WHAT IS 'BOHEMIA' <--FROM RENT?!

[jeremykushnier1fan]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 7:27pm

Can somebody please educate me ...what is 'Bohemia'??..i've never seen the play rent!!but i do own the CD ..and i've read a million scripts for the prodution...and i still don't know what Bohemia is or what a Bohemian is..well...someone PLEASE ANWSER MY CRY FOR HELP!!I MUST UNDERSTAND IT ALL!!

[etoile]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 7:31pm

You know, when I have a question about a word I go to webster.com.

[Cyndy]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 7:33pm

http://www.bohemiabooks.com.au/eblinks/spirboho/

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 7:40pm

I suggest you look it up on Wikipedia.com or something, but have you seen MOULIN ROUGE?

Bohemia is actually a historical region in central Europe; it used to be its own country, but is now part of the Czech Republic (if you've read Shakespeare's THE WINTER'S TALE, you'll remember that the character Polixenes is King of Bohemia -- Shakespeare has Perdita abandoned by the shores of Bohemia, which is funny because Bohemia was a landlocked country).

However, in 19th-century France the term "Bohemia" and "Bohemians" became used to refer to the type of poor, non-traditional artists and social outcasts (usually the ones who drank absinthe and talked about love and liberty). The term was coined from the common belief that the gypsies were originally from Bohemia.

So generally, "Bohemian" refers to unconventional "struggling" artists while "Bohemia" refers to their lifestyle and culture. When Benny says, "Bohemia is dead," he is saying that the idea of the romanticized, misunderstood artist living in poverty and creating art is a dead one.

Updated On: 12/30/04 at 07:40 PM

[Chloe]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:23pm

Bravo, BlueWizard! Excellent definition.

[jeremykushnier1fan]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:45pm

Well said BlueWizard...and i thank you for all your help!

[camerangel]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 9:43pm

**applaudes BlueWizard**

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 9:51pm

Always at your service, thank you. *bows*

[BJC899]

Posted: 12/31/04 at 2:45pm

There's a place on Long Island named Bohemia.

[zippyjen]

Posted: 12/31/04 at 2:49pm

really? Nassau or suffolk county?

[BJC899]

Posted: 12/31/04 at 3:31pm

I believe suffolk and over the summer they had some sort of Rent workshop at this theatre in Bohemia.

[defy_gravity]

Posted: 12/31/04 at 3:57pm

lol... that is amusing.

[mallardo]

Posted: 12/31/04 at 4:22pm

Also, let's remember that Rent is a modern updating of Puccini's opera La Boheme which translates as Bohemia or The Bohemian Life - La Vie Boheme!