Dude, who even knows.

2nd March 2021

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In 80s/90s genre fiction there were a lot of AIDS-analogue epidemic viruses, I picked that up at the time and patted myself on the back for noticing, now I’m picking out exactly how they used them, what particular period themes they were invoking

Like, Johnny Mnemonic’s NAS was AIDS – and neoliberalism, how big social challenges like plague were now processed through corporate forms and imperatives

The X-Men’s Legacy Virus was AIDS as Gay Plague, the thing that shows up to interrupt the minority group’s mainstreaming and introduce tragedy to their lives

This one ‘97 book Sewer Gas & Electric, a bit further afield, there had been a (secretly engineered) virus that killed off black people just as android servants became a thing, so there was no one to complain people wildly preferred them in black, I think a lot of that was invoking how with AIDS for queers and “urban decay” for blacks a lot of the '80s “Reagan Revolution” reaction was just “Aah, those upstarts we were worried about got rekt, huh? Well, that resolves that plotline.”

  1. theresponseblog reblogged this from kontextmaschine and added:
    "Demolition Man" and its lengthy list of AIDS-remakes, with AIDS as The End Of History; although as satire, it does...
  2. inusaba-moved reblogged this from kontextmaschine
  3. kontextmaschine posted this
    In 80s/90s genre fiction there were a lot of AIDS-analogue epidemic viruses, I picked that up at the time and patted...