A tidal wave of panic surrounded homosexuality and AIDS in the 1980s and early 1990s, the period commonly called 'The AIDS Crisis'. With the advent of antiretroviral drugs in the mid '90s, however, the meaning of an HIV diagnosis radically changed. These game-changing drugs now enable many people living with HIV to lead a healthy, regular life, but how has this dramatic shift impacted the representation of gay men and HIV in popular culture? Positive Images is the first detailed examination of how the relationship between gay men and HIV has transformed in the past two decades. From Queer as Folk to Chemsex, The Line of Beauty to The Normal Heart, Dion Kagan examines literature, film, TV, documentaries and news coverage from across the English-speaking world to unearth the socio-cultural foundations underpinning this 'post-crisis' period. His analyses provide acute insights into the fraught legacies of the AIDS Crisis and its continued presence in the modern queer consciousness.

Provides several detailed case studies drawn from the mainstream media and informed by feminist and queer theory

List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsSeries Editors' ForewordIntroduction: Crisis/Post-Crisis1. Gay Redemption: Domestication and Disavowal in the Gay 90s2. Positive Men Are from Mars, Negative Men Are from Venus: Sero-Melodrama in Queer As Folk3. Crisis Re-Runs: Barebacking, Chemsex and Post-Crisis Sex Panic4. AIDS Heritage in The Line of Beauty5. AIDS Retrovisions: Dallas Buyers Club and The Normal HeartConclusion: Feeling GenerationalNotesBibliographyFilm and Television ReferencesIndex