#1
Posted: 11/23/05 at 8:36pm
Last spring, I was skimming the broadway.com headlines like I do every day, and I saw the announcement for the Rent movie. I was completely elated; I literally laid on the floor and hyperventilated. My search for further information led me to this site. Needless to say, I didn't know what I was getting into.
It's been a really long year and a half, all of which boiled down to this snowy afternoon.
The Cliff Notes Version: It's good; it's really good. It made me cry, laugh and want to reread Angels in America.
AiA is a funny thing to compare to Rent. When you lay them out, they share more than a few topics. While Angels spans a much greater width of theme, its characters are at times reminscient of those in Rent. Louis in particular comes to mind. Watching Roger, I could hear in my head "what if this person isn't particularly good with death. What if sores and disease frighten him?"
In the end of Perestroika, though, Louis has settled and Prior comes to terms with the conditions under which his life exists. In a nutshell, his philosophy is No Day But Today.
So why, then, does Rent's optimistic ending recieve so much more criticism than Angels' affirmation of hope? Is one really so much less realistic than another?
A large part of the argument against Rent pertains to Mimi's death. It's been said that her coming back to life cheapens the deaths of real AIDS victims; that no one can really just snap their fingers and return. I could also argue the same thing of Angels in America. Though it's less dramatic, Prior does well survive his dropping T-cell count.
So do stories like these have happy endings? I don't know. This unknown creates a sense of doubt within those messages for me, but somehow, I think that even a flawed mantra is better than flat up fear. That principal also applies to my feelings about this movie. Is it accurate, was it real, is the music good? I could drive myself crazy for ages trying to figure it out, or I could accept that once upon a time, this show did change the way I saw my life.
This past year clouded that feeling. There have been screenings of this, visits to this set, meetings with that actor. I was never a part of any of it and I hated it. Rent, against all intentions, became a politicized, commercial way of one-upping the next priviledged person. But God knows that if I were in the place of a specific other, I'd do the same. So why, then do I find it easier to criticize than to compare myself to them?
Again, I guess it's more dramatic. But even the flawed is better than nothing. When I watched certain sequences, I knew more about them than most in the theater because of the information passed along to me from this board. It's been a masochistic journey, reading this board and waiting for the chance that would never come. But in the end, I suppose I was better off. I've burned with jealousy over the things people here have experienced, but I guess I was better off. I guess that I "suppose", anyway. It's a place I'm trying to get to.
Because I was never Anthony's buddy or a Biggest Renthead Candidate, I was probably less prejudiced in this movie's favor than most fans. The more I heard about Rent, the further I moved from it and reading about people sobbing from the opening note onward didn't make me think more highly of this movie's potential. Reading some of the anit-Rent arguments has also made me slightly ashamed to like it, as if I were insulting the real homeless junkies and poor artists. So with baited breath and bitter resentment, I got a ticket.
It was good. Hearing Seasons of Love was very strange. It's become quite generic, everyone knows it and no one knows what it's from. But listening to this cast sing it was like hearing it again for the very first time. The whole film felt that way and I stopped thinking of the actors as Adam, Rosario, Anthony, ect. They were people, not actors and all of the bww hype faded away.
The movie reminded me of what drew me into the show in the first place. The characters feel very real to me and their suffering is inextricably bound up with my reality. I was pulled back into this time warp of a musical. When Mimi 'died' and came back, it wasn't so much a distortment of reality, it was a little bit of hope. I want so very much for the "real deals" to feel that way too, but maybe it's impossible. And maybe that's ok, and maybe it's not, but at any rate, seeing this show or any is an individual thing. It did something for me, both on the screen and stage. And criticism, mantra, and behind the scenes secrets aside, it is what it is to the viewer.
For me, it was ecstatic, carthatic and healthy. I went back to the source of the jealousy and doubt that has built up around my feelings towards Rent. It's a little bit of give and take with this movie. You give into the symbolism of Mimi's resurrection and you take from it a little piece of idealism. Even for someone who doesn't have AIDS, that reminder of living for the moment and not dwelling or worrying is vital. It's ok to be hopeful again.
They say you can't go home again, but maybe that's just another bit of cynicism. I didn't die dramatically, but seeing this movie brought me back.
It's been a really long year and a half, all of which boiled down to this snowy afternoon.
The Cliff Notes Version: It's good; it's really good. It made me cry, laugh and want to reread Angels in America.
AiA is a funny thing to compare to Rent. When you lay them out, they share more than a few topics. While Angels spans a much greater width of theme, its characters are at times reminscient of those in Rent. Louis in particular comes to mind. Watching Roger, I could hear in my head "what if this person isn't particularly good with death. What if sores and disease frighten him?"
In the end of Perestroika, though, Louis has settled and Prior comes to terms with the conditions under which his life exists. In a nutshell, his philosophy is No Day But Today.
So why, then, does Rent's optimistic ending recieve so much more criticism than Angels' affirmation of hope? Is one really so much less realistic than another?
A large part of the argument against Rent pertains to Mimi's death. It's been said that her coming back to life cheapens the deaths of real AIDS victims; that no one can really just snap their fingers and return. I could also argue the same thing of Angels in America. Though it's less dramatic, Prior does well survive his dropping T-cell count.
So do stories like these have happy endings? I don't know. This unknown creates a sense of doubt within those messages for me, but somehow, I think that even a flawed mantra is better than flat up fear. That principal also applies to my feelings about this movie. Is it accurate, was it real, is the music good? I could drive myself crazy for ages trying to figure it out, or I could accept that once upon a time, this show did change the way I saw my life.
This past year clouded that feeling. There have been screenings of this, visits to this set, meetings with that actor. I was never a part of any of it and I hated it. Rent, against all intentions, became a politicized, commercial way of one-upping the next priviledged person. But God knows that if I were in the place of a specific other, I'd do the same. So why, then do I find it easier to criticize than to compare myself to them?
Again, I guess it's more dramatic. But even the flawed is better than nothing. When I watched certain sequences, I knew more about them than most in the theater because of the information passed along to me from this board. It's been a masochistic journey, reading this board and waiting for the chance that would never come. But in the end, I suppose I was better off. I've burned with jealousy over the things people here have experienced, but I guess I was better off. I guess that I "suppose", anyway. It's a place I'm trying to get to.
Because I was never Anthony's buddy or a Biggest Renthead Candidate, I was probably less prejudiced in this movie's favor than most fans. The more I heard about Rent, the further I moved from it and reading about people sobbing from the opening note onward didn't make me think more highly of this movie's potential. Reading some of the anit-Rent arguments has also made me slightly ashamed to like it, as if I were insulting the real homeless junkies and poor artists. So with baited breath and bitter resentment, I got a ticket.
It was good. Hearing Seasons of Love was very strange. It's become quite generic, everyone knows it and no one knows what it's from. But listening to this cast sing it was like hearing it again for the very first time. The whole film felt that way and I stopped thinking of the actors as Adam, Rosario, Anthony, ect. They were people, not actors and all of the bww hype faded away.
The movie reminded me of what drew me into the show in the first place. The characters feel very real to me and their suffering is inextricably bound up with my reality. I was pulled back into this time warp of a musical. When Mimi 'died' and came back, it wasn't so much a distortment of reality, it was a little bit of hope. I want so very much for the "real deals" to feel that way too, but maybe it's impossible. And maybe that's ok, and maybe it's not, but at any rate, seeing this show or any is an individual thing. It did something for me, both on the screen and stage. And criticism, mantra, and behind the scenes secrets aside, it is what it is to the viewer.
For me, it was ecstatic, carthatic and healthy. I went back to the source of the jealousy and doubt that has built up around my feelings towards Rent. It's a little bit of give and take with this movie. You give into the symbolism of Mimi's resurrection and you take from it a little piece of idealism. Even for someone who doesn't have AIDS, that reminder of living for the moment and not dwelling or worrying is vital. It's ok to be hopeful again.
They say you can't go home again, but maybe that's just another bit of cynicism. I didn't die dramatically, but seeing this movie brought me back.
(do I win my bet now? 
) 
