Filmmakers - General & Miscellaneous - Biography, Gay Men Biographies, AIDS Patients - Biography, British - Biography
Log in to track your reading progress.
Overview
One of the most controversial filmmakers of our time (Caravaggio, The Last of England, Edward II), and outspoken crusader for gay civil rights in Britain, Derek Jarman was diagnosed HIV positive in December of 1986. At Your Own risk is Derek's distillation of his philosophy of life and an impassioned and witty guide to gay sexuality from the repressed 40s through the libidinous 60s to the Aids-chilled present. Derek confronts his death, describing the reality of being HIV positive. Of a walk home after a sexual encounter on Hampstead Heath, he writes: "Why are you doing this, Derek? You shouldn't be standing under these cold stars. You shouldn't have the stamina to do this.' The answer is that I didn't have the stamina, but throwing my arms around a stranger is an act of defiance that keeps me alive." At Your Own Risk is an act of defiance - a defiant statement against a society that vacillates between indifference and moral censure on the issue of Aids and a defiant celebration of gay sexuality. At Your Own Risk argues that if you are HIV positive you can only remain frightened for so long and that there comes a point at which fear gives way to acceptance - a point after which you have to start living again.Iconoclastic filmmaker Derek Jarman (Caravaggio, Edward II) offers an impassioned and provocative celebration of gay sexuality, overflowing with his blunt and uncompromising philosophy of life in the age of AIDS. Photos.
Editorials
Library Journal
British filmmaker, author, AIDS activist, and all-around cultural upstart, Jarman has written a moving, visually evocative memoir of his life and times. One of the first filmmakers to project an unabashed gay sensibility onto screen, Jarman creates here a montage of autobiography, interviews, and social history that shifts back and forth through time, resulting in an intriguing portrait of his personal and artistic growth from the 1940s to the present. Jarman is able to distill the essence of an era with just a few well-chosen anecdotes. He is outraged at what he sees as the complicit passivity of the British government's response to the AIDS epidemic; throughout, he drops the uncaring words of government officials like deadly bombs. Some readers may find his honesty brazen and offensive, but Jarman is truly a spokesman for his tribe, a teacher and a sage who, while staring death in the face, keeps his eyes open to report back with a deep understanding of what is important to the gay community. Highly recommended.-- Jeffery Ingram, Newport P.L., Ore.Ray Olson
The English independent filmmaker known for emphasizing the usually suppressed homoerotism in classic plays like Marlowe's "Edward II" and classic myths like the martyrdom of St. Sebastian here discusses his life in the light of his present status as Britain's most famous person with AIDS. Discusses, indeed, for much of his book derives from interviews, much of the rest is speechlike, and all of it seems cobbled together. Although sorted into decade-titled sections, "1940s" through "1990s," it's hardly chronological; each section has some reminiscences, lots of contemporary reflections and pronouncements, and quite a bit of scrapbook stuff--bits of newspaper stories, headlines, etc.--on being gay in Britain, which Jarman thinks is pretty unendurable legally and politically. Despite having little to do with his artistic career, it's fascinating. It must be reckoned invaluable for any American gay studies collection, both for the contrast its picture of gay life in Britain makes with U.S. gay life and because of Jarman's provocative intelligence and his emotional and social maturity.Book Details
Published
December 27, 1992
Publisher
London : Hutchinson, 1992.
Pages
228
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780091770679