Review of The Living End (1992) by J K — 25 Mar 2008

Araki wasn't trying to make a film where gay people are always supposed to be shown in a positive light, he like some of us who are gay was/are annoyed and bored that gay people were only shown in a few carefully constructed ways.

The acting is over the top or dry because he was using elements of camp within the film and to even make fun of the road trip movies out there during this time period. Honestly not every gay person is so wonderful (just like many straight people) and his film was trying to prove that there are all sorts of gay people and that not everyone is taking HIV/AIDS sitting down waiting for their death either! Araki attempted to use this film to challenge the LGBT community and to make connections to class politics as well.

A prime example of this was when Luke said if Bush 1 were to be injected with HIV then there would be a cure tomorrow. Of course this film is swimming in identity politics at times to get it's message across and the use of camp can mean that some won't get the references, but overall I think this film was great.