The movie/musical Rent, Scenes From the Latin Quarter and the Opera presentation we viewed signify how topics can be discussed through different forms of expression. These themes include the depiction of Bohemian lifestyles and the struggles that follow those who lead them. I find it interesting that Rent in particular utilizes multiple art mediums to convey its message, as it is a musical with original songs adapted to fit a movie format. It tackles important aspects of Bohemian life in the 1980s such as poverty as an artist and unconventionality. This is similar to Scenes From the Latin Quarter, which mainly follows the lives of Rodolphe, Schaunard, and Marcello, who are all different types of artists. They face some similar struggles to those of the characters in Rent. However, Rent goes into depth specifically about the AIDs epidemic of the 1980s while Scenes From the Latin Quarter does not. Overall, Rent was easier for me to follow than the latter, potentially because of the fact that it is visual media. I also enjoyed the songs (side notes: the Macaulay Triplets are singing Seasons of Love at our concert!). The opera lecture was enjoyable for me because it outlined the history of the art form and taught me about how it has evolved over time. A departure from the other assigned works, the pieces we listened to were related to varying topics. However, similarly to the musical aspect of Rent, sound is heavily used to convey emotion and is a key storytelling element.

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