A RENT rant (of sorts)

In some ways I think Angel's death is far more impactful and devastating than Mimi's would have ever been. Mimi is a very flawed person living a fast life and making numerous just plain horrible choices. The character of Angel, however, is the epitome of love, hope and optimism, so by killing him off they are pulling at the heartstrings in a much more effective way.

I do agree that Mimi's "return from the brink" is slightly absurd....but if they had to choose one person to kill off (either Angel or Mimi) I think Angel was the more emotionally powerful choice and overall more effective for the content and message of the show.

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While I'm sure there are many Rentheads who are the way you describe, I think most of the fans here can recognize that the show is not perfect.

As for my opinion about Rent's quality...there are lyrics here and there that I wish I could tweak, there are nuances I wish I could add, etc, but it's not in my power to do so, so I just try to enjoy the show for it is. I think overall it works.

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I, myself, am a fan of "Rent", but I admit it does have it's flaws. Nothing against the character, but I really don't like how Mimi doesn't die at the end. I guess it is a sort of optimistic way of ending the show, however miraculous it is.
Angel is a better liked character and it hurts more to know that she won't come back, whereas with Mimi, it would be sad but not heartbreaking.

Updated On: 11/7/05 at 07:34 PM

The ending ruins the show.

And, the whole "no day but today" theme is completely ruined, IMO. They say no day but today, but apparently Mimi's got a few more days left in her.

Hey now,lets not judge so fast..didn't anyone even stop to consider the fact that those are probably MAGIC blue pants...

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LMAOOO Blu. It all makes sense now!

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Yes, but that Akida, Evita, just would not shut up. So, he was giving love to the rest of the neighbors by making that sacrafice!

Yes.

Not to split hairs, but I don't think Angel is a transsexual. He's barely a drag queen.

That being said, - and I've said this before - while I do love the show, it's massively flawed. I'm just going to cut and paste what I've already said about this on another thread.

"True enough, though these threads have caused me to look back at Rent (the stage version) and wonder if perhaps Larson did give homosexuals the shaft. I'm not questioning his intentions, but when you look at it as a whole, there are things that are unsettling.

Sarah Schulman (who maintains that Larson ripped off her book "People in Trouble") states that "the actual message is that in the gay male couple, the guy dies. The lesbian couple--all they ever do is bicker. The only people who have true love are the straight people. [Also], the gay people with AIDS die, and the straight people with AIDS live. So you end up with a story of the AIDS crisis in which the central, most heroic figures are straight. Believe me, I have lived through the AIDS crisis and I know that that is the opposite of the truth."

If a problem with the gay characters permeates the film, it may stem from the source. Again, I don't think Larson had any malicious intent, but it's also a widely noted fact that he originally had Maureen returning to Mark at the end. Granted, that was dropped, but it does sort of indicate that Larson didn't really have much of handle on writing gay characters, and I think that comes through in the finished product.

Don't get me wrong. I still enjoy Rent and look forward to the movie, but I do think that it presents a lot of mixed messages."

"I'm not sure that Angel isn't a stereotype. Or perhaps she's an archetype (the name alone. Oy). She's the sassy Latin Boy in a dress (see To Wong Foo). She's unlike any drag queen I've ever met in my life. She's so ... preposterously good and holy that I still to this day can't fathom how she contracted HIV to begin with. Perhaps she was administering a needle-exchange program and accidentally got pricked?

I think that Angel and Collins are the least interesting characters in the show. There's nothing below their surface, except that by the end, Collins is advocating outright thievery (again with the mixed messages!).

And I can see the joke about anti-homosexual bias, but still, I think Schulman does raise some points that have to be considered. Yes, April (a character we never see) dies. But it's a suicide. The suicide may have been provoked by her diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, but AIDS is not what killed her. Of four positive main characters, only a gay one dies.

And finally, I don't know that we're led to believe Roger and Mimi will die. The show's biggest misstep, in my opinion, is bringing Angel back on at the end of the finale, before the show is actually over. I've never quite figured out what we're supposed to make of that...

...Mini-Spoiler: Granted, Angel does drive a dog off a terrace, but she does it via drumming, and once we discover the dog was Benny's, we feel she is justified. Even her cruelty to animals becomes sanctimonious. "

I just don't think Larson had a good handle on writing gay characters.

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Updated On: 11/7/05 at 07:53 PM

I'm pretty sure I responded to that post in the other thread as well, but I'm too lazy to go find it.

But I do agree about Angel not being a transsexual. It always bugs me when people claim so adamently that he is, because there's nothing within the text of the show that supports that.

ETA: JerseyGirl, that's exactly why I have such issues with Sarah Schulman.

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Updated On: 11/7/05 at 08:02 PM

That thread introduced Art2 to everyone, I think.

There were some great conversations, misunderstandings and clarifications on the thread, and a couple of others running around the same time.

I'm not a Renthead, but I love the show because it was my first Broadway show on a trip to NYC 9 1/2 years ago (Tony weekend, and I saw 4 shows that trip!) All I really remember about the show (at that time) was that I was sobbing by the end of it. At the curtain call, I had tears running down my cheeks, and a cast member (who will remain nameless) saw this and smiled at me (I had an awesome seat!). No show has ever drawn that much emotion from me (except maybe Schindler's List, in a different way). The more I listened to the cast album, the more I realized that it wasn't perfect---but it didn't have to be. It just has to move you, in some way. And it moved me.
It also made me want to go to NYC as often as possible to see shows! Not bad for a (now) middle-aged Republican!

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