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RENT
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SLIM SHADY
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Jan 28, 2009 06:00PM

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Unforgiveable. It should have been so much better. Don't get me started. The casting is terrible, they're all ten years too old for their roles. Ugh. Can we just forget this movie was made? Please? Please?

The story has been sanitized in the transfer from stage to screen. A particularly unpleasant episode (suicide of girlfriend, discovery of HIV infection) in one character's life is removed, and a good deal of his motivations go with it.
There are plenty of big silly gestures that make no sense at all. In the opening song, Roger and Mark are in their big loft apartment burning papers to stay warm. Then, for some reason, they decide to dump their burning papers out the window, and a lot of other people decide to do the same thing, so there is a lot burning paper being dumped out of a lot of East Village windows. Okay, maybe excusable as a Big Gesture in a Musical, but it seems excessive in a movie about people who would resolutely reject such Big Gestures.
At the beginning of the movie, Collins is being chased by a bunch of thugs, and, like any intelligent New Yorker, he runs right into a convenient dark alley so the thugs can beat the living daylights out of him. How can I take a movie seriously that contains idiocy like that?
And it has been said, but I will say it again: no self-respecting East Village musician of that period would have worn their hair the way Adam Pascal wears it in the film. Those golden Farrah Fawcett locks are absolutely ridiculous.







I do not agree with gays/lesbians. I do not support gays/lesbians. HOWEVER, I do respect that people in the United States have the right and freedom to be gay/straight/lesbian/bi if they want to, just as they have the freedom to be Mormon/Christian/Catholic/Jewish/etc.
I just feel that it's a bit weird for two girls or guys to kiss (besides family). But, if I was going along just minding my own business and I see two same gender people making out, I'm not going to start cussing at them or throwing rocks or insulting them. I would probably say "ew" in my head, but then I would keep minding my own business. It's the same if I saw two Mormons walking down the street. I wouldn't hurl insults at them and tell them they are wrong just because they have a different religion than I do. It's their choice to be Mormon.
So that is my stand. Respect, not agreeance.



I do not agree with Jews. I do not support Jews. HOWEVER, I do respect that people in the United States have the right and freedom to be Jews if they want to.
I just feel that it's a bit weird for people to deny that Jesus is the Messiah. But, if I was going along just minding my own business and I see two Jews, I'm not going to start cussing at them or throwing rocks or insulting them. I would probably say "ew" in my head, but then I would keep minding my own business. It's the same if I saw two blacks walking down the street. I wouldn't hurl insults at them and tell them they are wrong just because they are a different race or ethnicity than I am. It's their choice to be black.
So that is my stand. Respect, not agreeance.

Agreeance, indeed. Dear God.

NO?
no. not so much.

Maryanne Raphael





Thank you for sharing your utterly stupid, bigoted and offensive views, which to be fair I did after all ask you to do. I respect your right to hold such utterly stupid, bigoted and offensive views. I do hope that at some point you realize how utterly stupid, bigoted and offensive your views are.
And you should keep in mind that when you express stupid, bigoted and offensive views, there will often be a response from those who your views are stupid, bigoted and offensive about.
And thanks for coining the new word of the week: "agreeance."

This is the greatest point of all, IMO. I sincerely hope you see that at some point in the future.
Your post also suggests that it is a choice to be gay. It is not a choice to be gay, just as it is not a choice to be black, Jewish, Hispanic, or Irish. My gay friends would get a chuckle out of that. As one of them said, "Yes, one day I woke up and decided to be HATED by three quarters of Americans!"
One more point: Ninja's comfort in telling a public forum her views on gays and lesbians illustrates how widely accepted homophobia is as a legitimate point of view. I have a hard time believing anyone would feel as comfortable on this forum saying "I don't support [fill in the blank with minority of your choice:]" as Ninja is about gays and lesbians.


And by the way, the novel was written by Gregory Maguire a gay man who lives with his partner and their adopted children, and the score for the musical was written by a gay man.
I'm also struck by the language Ninja used to express her active dislike with gays. "I do not agree with gays/lesbians" as if being gay or lesbian was an opinion. It is rather like saying "I do not agree with Mount Everest" as a rather cowardly way of saying one hates mountains.
Anyway, enough. Bye bye, Ninja. Back to discussion about movies.

Yes, back to movies.

I've seen the musical Wicked, and read part of the book, and yes I know Gregory Maguire is gay. Does that mean that I won't read his books? No.
Wicked was a well written novel, although highly mature and unnecessarily detailed. The musical was pure family, and much different than the book (as my step-dad said: "They only kept the names" (of the characters)) .
As for my stance, Steve: Unchanged.
And as Tom and Steve said: Back to the movie!

The Rent song was really cool with all the fire.
One of my favorite songs even before I saw the movie was Tango Moreen.
I also like Light My Candle

Nope. "Idiot" is an insult. "Ignorant" is a determination about a person's level of knowledge. You aren't knowledgeable about GLBT people (especially if you refer to being gay as a "lifestyle" when there is no such thing as a "gay lifestyle"). That's all "ignorant" means. Essentially, you lack knowledge on the subject. It's not an insult to point that out. For example, it's "Tango: Maureen", not "Moreen". You were not knowledgeable about the spelling, but now you are.

Where did you see it spelled your way? A play bill? The soundtrack casing? I've seen both, and they were both spelled "Maureen". And Wikipedia seems to agree:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_(mu...


Dear Ninja, I guess then that you'll read books by gays (as long as they're not too mature and unnecessarily detailed) and go to musicals by gays, as well as not throwing stones at us. On behalf of the entire gay community, my sincere thanks for giving us your money, and for your massive self control in not throwing stones or insulting us or burning crosses on our lawns. If only you'd bothered to think a little more carefully about what WICKED was actually about, a little more deeply than the difference in storylines between book and musical.
But this may be way too much to expect of someone whose reaction to RENT is only that "(i)t's a bit weird with the Gays/Lesbians, but once I get past that it is awesome!" It feels a bit like someone saying that DO THE RIGHT THING was a bit weird with the black people, but once I get past that it is awesome!
And considering how much of RENT has to do with Gays/Lesbians, the ratio of Weird to Awesome must be pretty high.
You're going to meet gay people in your life, unless you lead the really incredibly sheltered life which it seems you're well started on. Unless you want to be on the receiving end of lectures far harsher than anything you've gotten here, I'd advise you to keep your mouth SHUT on the topic of homosexuality until you learn a little more about the topic from more informed sources than Fox News.
There. My last word on this topic, I promise. At least until someone starts that BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN thread up again, prompting someone to make some stupid remarks about gay cowboys.
The fun never stops.

Tom,
I'll believe it when I see it. :)


And yes, I have lived a very sheltered life and that is not my fault. My parents made the rules when I was younger.

A roll of toilet paper, for example, the back of a cereal box...
