. That is what Mr McConaughey does in this film.

SPOILER ALERT

Matthew McConaughey lost 47 lbs – that’s 4 stone or about 25kg depending on your persuasion – to play the part. He is given the diagnosis of being HIV positive, and given thirty days to live. He says 'There ain’t a darned thing can kill Ron Woodroof in thirty days' and he’s right, he lived for another seven years.  

I didn’t realise it was Jared Leto, playing the trans woman character Rayon who Woodroof meets in hospital doing a trial of HIV drugs. There’s not a trace of Jared in the character of Rayon, and I was completely convinced by his sympathetic and nuanced portrayal of someone in decline in a number of ways.  

I think it’s important that films are made about this topic, straight people and how HIV affects them too. I won’t bang on about it, but I do think it’s impressive that this topic has produced a pretty mainstream film, airing in loads of cinemas across the world.

There’s a wonderful scene outside a gay club with Woodroof goes to a gay nightclub with Rayon to see if the gay men are interested in the medication he’s using to treat his HIV. Rayon walks ahead as Woodroof isn’t sure whether to go into the club or not and she says, ‘C’mon in, it’s a f***ing bore out there.’ And the music inside the club is Follow Me by Amanda Lear – about which I have been obsessing every since.

The best part of this film is watching Ron Woodroof change from a homophobic a***hole, to someone who supports, really likes Rayon. There’s a great scene in a supermarket when one of Woodroof’s friends says hello, and then notices he’s with Rayon, so the friend recoils. Woodroof makes him shake Rayon’s hand, even though Rayon says it’s not necessary. For Woodroof it is essential that his friend treat Rayon like a human being. Woodroof’s attitude towards gay men in general also shifts significantly so his main concern is getting the drugs for their treatment, rather than making money from them.

If you want a satisfying Hollywood film to check out, go and see this one. See it for its performances, for its great storyline, great lines, great music. But I hope you remember it for what Woodroof did in the eighties to support himself and others to live with HIV.

Liam Livings xx

This was recently on BBC 4 and it completely blew me away. It’s in Swedish with English subtitles. I don’t do subtitles.  The only film I’ve watched all the way through with subtitles was Goodbye Lenin, about the falling of the Berlin wall.

DEWTWG is, according to Wikipedia, ‘an award-winning 2012 three-part Swedish TV drama about the impact of Aids in the homosexual community in the early 1980s. It is based on the Swedish novelist Jonas Gardell’s trilogy with the same name, with each episode covering one of the three novels that are subtitled The Love, The Disease and The Death.’

The first episode aired on BBC 4 on 2 December to mark World Aids Day.

To quote one of the characters: ‘It was like a war fought in peace time. In a city where most people went on as if nothing had happened, young men fell ill. They grew emaciated withered away and died. And they were those who loved the most. Those who were obsessed with love. They were the ones who fell to the frost.’

Why has it taken me so long to blog about this?

That’s a good question.  Even now, typing that quote makes me well up. I have kept the recording of it and will burn it to DVD to add to my collection. It seemed disrespectful to just delete it after watching it. I cried. A lot. While watching this.

Just from the titles of the three episodes you can tell it’s not going to be a swishy musical of a series. But I think it’s important that we make drama about this time, about these issues, so the young gay men who didn’t live through it, realise what happened, they realise that almost an entire generation of gay men were wiped out, gone.

SPOILER ALERT – sorry, it’s really hard to write a review without mentioning some of the story. I haven’t revealed which character each event relates to, so it’s not too bad as spoilers go.

It’s also important to remember how far we’ve come with gay people’s rights. In one scene a young man is prevented from attending his boyfriend’s funeral by the dead partner’s parents. In another, the parents of a character disown him when he comes out to them. His lifestyle isn’t compatible with their religious beliefs, so they come to his flat with flowers and have a living funeral for him.

Like I said, it’s powerful stuff.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. It shows brilliantly how gay people have always created their own family, wherever they are, and no matter how hostile their surroundings are to their ‘lifestyle’. I use quotation marks because I don’t believe being gay is any more a 'lifestyle' choice than having brown hair or blue eyes, or being left handed is a ‘lifestyle’ choice. But the sort of people who force gay people to hide, tend to believe it is a such a choice. The Winter Olympics. I won’t say any more.

There are some wonderful scenes with the group of gay men spending Christmas and other celebrations together over the years. It is also beautiful to watch how the guys who don’t get sick support those who are ill. There is no blame. I also think it’s important that younger gay men see this drama to remind themselves to do their best to prevent the spread of HIV and Aids, and to support those who are living with HIV, without blame.

The story focuses on Rasmus as he moves from a rural part of Sweden to Stockholm to study at university. Through a mutual friend, Paul – who by the way deserves his own series, I could have watched Paul for hours – Rasmus meets Benjamin. And their love story begins.

Paul is fabulously flamboyant and theatrical, making light of the very serious, and taking the very trivial very seriously – I once read that’s the definition of camp. Paul is the host, the lynchpin of the group, throwing lavish parties for his created family. When asked if he would relive his life, what he would do differently, he takes a slow drag on his cigarette and replies, ‘You can’t relive your life. That’s the point.’

The obituary one of the men writes for himself is simply: ‘His name, I have lived.’

If you saw this series, what did you think of it? If you didn’t see it, I suggest you get your hands on a copy. Although it’s hard going in places, it doesn’t leave you feeling empty and unsatisfied, like so much TV nowadays, it leaves you thinking about your life and making the most of it. And that’s quite a rare thing for TV I’d say.

I’ve written about issues similar to these in my novel, And Then That Happened, which includes parts set around this time.  

Until next time,

Liam Livings xx

In the interests of full disclosure, I know Jean Fullerton through both the RNA London Chapter, and the writers group I attend near my home. I won a copy of Jean's book in the book raffle at the London Chapter meeting. I thought if I read it and it’s not my cup of tea, I’ll just keep quiet. I don't normally read historical fiction, I normally prefer contemporary, this won't be for me. How wrong was I? How completely and utterly wrong on all counts was I?

I started this before we went on holiday to New York City. I was going to leave it at home and pick it up again when back in the UK. But I found I couldn’t leave the story half way through; I had to know what happened to nurse Millie, her friends and family. When we returned from sightseeing in NY, I rushed back to Millie’s world, it was my little slice of the UK while I was abroad.

I didn’t watch *that midwifery programme* and I have to admit, I did expect this to be an easy, slow story, with not an awful lot happening.

How wrong was I?

It has a lot more plot twists and turns than I'd expected - work changes, confrontations with patients etc, family issues, romance issues, supporting student nurses, all flow through the story. There were a few times when I thought, I know where this is going, and was completely wrong. And I loved it.

There are loads of beautiful period details - Lyons tea rooms, the clothes, hairstyles, food of the time, scenes in dance halls, all shine through the narrative. I felt like I was learning something about the time, as well as being entertained. A cardboard wedding cake during rationing there wouldn't have been enough ingredients to make a real one. I found the details about nursing at that time, very interesting, since it’s so different from my experience of being a health care assistant – I’m sure Millie would have said nursing auxiliary – between ’97-’02.

The patients are all well drawn and I felt like I wanted to hear more about them, as well as Millie’s story. I know this is unrealistic as it focussed on Millie’s story, but it shows how engaging and real the patients were.

Halfway through there's a very moving scene which made me cry which I always think is a bit magic about a book. It is so beautifully described although sad. The air hostess asked me if I was alright on the flight, I was crying so much! I think I cried at least three times during the book. Because I’m a bit of a tart like that, this is the sign of a good story for me.

The dialogue is spot on for East London and I recognise many phrases from granddad and my parents. It was so interesting seeing how different society was then, with neighbours helping each other out .

It was interesting seeing how the NHS was set up, and the reaction from patients who were happy to ‘pay their way and not accept charity’ from the NHS. I can't wait to read the next part of Millie's story.

Did you watch *that midwifery programme*? If you like stories with strong interesing women, well drawn engaging characters, and a narrative with more twists and turns than an Eastenders Christmas episode, you should spend some time in Nurse Millie's world. This again, shows how valuable it is to read things you wouldn’t normally read.

Until next time,

Liam Livings xx

I’m probably going to set off some alarm in the RNA’s headquarters, but, I’m afraid I do think they are both the same. Maybe this is my marketing background kicking in.

Buying products as solutions
When you buy a toaster/car/laptop, you aren’t really buying the metal, engine, oil, seats, glass windows etc. What you’re actually buying is a solution to whatever problem it is you have at the time you’re buying the product.

I’ll use a car to illustrate, since I’m a car geek. When you buy a car you’re not really buying four wheels, the engine, its oil, the seats, the metal bodywork, the glass windows. What you’re actually buying is a solution to you getting around quicker than walking or public transport. OK, so part of the solution may also be ‘an ego boost’ or ‘something to go with my hairstyle’ but they’re all still solutions for different problems. And once you’ve bought the car, you’ll probably not give a second thought to what physically makes up the car, you’ll just use it until it’s time to replace it with another one. And then you’ll go through the same ‘what solution do I need to this problem’ again, only this time you may have a child, a dog as another thing to take into consideration when buying the next car.

What about with entertainment?
I think it’s the same with any popular culture/art: film, TV, music, stories.

I’ll focus on stories as I write stories, I don’t make films, or TV series, or sing (I do sing, but it’s not pretty)

When you buy a story you’re buying a solution to the act of sitting down, with nothing to read. Yes, I know there are plenty of people who do just sit down and don’t read, but for them they’d watch TV or go to the cinema. That would be their solution to the problem.  In this example I’m all about the books/stories OK?

The story gives you a solution to that problem in the form of escapism, entertainment, a way of experiencing new emotions or reliving old emotions, you feel from reading the story. I still think there’s something magical about how reading words on a page/screen can make another human being cry. It’s that bit of magic, as well as the entertainment aspect, you’re buying when you buy a story.

So, although in the purest sense, you’re not buying the paper and ink the story is printed on – or the electronic file – you’re buying what those things can do to you when you read them, when you use the product.

The commodification of stories
In effect this means that unlike hundreds of years ago, when books were so precious few people could afford to buy them, and stories were serialised in newspapers, now anyone who can afford a coffee from a well known chain, can afford a book. For the price of a coffee the story will entertain you for anything from a few hours for a novella to a couple of days for a long novel. 

This means stories are now treated like other commodities, not like high, inaccessible art of a few hundred years ago. The phenomenon of serialised books being sold in quick succession has increased this, with for example the Fifty Shades of Grey series and The Hunger Games series. Just like a DVD box set, word gets round about the latest must read book series, and readers buy all of them at the same time, and gobble them up like a box of chocolates.

So what does this mean? Is it a bad thing?
Well, fortunately lots of books don’t cause traffic jams, so that’s a bonus.

I think that more people having access to more books to read can only be a good thing, even if *cough* not all of the actual material is to all of our taste. I've already blogged about why I didn't read the 50SOG series, so it's not a secret.

Mu mum left school with no O levels at 15 and did her GCSE English & maths in her late forties. This was a massive undertaking for her. Until quite recently she hadn’t read a whole book, but she would watch with interest while on family holidays I consumed book after book. A few years ago, I lent her one of my pastel coloured chick lit books. Two days later she called to say how much she was enjoying it, ‘The story really pulls you along,’ and ‘It’s so easy to read I couldn't wait to get to the next bit,’ was how she described it. She finished that book lying in a hammock in her back garden and called to tell me all about the story: its twists and turns, the surprise reveal, and how much she’d enjoyed the time in the hammock, immersed in the book’s world. Even now, years later, she still talks about that afternoon in the garden with the book.

So if this is commodification of stories, as they’re now another product we use as a solution to a problem, just like a toaster/car/laptop, I think I’m fine with that.

What do you think? Do you think a story isn’t just another product, like a toaster? Do you think because it’s art, it’s a different thing entirely?

I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time,

Liam Livings xx