What is the point of the movie/show Rent?

Question

I thought it was supposed to be about fighting AIDS, and then I watched it, and except for the support meetings and the guy who dies it has nothing to do with AIDS!!! It also has a lot of random sex talk and weird song lyrics that don't make any sense. I had thought the movie would be a lot better than that.

Answer 1

Jonathon Larson wrote Rent not only to inform of the issues of AIDS but because of what life was like in the more Bohemian and poor areas in New York City at the time (1989). He was losing friends to a disease that most people refused to even recognize because in order to contract HIV the thought was that you had to do something 'wrong'. He was poor, his friends were poor, people were dying, homelessness was becoming a plague in NYC.
If you look deeply into the piece you find that there is a lot of meaning in the HIV and AIDS within the film. Roger comes to accept his disease (if you noticed earlier on he refused life support meetings and only took his AZT when someone mentioned it). He was in denial, even though it killed his girlfriend (april, she was only shown in flashbacks during the song "One Song, Glory", but if I remember correctly in the play her HIV to her is a death sentence, as it the heroin, and she kills herself). It looked at the way Mark (very representative of Jonathon...) dealt with the fact that his friends were dying and he was going to be alone because of HIV. It looks at what relationships were like for gays and lesbians as well as transgenders, when it was not nearly as accepted as it has become today. The drugs, the sex, the death, AIDS, poverty...it was all something that the MTV generation, the kids who hated plays, could relate to. It gathered a cult following for a reason.
I would suggest you watch a Documentary called No Day But Today...it is included in the special edition of Rent. It gives incredible insight into his life, mind, friendships, inspiration, and untimely death.
Some people just don't like Rent, and that's fine, but to many it is incredibly meaningful. The Broadway show is much longer, and some scenes from the film were cut because the Director (Chris Columbus) thought that too much loss and death was making people numb to the loss by the end of the picture.
It took almost ten years for the movie to come to fruition. Jonathon's family was involved deeply and it was hard to find the cast and director that fit. though many actors read for the roles all but Rosario Dawson (Mimi) and Tracie Thoms (Joanne) were in the original show off-broadway. Mark, Roger, Angel, Maureen, Collins, and Benny were all in the original. The original Mimi and Joanne opted out of the film because they felt they were too old to still pull off the roles.

Answer 2

The musical follows the lives of eight friends in New York City over the course of a year as they struggle with relationships, loss, love, creativity, the purpose of living, housing, and AIDS.

Characters include:

Mark Cohen, a struggling documentary filmmaker, the narrator of the show and the person who creates a final movie which details his friends' lives and journeys throughout the story.
Roger Davis, an HIV-positive musician who is recovering from heroin addiction; Mark's roommate and Mimi's love interest
Tom Collins, an HIV-positive philosophy teacher and anarchist; friend and former roommate of Roger, Mark, Benny, and Maureen; Angel's love interest
Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III, landlord of Mark, Roger and Mimi's apartment building; ex-roommate of Mark, Collins, Roger, and Maureen. Now married to Alison Grey of the Westport Greys and thus considered a yuppie sell-out.
Joanne Jefferson, a Harvard-educated lawyer; Maureen's lover
Angel Dumott Schunard, an HIV-positive drag queen street percussionist/musician; Collins' love interest.
Mimi Marquez, an HIV-positive stripper and heroin junkie; Roger's love interest
Maureen Johnson, a performance artist; Joanne's girlfriend; Mark's ex-girlfriend.

Answer 3

Well tomarrow's easter! So you could: Dye eggs Hang w/ family Do crafts Hang w/ friends go outside see the easter bunny at the mall Have an egg hunt pig out on candy see a movie have a shoping spree basically indulge urself!

Answer 4

I also thought I would like it better. The movie was based off of a musical that was a hit on Broadway. The makers thought that people who didn't have access to Broadway should have access to the movie and that it would do well since the Phantom of the Opera movie did well.