Both Tony Kushner’s Angels in America and Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit center on the control of religion in both character’s lives. The impact of Jeanette’s mother and her religious views shape the relationship she has toward her own non-conforming sexuality and how that aspect of herself makes her feel isolated. The impact of Judaism on Louis’ life with respect to his sexuality changes his relationships with other members of the gay community. Both texts deal with the idea of prophets, where Jeanette considers herself a prophet because she chooses to create her own space outside of the church’s teachings, and Prior very clearly sees the vision of an angel and is considered to be some sort of messenger.
While many of the characters in Angels in America are affluent members of the gay community, Jeanette chooses to remain closeted for most of her life while living with her mother. Both Jeanette and other characters in Angels in America choose to ‘come out’ as gay despite the respective repercussions. Jeanette is ostracized within her community and is no longer allowed to teach in the church, and the members of the gay community during the AIDS crisis were often discriminated against in every aspect of their life; from the negative comments shared with Belize during his job at the hospital, to the possibility of an AIDS/HIV diagnosis toppling the livelihoods of anyone in the play.
Angels in America uses the idea of camp to add a playful exaggeration to many of its scenes, while Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit avoids the use of it all together. Angels deals with a very serious subject matter, and the use of camp in scenes like the funeral and Prior’s over the top hallucinations add a sense of lightheartedness that would otherwise make this play very serious and depressing. Jeanette’s story avoids using camp, which makes it more serious and allows an experience that is all too common to resonate in a different way with its readers. Both works explore the ideas of non-conforming sexuality to create a change in culture