[비즈한국] A long time ago, I got into an argument with a friend. The topic was, "What do you think about homosexuality?" I was of the position that since one cannot tell a gay person what to do, we should accept them, while my friend insisted they should be "cured" somehow (it was the 90s, and we were both young and naive, so we were just pretending to know things without any real knowledge). As the argument heated up, my friend finally looked at me as if I were suffering from "cool-kid syndrome" and asked, "If one of your younger siblings turned out to be gay, could you accept it?" To avoid losing the argument, I said, "Well, it wouldn't be something I could help, would it?" but truthfully, I’m not sure if I would have reacted so calmly back then if a family member had come out to me.
Watching the British drama 'It's a Sin,' exclusively released on Watcha, reminded me of that version of myself. 'It's a Sin' follows the lives of young gay men in 1980s London, a time when the disease known as AIDS was slowly beginning to surface. The story centers on Ritchie (Olly Alexander), who comes to London to study law; Colin (Callum Scott Howells), a shy boy who moves to the city to become a tailor; and Roscoe (Omari Douglas), who leaves his family in Nigeria after they threaten to send him back home because he is gay. Ritchie meets Jill (Lydia West) and Ash (Nathaniel Curtis), who are theater students at his university, and after Roscoe and Colin join them, they all move into an apartment they name the "Pink Palace."
Four gay boys and their close friend, a girl named Jill. These gay boys, who either couldn't come out to their families or had been rejected by them, truly enjoy their youth in London, living loudly and exuberantly. Above all, their lives in London were so vibrant because they were surrounded by people who recognized them for who they were—people their families did not know or had turned their backs on. And there was their youth. 'It's a Sin' does a great job of showing that they were ordinary young people living day by day to achieve their dreams, just like anyone else: Ritchie wanted to be an actor, Colin a tailor, and Roscoe a nightclub owner who wanted to be rich.
What casts a shadow over their fun and joyful lives is AIDS. AIDS was first reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on June 5, 1981, and because it was discovered simultaneously among gay men, it was initially called the "gay flu" or "gay cancer." As it was known as an incurable disease that guaranteed death upon infection, it was treated as a sin, and naturally, hostility toward homosexuality grew. Today, we know that even if one is infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), it does not automatically progress to AIDS, and it can be managed like a chronic condition with medication. We also know that it is not a disease that only affects gay men. However, during that era, such misunderstandings and prejudices must have been overwhelming. Consider how, when COVID-19 first emerged and spread from Wuhan, China, people in the West misunderstood and persecuted Asians as if they were the cause (unfortunately, many people still harbor such discriminatory views today).
When it is revealed that Colin, the quietest of the group, has contracted AIDS, 'It's a Sin' begins to focus in earnest on how these characters face the disease. Some are fearful, some look away, and some hold hands in solidarity. An interesting point is that the person who first encounters the fear of AIDS and works to dispel that prejudice is not one of the gay boys—Ritchie, Colin, Roscoe, or Ash—but Jill, the girl living with them. Jill is a character who shows that one must directly act and stand in solidarity to move toward a better world. The line spoken by the mother of Colin, the first of the group to pass away from AIDS, is also poignant: "If heterosexual boys were dying like this, the world would have stopped."
'It's a Sin' is a drama I hope people will watch in this current era, where there is so much talk about enacting anti-discrimination laws. Of course, people’s opinions on this will vary. There are those who strongly support it, those who strongly oppose it, those who are passive in their support or opposition, those who support or oppose it without really understanding what it is, and those who say it has nothing to do with them, so they don't care at all. Although I still have much of my life ahead of me, I am older and more experienced than I was when I argued with my friend 20 years ago, and I think differently now. At the very least, I know that saying "It doesn't concern me, so I don't care" is a form of laziness. We never know what we might face in life. Things we say "would never happen to me" often happen in reality. And I know that things I once considered "right" in the past may not be right today. I also know that just because I don't know much about something or feel it doesn't affect me, turning a blind eye is not the right attitude for a better world. In that sense, I recommend watching it even if you have no interest in the subject matter.
'It's a Sin,' a five-part series, displays an amazing sense of balance, treating a heavy subject in a lively way without being overly frivolous. It provides not only entertainment and emotion but also room for thought. Russell T. Davies, the writer of the highly acclaimed 'Years and Years'—which was released on Watcha Exclusive last year—participated as the creator, and the fact that Olly Alexander, an openly gay actor, played the role of Ritchie drew significant attention. When Ritchie, played by Olly Alexander, says on his deathbed, "People will forget, won't they? They'll forget how much fun it was," it makes my heart ache, even if I can't fully grasp his exact emotions—a testament to his sincere performance.
You might like or dislike this drama, but I hope you don't dismissively criticize it just because it features gay characters without even watching it. Oh, and thanks to it being set in 80s London, many songs from that era are featured, so those with nostalgia for that time might find it quite welcome.
Who is writer Jung Soo-jin?
She has worked at various magazines, covering and writing about movies, travel, and popular culture. She doesn't want to fall behind on trends, but she has become an "old-school" person who, while watching the latest dramas, only predicts the obvious clichés for the next scene. Currently adrift in the vast world of OTT platforms, she is trying to regain her lost edge. Her current wish is for the release of an integrated OTT subscription plan.