What makes a Renthead?- Page 2

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:00pm

i can do the lawn chair handcuff dance....

but seriously, to be a renthead, i think you have to be more than just a fan. you have to understand the message than Mr. Larson was trying to tell everyone to really understand what rent is about.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:03pm

That's just obnoxious pretentiousness, to claim you've been a big fan forever when you haven't. But I still don't think that means we should be making lists of insane things you would do if you were the epitome of a RENThead. I consider myself an enormous fan of this show, but I'm quiet about it. I've not once mooed, I don't squeal at cast members, I don't hop up and down every time there's a mundane reference in real life. I don't drum a jar of pickles, and I didn't see the original cast. Just because I'm less vocal, does that make me less of a fan?

Updated On: 5/31/05 at 10:03 PM

[MatureDignity]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:03pm

Heh, I remember the Munchausen girl. Scary! Also, I think you had to have at least one spell of being "so over RENT," constantly harping on about how over RENT you are on various RENT forums and websites to be a "real" RENThead. Those were good times!
Updated On: 5/31/05 at 10:03 PM

[Pinguin]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:05pm

HA, definetely not luvtheemcee...just a less annoying one. I associate Rentheads with the crazy ridiculous vocal fans, but I suppose that's just my own definition...

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:07pm

for the record, I have stalked a cast member and I do understand all the references in La Vie Boheme... but the best part of rent, for me, was camping out to see the show with all the other rentheads, that was the first time I ever felt like I really belonged and like I was being accepted. sure, afterwards when I got to know some of the people I had met on CB and one or two of them turned out to be evil and said shi*t behind my back, but, at least, I felt accepted for a little while...

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:08pm

It absolutely does not make u less of a fan Emcee. I was just curious what people's opinions were of what a Renthead is. I think that makes u an even greater fan, because u don't feel the need to flaunt it and be ostentatious about the fact that u love it.

[incendiary_wit]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:08pm

I am a RENThead and am quite proud to be one. I once read all of the "You might be a RENThead if..."

I qualified for almost half of it.

I have never been so proud.
*also points to signature*

[incendiary_wit]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:08pm

I am a RENThead and am quite proud to be one. I once read all of the "You might be a RENThead if..."

I qualified for almost half of it.

I have never been so proud.
*also points to signature*

[BEKA531]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:11pm

em, you've never moo-ed? seriously?

and i don't do most of the things you've listed, either. that's not a renthead, that's an i-have-no-life-head. that's someone who has to show off that they're a fan, which isn't what the musical is really about.

i stay pretty quiet about my love of rent and musicals, period. only a couple of my friends are slight fans, but not as much as i am.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:11pm

Exactly. That's why I think these lists are ridiculous. There's something kind of wrong if you measure your "fandom" by how many crazy things you do. It comes off as a display of how "different" you are because you love Broadway, or something, and ostentatious flaunting than it does as really having this be something that's important to you.

Honestly, many hardcore RENTheads scare the sh*t out of me.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:13pm

me too, Emcee, me too :0)

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:14pm

hard core anything fans scare me.

[LaVieBoheme2]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:16pm

I think a true Renthead is someone that can say that Rent has inspired them and has made a difference in their life. Because all those things on "You Might be a Rent-Head If..." (which I seem to apply to a surpising amount of) only mean anything if Rent really means something to you on the inside. I think being a fan of anything (not just Rent) is really an internal, emotional thing. But maybe that's just the over sentimental me. Elyse. No day but today.

[LilMiZBroADwaY23]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:17pm

I also don't think that there should be set rules to be a "RENThead" or anything else. As long as you really appreciate it.

For instance today, I was reading the lyrics to the "No day but today" part and I just started weeping. Those lyrics have really changed my view. One of my best friends was killed in a car accident in late April, and those lyrics just really touched me. There is so much meaning to them but some people just rattle them off like nothing.

The show has a message. A wonderful one, Jonathan Larson's words have really made me think about the way I act and live. I just want to live in the moment, and appreciate those around me. Plus I want to live for Ashley, I owe so much to her.

[jaded_october]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:18pm

in drama, we had to do a monologue and a song, multiple times, but one time i really didnt feel like memorizing a new monologue so i asked if i could do "over the moon" since its like.. a song/monologue and i already had it memorized.

my drama teacher said no.



it also could help if i could belt.



and i hate it when people think the show is all about maureen.

[FabalaYero85]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:18pm

granted I qualify for half the things I posted before, but that to me is just the lining of what a RENThead is. They have passion and love for Jon's work and understand the meaning of the show and take a full on love to the characters and understand them. I was with the Wicked crazies this weekend and they scare me more than anything. But the hardcore RENTheads are totally coming out of the woodwork this year for this movie. I admit I've only been a fan for 4 months and seen the show twice but the understanding of the message and the realness is there for me and I feel that I qualify in the RENThead class. Just wait till what happens once November 11th comes.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:19pm

I've seen some psychotic "Rentheads" and I think a lot of them become so consumed with "Rentdom" that they start to lose sight of Mr. Larson's message. After witnessing some of their behavior, I'm proud to call myself a Rent fan, but Renthead has such a negative connotation in my mind now.

Having said that, I agree completely with what Em and LaVieBoheme have said. But this thread is just good silly fun. If anyone actually feels like an inferior fan because they haven't done some of these crazier things (or anyone feels like a better fan because they HAVE done most of these things), they've got some bigger issues to deal with.

Updated On: 5/31/05 at 10:19 PM

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:21pm

I never moo during the shows either. I think it's because my dad moos whenever we drive past cows on the road, so it brings back embarrassing memories.

I totally agree with what everyone's been saying. Knowing all the words to the CD doesn't make you a Renthead, but stalking OBC members doesn't make you one either (it makes you scary). I think it all comes back to how much you love the show, not how much you know about it.

[Violet Tree]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:29pm

Well according to the true Rent fandom, it's the people who have either camped in streets of NYC to do the line back when the line exhisted or if you have done the tour line.
Updated On: 5/31/05 at 10:29 PM

[Dreamcatcher]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:32pm

Well in my defense I would have done it in a heartbeat had I not been 6 years old and in LA at the time. :-P

[kitkatgirl54]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:39pm

violet tree, i thought those were called 'rent rats'

NICE ICON btw .. my favorite picture of my favorite actress :)

[KelRel]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:43pm

I am a RENThead, I have mooed, quietly so not to disturb others around me, but that is about it. I think I might make a Mark scarf because I need a new one and well I need something to do to keep me busy while waiting to see the movie. Being a RENThead is an internal passion, not hey I can be a crazy nut job (no offense to anyone-this is in reference to what i have experienced while seeing RENT). RENTheadness is about living the message that Jonathan Larson gave to us- hope, living for the moment and not worrying so much about the past, and most importantly LOVE.
Viva La Vie Boheme

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:52pm

Amen.

[BEKA531]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:53pm

everyone is stating it PERFECTLY.

[Becky]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 11:03pm

Some very random things that I thought of:

~you know/remember who "crate girl" was

~Actually got to do the "line" before lotto days

~you had numerous (possibly negative) encounters with the infamous Joel

~you met the homeless man (who loved Marcy) and used to hang out in front of the Nederlander selling papers

~you were on the original 'sonic' e-list

~you posted on the original 'graffiti wall' message board

~you made daily visits to the lifecafe.com

~you remember where you were when lifecafe.com went down


Updated On: 5/31/05 at 11:03 PM