Some RENT questions...for the experts.- Page 2

[kasim]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:02am

luvtheEmcee> damnit! you beat me to the explanation!!! :)

curses!


btw are their any websites you guys know of where i can order international posters in general?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:06am

Technically, several scenarios could've happened with Roger and April. It's not detailed.

He could've gotten AIDS by using drugs, pulled her into doing drugs, and given it to her, either by sharing needles, or by having sex. Two possibilities right there.

She could've gotten into drugs, and passed it to *him*.

But, since we don't know -- nor does he -- who had it first, it allows him to feel a sense of guilt. Somehow, as the movie puts it for us, by helping her with that needle, he had a hand in it. By either encouraging her drug use, or perhaps by sharing a needle.

Updated On: 12/1/05 at 11:06 AM

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:06am

Even more unrealistic than Roger going to the support group was the fact that no one seemed to object when Mark, a total stranger who seems a bit uncomfortable there to begin with, pulls out his camera to film the meeting. Sorry, but that just seemed too ludicrous and made Mark seem a bit like a jerk.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:07am

You'd think someone would go "hell, no!" right? Suspension of disbelief...

Mark has got his work,
They say Mark has got his work.
Mark's in love with his work.
Mark hides in his work..."

This is one of the first CIVIL discussions I've had about Rent in a very long time. Thanks, Sueleen. I miss doing this; there's so much to discuss.

Updated On: 12/1/05 at 11:07 AM

[Marquise]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:17am

Too bad the above lyrics don't appear in the movie at all.
It would have explained alot to someone who's never seen this show.

Ditto for HALLOWEEN. It explains to us why Mark feels the need to film his friends. He's one of the only ones (aside from Joanne and Maureen) who are HIV negative. He wants to capture his friends on film, before they die.

Benny never gets his redemption. He's the one who paid for Angel's funeral ~ that's gone. He's also the one who offers to help for Mimi's rehabilitation ~ also gone.


Updated On: 12/1/05 at 11:17 AM

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:21am

well, most members looked pretty damn uncomfortable when Mark pulls his camera out, and Gordon definetely pauses before he speaks, looking right at the camera.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:25am

In real life, someone probably would've said no. They don't know anything about this guy.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:27am

It just seems to me that the leader of the group, who I am assuming is a social worker or someone with professional training would say something to the effect that "This is not the place for a camera. If people would like to talk to you outside of the group that is one thing, but I would not want anyone to feel intimidated by the camera and not feel comfortable speaking openly here." I mean it is sort of like someone lightning up a cigarette and then asking, "Oh, no one minds if I smoke, do you?" What are you supposed to say that doesn't make you look like an asshole?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:31am

Or at least that they'd have questioned him before being like "yeah, whatever." I suspose if you look at it as a musical and not as real life, the way he sings their song shows that he's not a total jerk, and that he embraces what they say and believe in, even though he's not ill himself. Like, if he joins in with them, they see that it's not a scam, and that he's vulnerable, too. Maybe I'm stretching with that, though.

Updated On: 12/1/05 at 11:31 AM

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:35am

I absolutely agree with Sueleen on that. I felt the same way about Santa Fe when Collins and Angels dance their way through the F train, sit on people's laps, remove their hats... eventually someone would have beaten the crap out of them, no?

QM

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:37am

I think Mark and Benny really suffer as characters in the movie. Who they are isn't very clear, maybe due to cuts (definitely on Mark's part at least).

I think Benny's character would be more interesting if there was more of a pull between him wanting to not sell out his friends and not wanting to give up his new life. I also wanted to know what was going through his head as far as his feeling about cheating on Alison with Mimi. It's just not very clear.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:39am

QM!!

Anyway. This is semi-related. The day after I saw the movie, I was on the subway, and these four guys came into the car dancing and singing in harmony. I had to chuckle.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 12:54pm

"if any did they weren't close attention when he took off his wig in the life support meeting. also, he has no breasts."

Hmrph. I would just to establish that breasts are not always the best indicator of gender. There are too many men out there that have bigger boobs than I do.

Roger has always been the only one with the backstory of how he contracted HIV. There's no flashbacks for Mimi either, so it's not just to prove that he's not gay.

I don't think the people at Life Support really had a problem with Mark filming. They were probably hesitant, but I think the fact that Gordon still shared with the camera going is a good indication that it didn't bother him. And as for it "not being the place," Angel played a huge part in his film, so it would make sense for him to go there and see where Angel got his "No Day But Today" attitude.

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 12:57pm

Oooh was that downtown on the 6 train? I LOVE those guys.

To pipe up here and add to MrMidwest's comment about Benny - I'm really torn about the way Benny was handled.

In one sense, I MISS the part where he pays for angel's funeral - a lot. It really shows that he isn't all around a bad guy.

But did anybody else find the scene where Mark hands him the Rent check to be really touching? I actually felt BAD for Benny because it seemed like... at that moment.. he really had lost all connection with his friends.

He was already isolated from them by his change in lifestyle, but NOW his last "connection" or something he felt like he could "do" for them (let them live rent-free) was being cut off. I actually kind of felt sorry for him there, and Taye's facial expression was priceless.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 12:59pm

I think it was the 1, but I had never seen the before. It was either the 1 or the NR.

I felt bad for him there, too. Now his friends don't even need his help, let alone want it. So, anything he tried to do to win their affections back was now not necessary.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 1:45pm

Even though it was written to make a statement, it comes off now as a parody of the crap that was being performed back then. I laughed, but I am not sure for the right reasons.

In the Rent bible, it talks about how Jon struggled to make Over The Moon intentionally bad. He wanted it to be horrible, and yet he wanted Maureen to be able to feel so deeply that she was an artist and saving all her friends through her art. So don't worry, you laughed for the right reasons.

Also, I had to giggle when I saw the subject "Question for Rent experts" and then "last post from: luvtheEmcee."

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 1:48pm

Like I just told someone else, I'm a shameful internet addict. I'd rather do this than my homework!

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 2:04pm

So do Maureen's friends really think she has talent? Or are they just being nice?

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 2:19pm

I think it depends on the way you look at it. Have you ever been to see a friend in a show? I always think they are better than they probably are because I know them. Or at least, their performance AMUSES me because I know them.

In the stage show, though, Joanne at least does not agree with Maureen's idea of a brilliant act - they have a fight about the whole "dressing up as a groundhog" thing - which Maureen thinks is a "metaphor" and Joanne thinks is "less than brilliant"

I feel that they probably find her amusing. I don't think any of them think she's some kind of talented goddess, though.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 2:30pm

Which brings me back to my original question. Why would Benny be threatened by the prospect of Maureen performing one of her crappy performance art pieces? He has a little more power than she does, yet it seems that bribing Mark and Roger to get her to stop and holding that over their heads is a pretty drastic and ****ty thing to do if no one really takes her seriously. I think that for it to have dramatic power her piece should be brilliant and incite the riot so that there is some real reason for Benny to get it halted. Have the media there from the beginning, make it a big deal, not just a little neighborhood excuse for a get together. Does that make any sense?

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 2:33pm

I always wondered why, if he works at NYU, is Collins so poor?

[angelrock25222]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 2:43pm

the threat to benny isnt that a good performance piece is being presented. that has nothing to do with it. maureen's protest, to all the tenants, is more of a "pep rally". when she tells them all to moo, its supposed to represent their unity against "cyberland" by mooing with Elsie, who defied cyberland by letting maureen drink the milk. benny and backers dont want the homeless to band together and rally; its harder to fight a unified force.

it really didnt matter what her performance piece was like, alls it had to do was get them wound up about their eviction.

the fact that it is funny is where his throwback to performance artists comes in, not its intent.

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 2:48pm

I never got the impression that Collins was EVER that hard up for money.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 2:52pm

But wouldn't it be a stronger statement on her character if Maureen was KNOWN for doing this sort of Rally? As it is in the film it seems that all the homeless people are there to be entertained and warm up a bit. It just doesn't make sense to me the way it is written and directed (both Maureen's piece and that subplot of the film, itself). That is why it comes off as a joke.

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 2:54pm

Maureen is known for doing SOMETHING, otherwise Mark wouldn't have been her production manager for so long.