I believe that the musical Rent and the reading Scenes of the Latin quarter both display an artist who embraces his own struggles and surroundings. The apartment that was shown was very basic and run down, housing only the necessities to live. Alongside Mark and Roger’s apartment, the other character’s are in the same boat as them; this being poor finances and health concerns. The HIV and AIDS crisis were touched upon here, but it did not seem to be as prominent in the physical reading. During this time, being openly gay was often looked down upon.

Alongside this, Maureen’s performance seemed rather confusing. The part were she had the crowd moo when she talked about milk did not really make sense. With the reading, I personally found the different plots hard to follow and understand. Despite this, I think that the chapter Mademoiselle Mimi was easier to understand and follow. I found it more enjoyable to read and the emotion throughout the chapter was clear to see.

The Opera was even harder to understand for me. I do believe it is a unique way of presenting something, but I found it difficult to appreciate its uniqueness. However, I think the musical did a very good job showing the emotions of grief and despair, which allowed the audience to connect more deeply with the characters. Overall, I think the musical was the best of the three, because of the way it engaged the audience.

1. 

I never really thought much of the Opera, always seeing it less as music and more of pure art. Kinda like the art you saw as a kid that you were not allowed to touch. However, taking some time and actually hearing it, it really is a beautiful way of expressing one-self. The voices of the singers are absolutely gorgeous and you can see how they have affected modern musicians with the way they hit their high notes. I also found it interesting on how many changes the form of art went through, almost mirroring how paintings changed throughout eras of history.

“Scenes of the Latin Quarter” was an extremely interesting, I found the romanticization of artists in tough situations, which was very similar to the way Patti Smith romanticized her own life in her book. I found the book actually extremely enjoyable, with funny quips from the characters making them more believable but still with a light-hearted undertone in every scene. Almost like an early sitcom, where you knew the characters were going to be okay because they had each other. I also think the author does a great job of having some social commentary on the time, giving us an insight on how the time period the author lived in was like for an artist.

The movie “Rent” gave me a look on how life must have been for people during the AIDS epidemic. It was very similar to Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, a play that was made in order to reflect on Kushner’s own experience during this epidemic that spread through the country. It also shows the struggle of artists in America and like “Scenes of the Latin Quarter”, they use the relationships of the main characters in order to develop these emotions and make the characters more believable. The AIDS epidemic also adds more tension as one of the main characters die, causing emotional turmoil in the other characters. It depicts the whole time period as dark and extremely rough to live through, especially for struggling artists. I like this movie the best out of the three things we had to watch or read, because I feel like it is the most real and gritty out of the three. The characters are believable and they go through a wide range of emotions throughout the entire story.