Prefiguring AIDS

1
Prefiguring AIDS

• AMS 1A
• Jay Mechling
• Fall 2002
• http//ams.ucdavis.edu/jemechling/Homepage.html

2
The Puzzle

• Ridley Scotts Alien (1979) and John Carpenters
  The Thing (1982)

3
The Timeline

• 1981 first diagnosis of Gay-Related
  Immunological Deficiency Syndrome (GRIDS)
• 1984 HIV discovered

4
Prefiguring AIDS

• Formula narratives and metaphors, part of our
  commonsense knowledge, become templates for new
  experiences

5
Ridleys Scotts Alien (1979)

• Plot Summary
• 1958 film, It! The Terror from Beyond Space
• Symbolic Elements
• sexual iconography of the artwork design
• contamination of body
• the Bosom Serpent motif
• the Vagina Dentata motif
• toxic, dangerous blood of alien

6
John Carpenters The Thing (1982)

• remake of 1951 sci fi classic, The Thing (From
  Another World) , directed by Christian Nyby
• based on John W. Campbells short story, Who
  Goes There?
• vampirism explicit in 1951 film
• Carpenters 1982 film explicit on blood as
  contamination

7
The Vampire Connection

• the myth across history geography
• blood symbolism
• Elizabeth Bathory (16th century)
• 1871 novella, Carmilla, b y J. Sheridan Le Fanu
  (Irish)
• Bram Stokers Dracula (1897)

8
Why the 1970s?

• The Gothic Revival
• popular romantic novels
• Dark Shadows television series (1966-71)
• reaction to Enlightenments order, control,
  rationality
• counter-cultural movement in music, dress
• sexual revolution
• homosexual, bisexual, and androgynous themes in
  New Gothic culture
• Anne Rice novels, esp. sexual themes in Interview
  with the Vampire (1976)

9
5 Reasons for Appeal of Vampires

• reunion with deceased
• symbols of blood
• ingestion
• sexual
• perpetuation of life, beauty, power, body

10
Narcissism

• Inflated images of self
• Need tribute from others
• Shallow emotional life
• Difficulty experiencing empathy for others

11
The Culture of Narcissism

• Christopher Lasch (1979)
• Commodity capitalism

12
Again, why the 1970s?

• Cold War images of invasion
• Vietnam
• Images of Africa
• Sexuality gay rights movement
• Longing for control

13
Immunology v. Virology

• Immunology popular 1960s-early 1980s
• Virology after 1984 and discovery of HIV