Early Access - RENT

Daaaamn. Thank you for articulating the rage I've felt about Rent for years. Saw it on Broadway and remember thinking "that was quite underwhelming," but I was like 19 and afraid of voicing unpopular opinions so I kind of went along with everyone who danced and sang to it. And the years went by and I started noticing more and more specific things about it that were REALLY annoying, pretty much all of which get unpacked in this video. Thank you for the meticulous research and the deep dive that was way more than just a "why this sucks" exercise.

Lindsay Nelson

This video is THE reason I signed up for Patreon. Incredible work.

Adelaide Ivy

Well, this & your one on Hillary Clinton ;( So sad she's not our president!

Conrad

This by far my favorite one you've done!!

Conrad

K Morgan

Mar MB

I actually had to watch this in order to get the context for the review - well worth it.

When I was 14, Rent was everything to me, which makes me cringe a little now but it is what it is. I was a suburban white girl who lacked the perspective to do anything more than take it at face value. Now that I'm in my mid 20s and unemployed, the arrogance of the main characters really gets my goat. I've been awaiting this review for a long time and you took it in a direction I wasn't expecting and considered things I hadn't. Also I took your recommendation and saw How to Survive a Plague. It put things in perspective for me, as did your review. Another great job on this one.

Auden

i didn't even know anything about the musical but i watched this whole thing and wheeew man. i knew my irrational dislike of a lot of these things has possible justification. thanks for how in depth and powerful this was, supporting you is definetly so worth it with every new video

Nana G

Damn, Lindsay. Strong piece.

I have never seen "Rent", but I will do in three weeks when the Broadway Across America version comes to Portland (Oregon). I have seen "La Boheme", and coincidentally, the Portland Opera is producing it this year and I will see it again in May. I would like to thank you for your entertaining and educational discussion of storytelling in film and musicals. It's helping me to have a more critical eye to what I am seeing (and - I also appreciate your explicitly telling me that it is OK to like something even if it is critically... bad...) In any case - for whatever weird reason Patreon had for telling me that my contribution didn't work, when it did - well, it looks like it went through, and I am happy to support your excellent work!

Eric Riley

Young over privileged people doing rude things and it being played off as some sort of youthful fun bonding is something that really bugs me. I remember watching the first season of New Girl and just constancy thinking my god these people are assholes.

Thank you for this, Lindsey. Entertaining and educational, as always. The editing was used to great effect esp. the use of Larry Kramer being angry at ACT UP meetings (from "Plague", I think). THE KAZOO COVER OF SEASONS OF LOVE!!!

(Sorry I just posted this on youtube lol) But have you seen Larson's other work tick tick boom? It similarly Aggravated me to no end lmao

I am so glad that someone else didn't like this back when it was big. I was in high school (perfect age for to love it) and I just thought everyone should get a damn job and stop whining. I have a lot more empathy for the characters of La Boheme since it was a different time period. These kinds had supportive and loving families, but they just wouldn't be with them because they were true "artists." This was a great video and way more calm than I would have made it.

Chandra

And to think I didn't see Rent because I thought it was another improbable, vacuous piece of pop culture involving entitled 20 somethings. Wait, it was. Now I'm doubly glad that I didn't see Rent, or Reality Bites.

wait so if youtube videos are the dominant art form, are they not the art form of the ruling class? and if we are funding it aren't we ourselves part of the ruling class, with enough money to spend it supporting content creators, aren't we just choosing those who reenforce our own world view and dont really challenge us on a fundamental level .. omg Patreon is a lie we are all liars there is no such thing as crowdfunding it is all manufactured desire, a sham built by silicon valley business men to fool us into thinking were are independent, meanwhile they make money on the side helping the cia murder people

Don Bright

This might be my favorite yet. It really is super cathartic to me though since I'm currently doing my media arts thesis at USC as a game that teaches the history of the AIDS crisis, one that emphasizes the fact that every bit of advancement my forebearers in the queer community got during the time was won with tooth and fucking nail, so seeing Rent through this lens....oh boy does this make me feel a lot of things towards the musical. It also makes me think of how all of the most successful LGBT themed musicals - La Cage, Fun Home, and especially Falsettos (which could be compared to Rent for days) - focus on the personal, rather than the movement.

Brady Thomas

"I want to make a movie without a script." Then show stock footage that Ed Wood would've used for his movie. My thoughts when I hear that line is "Dude, watch Mike Leigh's Naked or In the Mood for Love or even Abbas Kiarostami's Close Up and get a fucking job so you can make better quality movie or buy books about the goddamn movie you entitled ass wipe!" I really love this video and knowing what you said, it would made me mad as well.

Bardcraft

You totally ruined this movie for me. Thank you. (But I'll probably still listen to the soundtrack all the time. So catchy.)

Hello Lindsay! I wanted to say I love your work and especially loved this essay. It's very insightful to the problems of sanitizing a serious issue that has plagued this country, but there is something I want to ask you in regards as to why Rent is under your very justified scrutiny and another musical you mention isn't. The same way you feel about Rent is similar to how I feel about Hamilton. Maybe not to the same ire of hatred you posses, but it certainly rubs me the wrong way. From what I see, I always thought Hamilton was hypocritical about its message of "don't undermine the immigrants/minorities" when Hamilton himself did not favor other immigrants with the, Alien and Sedition Acts of 1789 as proof. Hamilton as a character also reminds me of Mark's plight (more like the lack there of). Just like Mark, Hamilton in his later years was fairly well off because of his subsequent marriage to Eliza Schuyler, the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in the colonies at the time. And when his wife cared for him and financially supported him, he goes and cheats on her and the musical frames it in a way where the audience is supposed to feel sorry that he is unable to become president because he had to reveal his adultery in order to clear his name. Why? It's his fault he cheated on his loving wife, who had every reason to be broken hearted, why should our sympathy be for Hamilton? While there are many more problems I have with the show as a narrative piece one of my biggest problems is the way that it's being advertised. And the next line is going to be slightly paraphrased "It's a story of American back then told by Americans now." How? Americans back then did look like Americans now. The difference is people of color were not allowed to live the white house, only build it. So why does it act as though just because there are people of color that are portraying these characters it somehow changes that fact that it's still a white history being told where actual people of color who did exist at the time do not make their way into the narrative. I know that my gripes are long and I do apologize for being long winded, but I do genuinely ask, why is Rent a poor piece for the stage whilst Hamilton is superb when they both are sanitizing a sensitive topic in American history?

Amazing video

This was exactly what I was hoping to see. Thank you so much.

Luninareph

This is great, but I was definitely expecting an "Everybody got AIDS and shit" reference

Dang, I love ya Linds.

Thank you so much. Totally worth the wait, and I hope you didn't suffer too much having to watch RENT enough times to make this video. You put into words the anger I feel when watching RENT. The romanticising of poverty by rich white yuppies and the way they handle the AIDS crisis has always rubbed me the wrong way, even before I could articulate why. I remember having heating arguments back at uni with a friend who thought RENT was greatest thing to ever happen to the world and was completely without flaw, and attempting to explain how obtuse it was for white cis straight Mark to complain about his loving family that he could fall back on at anytime when his minority gay friends are forced into poverty and one of them is dying of AIDS. Her reply was always something along the lines of "But Mark is fighting the system with his art, and that will make the world a better for Angel and Tom." grrrrr.

Chelsea Monk

I would have enjoyed an explanation about what rent was , or what in short the plot was. Because while this essay was good, I felt a little lost on who these people are and what everyone is doing in this play/movie.

Dr. Hegemony

You are so good at this!

⭐️Galactic Pretty Boy, Tommy⭐️

Awesome review! Great takedown of lifestyle politics. Have you seen the 2014 British film Pride? It's about gay and lesbian activists fighting the criminalisation of homosexuality and also supporting striking miners, and also has a significant subplot about the AIDS crisis (also its based on a true story about a man who died of AIDS). Its politics are so much better than RENTs. They're making a musical of it, so maybe we'll finally get a musical about actual struggle and not vapid lifestyleism. Although you're right, its almost impossible to get a smash hit musical that actually challenges the system in a meaningful way...

I've been waiting on you to make a video on RENT ever since your Reality Bites review way back when. I'm happy to that, as usual, you did not disappoint :).

"Manic Pixie Dream Gays" thats a perfect representation.

Barry Donnelly

This may be the best thing you've ever done that I've seen. Good work

Damn Lindsay. Just... damn. 👏👏👏

JRL Studios

Thank you for this review! Ever since I first saw the movie, I've always been frustrated with it for precisely the reasons you outlined. As a queer female I felt like I was somehow betraying my community by not liking such a popular piece of media that features our representation (and is overall super diverse even though it turns the middle class straight white guy without an addiction or AIDS into the main character *ahem*) but its flaws were just too much for me, and providing more context with the realities of the AIDS crisis really drives home just how shallow the story is.

Haley Hrncir