ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Schulman's 1990 novel People in Trouble. It analyzes Schulman's representation of the middle-class heteronormative artists who perceive themselves as dissenting, a point which invites a comparison with Rent's “bohemians.” Next, the chapter discusses how the novel represents queer communities, which are shown as the social space for growth of meaningful relationships. This is in direct contrast to the culture industry of AIDS, which tends to belittle the significance of queer kinship and stress the importance of blood bonds. Finally, the discussion centers on the novel's representation of activism. People in Trouble shows grassroots action as granting ordinary people the power to cause social change and the ability to question the letter of the unjust law. This kind of depiction may be interpreted as a call to action rooted in anger, in direct opposition to the works of the culture industry of AIDS, which tend to advocate acceptance of the crisis.
