HIV And AIDs Gets A Sympathetic Update In The New Film "Three Months"

For LGBTQ+ films and television, one of the most common clichés is the AIDS trope, which is basically just an excuse for white, cis-gender, straight-run media organizations to display queer suffering while trying to parade it as acceptance and equality.

This trope is one that follows the queer community to this day, unless you look at Three Months, a new film from director Jared Frieder that offers a fresher and more modern look at what it means to be a queer person dealing with HIV/AIDS.

The film isn't just a sorely needed piece of the queer film canon; it has the potential to ignite a new trend, where a character contracting HIV isn't a death sentence, but simply part of the journey.

Three Months offers a more nuanced take on HIV

The film stars Troye Sivan as Caleb, a freshly graduated Florida teen who is waiting the mandatory three months it takes to get back the results of an HIV test during the summer of 2011. (The wait is no longer three months.) 

As he grapples with the possibility of living with the disease, Caleb confronts his own stigmas while trying to find new love and figure out his future.

This film is quietly revolutionary, as it dares to treat HIV how it actually manifests in the real world and choosing to forgo queer suffering.

The AIDS trope has remained a negative for the queer community

The "AIDS trope" is a recurring theme in queer and LGBTQ+ TV and film that essentially depicts queer people suffering and dying from HIV and AIDS.

Take, for example, all the queer classics that have defined queer entertainment for the last couple of decades. Think of Angels in America, The Normal Heart, Pose, It's a Sin, Philadelphia, Rent, Dallas Buyers Club, and more. All pieces of queer media that have lived on in our cultural context, yet describe a world where getting HIV means death and suffering.

These works, ranging from the early days of AIDS to the last couple of years, fail to show the updated truth about living with HIV or AIDS: where people who are diagnosed can live long and happy lives.

Why queer entertainment needs an update

We should not forget or ignore the AIDS epidemic and the mostly Black and brown queer people who were lost to it, but honoring them does not mean that queer people should only be able to see depictions of themselves suffering.

Many people get context for our world by seeing it on screens. Whether it be reality TV, a documentary, YouTube video, Facebook post, or a film, representation in media has a real impact by allowing people to learn about all the different ways the world works. 

For queer people, how we are portrayed in media plays a big part in how the world treats us and how we treat ourselves. If all queer people see is suffering and death, then all queer people can imagine is a future of suffering. If all people see are queer people dying of HIV and AIDS, then that's all people might think we or the disease are.

The reality of HIV and AIDS

Men who have sex with men represent over half of all new infections every year, with these numbers even higher for people of color, meaning that information about HIV and AIDS is crucial for queer people. 

Today, getting diagnosed with HIV isn't a death sentence, but is still a serious matter and one that should be treated with care. 

Sexual education for queer people in schools is practically nonexistent, and focuses on abstinence, an ineffective practice, while ignoring more realistic options like condoms and PrEP, a pill that can be taken to prevent contracting HIV.

For those that test positive for HIV, regular doctors' visits and daily medication can make the individual "undetectable," a status that means the viral load of HIV is so low in your system that it makes it nearly impossible to transmit the disease to someone who is HIV negative and allows you to live a long and healthy life.

How Three Months shows what's to come

Three Months sets itself apart by allowing the virus its protagonist worries about to fall to the wayside. 

It isn't the only film to treat HIV with care, but it is one of the few in recent memory that completely changes the stigma around it and doesn't end in some gruesome death.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

At the end of the film, our central teen withholds the results of his test, letting the audience know that whether negative or positive, the film isn't a story about AIDS or HIV, but of how far we've come from it. The parts of the film that make it amazing have nothing to do with the disease, but the queer resilience it takes to confront that reality and to make your life worthwhile in the face of it.

To be HIV+ in today's world is very different from the world our queer elders lived in, and it's one that changes every day, so here's hoping that the queer entertainment we see in the future keeps all that in mind.

HIV and AIDS resources for queer people

Every city and state has their own resources for HIV patients, with many programs being available to help cover costs of medicine or prevention like PrEP. 

Here are some helpful resources for anyone regarding HIV and AIDS:

HIV Plus Magazine is one of the longest-running queer publications to date and one of the only focused on HIV.

CenterLink is a network of LGBTQ+ centers and resources for communities in need of one.

The CDC has a large list of resources and information regarding HIV/AIDS in America today.

For any queer youth going through a potential health scare, The Trevor Project is a free and reliable place to seek help.

For older adults, The National Center on LGBTQ+ Aging has a ton of helpful resources for elderly queer people and elderly caretakers. 

Three Months is currently streaming on Paramount+