Christian Analysis of American Culture on RENT- Page 5

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 10:29pm

long sequence of doing battle with evil

Battling evil!!! How corrupting! What is this world coming to?

[DiamondGirl]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 10:31pm

You can count me in as another RENT-lovin' Christian. My contribution to this discussion will be a quote from a song by Brave Saint Saturn, one of my favorite Christian bands. The song is called "Under Bridges," and made the CD almost impossible to get, because they're not popular enough to be in mainstream stores, and the song got the album banned in a ton of Christian bookstores.

"Emaciated
His shaking fists balled up
Influenze and pneumonia
Begging God to take his cup
So different from his pictures
Breathing air through yellowed tubes
Jesus Christ, dying of AIDS
Can look right through you

And all have hated
Crucified and walked away
The savior of the prostitutes
Drunkards, rapists, and the gays"

That is all.

[neocomposer]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 10:31pm

I saw these after-movie analysis questions on another Christian review site. They may not be extemely open minded ie: "sinful lifestyles", but I think its a lot better than the CAP crap.


1. How do you measure your life? Rent's characters would say to measure your life in love. But it's also what Christ says (see Matt. 22:36-40). Compare and contrast how that idea is played out in both a bohemian context and a Christian context.

2. The motto of Rent is "No day but today." Is this how a Christian should approach life? In what ways might this be good? Are there ways in which such an approach might undermine qualities needed for spiritual maturity?

3. Why make a musical about such an apparently dismal existence—not to mention sinful lifestyles? Was the film glorifying these things? Or simply calling due attention to them?

4. How should Christians approach films that depict gay relationships? Can we learn anything about love from the homosexual relationships in Rent? From the heterosexual relationship?

5. Did this movie affect the way you think about HIV/AIDS? How? Do you think it made light of the virus, or did it take it seriously? How would God want us to respond to people living with HIV/AIDS? Does it matter how they contracted the disease?

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 10:51pm

HAHA, Harry Potter's review is great as well.

"camera angle to force viewer on private parts (clothed)"
When did this happen?!?

"reference to drinking of whiskey"
It wasn't whiskey, it was polyjuice potion. DUH!

And this one is priceless:

"Christmas without Jesus"

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 10:53pm

And this one is priceless:

"Christmas without Jesus"

ROFLMAO!!

[Kringas]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 10:56pm

don't think the reviewer actually WATCHED the movie, drug use was definitely not promoted

"To marijuana!"

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 10:59pm

don't think the reviewer actually WATCHED the movie, drug use was definitely not promoted

"To marijuana!"

Yea, but that wasn't the part they seemed to take issue with, the article only really mentioned the IV drug use.

[xoxRogue]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 11:11pm

So I just looked and, I was a little surprised that POTO wasn't on there. March of the Penguins was, but no POTO. Piglet's Big Movie, yes. POTO, no. Somethings wrong with that.

I enjoyed reading the POTC one.
"fork impaled into eyeball"
Booya!

"bird defecation on shoulder "
Tisk tisk. Those birds.

And, for LOT:ROTK. An offense to God.
"talking trees"

And...I just thought this was hilarious. For Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life:
"suggestive eye movements"

Oh no! Not the eye movements!!! ::gasp::

[alli2]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 11:11pm

god, i can't stand these people. and i know i'm not being any better than them in saying that, but extremeist ANYTHING should just... go away. you know... i feel like having LOTS of pre-marital sex right now... and then shooting up on crack.. just like Mimi did (just kidding...)....

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 11:13pm

CAP just makes me, and all of my christian freinds laugh.
The comment about Taye Diggs was just too much.
-Does this person realize that Taye Diggs was in the ORIGINAL CAST OF RENT! and has worked on many musicals.


About the HP review: "plants alive, repeatedly"
aren't all plants alive?

[Fantabulous428]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 11:14pm

I'm waiting for Anthony to come comment on this.

Hi Anthony! *waves*

awww...he left. maybe he'll return in the wee hours.

Updated On: 11/28/05 at 11:14 PM

[xoxRogue]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 11:22pm

About the HP review: "plants alive, repeatedly"
aren't all plants alive?

They're not the smartest bunch. Haha

[alli2]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 11:30pm

They're not the smartest bunch. Haha

Well, this is obvious. (No, I'm not mocking the previous poster of that quote!)

[Millie42]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 11:38pm

(To bring this slightly back on-topic) After looking at the ratings of some other movies, RENT held up better than one would think.
13 Going on 30 was given a 42, while RENT has a 32.

It's interesting the things they will pick out.
One of the point deductions on 13 Going on 30 was "Teenager hates self."

There were MANY movies with much lower ratings.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 11:39pm

What I can’t wait to see the Chronicles of Naria review. If this website wants to say that is a Christian site then they will know that C.S. Lewis is one of the most influential Christian writers in a looong time. Time will tell, if these people actually know anything outside of their small tiny world.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 11/28/05 at 11:50pm

I go to this website often when I'm in need of a good laugh.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 11/29/05 at 12:00am

"While I know too little to argue what is called same-sex attractions, having same-sex attractions does not make one "gay." Acting on same-sex attractions does."

This statement is a huge stinking pile of bull poo.

[dmb_rent]

Posted: 11/29/05 at 12:06am

From what I posted on the Anthony thread:

I wish I could get my mom to truly appreciate Rent. She likes the music of it, but that's really as far as she'll let herself go. She is an obsessive Christian, which is stopping her from being able to want anything to do with the story...for reasons I'm sure you can guess. But it's weird...she's not as super crazy as some Christians tend to be. She loooves Harry Potter...she's never been strict about anything...but I think lately she just clings to the Bible and all that stuff ....it makes me mad just thinking about some of the stupid stuff that comes out of her mouth!

I mean, she is still saying "They're going to hell. That's just how it is." --- Which I immediately blew up in her face about. Ohhh, the love between mother and daughter. Good times. Good times.

[cubbiegirl]

Posted: 11/29/05 at 12:06am

In case you aren't sure, make sure you read the listing of "what homosexuals do"

http://www.capalert.com/sexedabcdisney/whathomosdo.htm

[dmb_rent]

Posted: 11/29/05 at 12:08am

"Further, even the American College of Physicians has found the copycat syndrome associated with such entertainment. In their report they find an undeniable link between such programming as in Rent and the abuse of substances by kids of the MPAA "acceptable" age stratum for this film (90% of the study population were under 14 years old)."

That's just funny. I know when I saw Rent, I definitely wanted to go shoot up in the bathroom after it was over.

hahahaha...

[Magicupoursleeves]

Posted: 11/29/05 at 12:10am

I must say jrb_actor that your smiley had me laughing for a loong time, lol. What else had me laughing was this article. TeeHee. Hilarious, good read for those of us"morally superior".

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/29/05 at 12:12am

"This statement is a huge stinking pile of bull poo."

Use of the three/four letter word vocabulary!!!

[alli2]

Posted: 11/29/05 at 12:13am

here's another christian website's review of the movie, though not nearly as laughable...

http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/reviews/rent.html

[MLE]

Posted: 11/29/05 at 12:23am

I love this thread.

This is exactly what we should be doing. Laughing at this crap. Extremist is right. I'd like to add myself to the Christian Renthead list. There are a lot of crazies out there with sites like that, but there are a few good ones too. I always thought Liberalslikechrist.org was pretty good. It's a lot to go through though, lots of reading.

Anyway, back to the Rent review (I'd put that word in quotes but I'd be stooping to their level). Was this offensive to me? Yes, very. It gets frustrating seeing all these high and mighty, closed-minded people trying to profess the message of Christianity when they've clearly missed the boat. But there's no use getting angry, these people are never going to change. All we can do is laugh. Point out just how ridiculous it is and others will see that too.

I mean come on!

"adult in underwear"? Would "child in underwear" be better???

"lesbian come-on" WHAT??

or the granddaddy of them all:
"irresponsibility with fire" oh-no, Smokey the Bear would be so disappointed...


Isn't it ironic how they're reviewing how much "Impudence/Hate" is in the film? Hmmmm... Updated On: 11/29/05 at 12:23 AM

[alli2]

Posted: 11/29/05 at 12:29am

All we can do is laugh.

and hope they migrate... or die.