I'm going back a few pages here, but I'm very confused about the stance people take against
Rent's character, calling them "whiny." I mean, if you see really lousy actors, I guess I can see where it's coming from, but I don't think there's really a sense of entitlement in all the characters. With Mark and Roger, they're staying in a place their friend owns and lets them stay in for free, and one day, on Christmas Eve, her rides over and pays them a visit and basically says, "Oops, by the way, your rent is due, or you're out on the street." Somehow, I think if he told them, you know,
before the rent was due so they had some warning and it wasn't just laid on them on Christmas Eve, right after Roger comes home from rehab (which, I'm sure, didn't hit him financially at ALL, right? Noooo. Couldn't have). People seem to act like as if the story is portraying these people as if they're whiny brats who think they're entitled to a free ride and hate their landlord on principle--because he's a landlord. But that's not what's in the script. They're constantly picking on their landlord because he's a former friend who's obviously lost all sensitivity to their situation and moved all his worries to money (the guy marries for money, which he has more than enough of, then kicks his friends out on the street without even giving them the opportunity to save up.).
And the show is about artists
trying to figure out how to make a living and survive in a society driven by money. They're trying to figure out how they can make the most meaningful art while making enough money to pay rent, buy food, etc. It's not a show that's going "Oh, Gee, don't you feel bad for the poor artists who don't want to pay rent?" It's talking about a legitimate struggle artists have: how do we be a part of the world and have the time and means to say something meaningful about it? There's a pretty strong struggle in the entire show about the need an artist has to ideally be merely observing the world so her can create, but obviously, when after a year of a free ride they're asked to pay rent, that ideal is disturbed. Of course an artist has to be a part of the world and society, how else will he comment on it, and how else will he survive?
I also have to address this:
What ever the reason, I think it's funny. One is that they still believe in the message and like the characters, which is what I personally find sad. The other is that they're doing it to pay their rent which is funny considering what the show is about and what it means to people. And the third is them being self-indulgent. I'm not sure what's so funny about someone still believing in the message of the show. The struggle the major artists go through is something anyone who desires to create meaningful art would go through--it's often a struggle anyone with a dream that won't necessarily makes ends meet would relate to. Not to mention the bigger framework of all those issues is nothing other than learning to appreciate the mere fact that we're alive. Is that so sad a message to believe in?
I'm not exactly sure what's funny about them taking the jobs to pay their rent. I think that statement in itself shows just how much you missed the point of the show. Nobody in the show is against having money or making money. They're against taking jobs or doing work that goes against something they believe in. So I'm not sure what's "funny" about them returning to a show they believed in in the first place.
Updated On: 5/4/07 at 01:06 PM
