I found the opera lecture to be incredibly fascinating. Admittedly, I don’t know much about opera besides having heard Maria Callas sing and having watched a clip from Aida, so I was grateful to have the opportunity to learn more about the art form. I truly admire how visceral of an art form opera is, and I found it interesting to learn about the various phases it went through, such as the exaggerated, extreme Baroque style to the more perfectionist Classical style. Though I’ve never seen an opera show in person, the lecture definitely made me more curious to see one in the future.

I highly enjoyed reading scenes from Bohemians of the Latin Quarter. I have a soft spot for Bohemians in literature, pretentious as they may be, so I figured I was going to enjoy the reading. I admired how playful the writing style was and felt that it was a light, easy read. That being said, I think it did a very good job in conveying the message that the pursuit of art is a labor of love which is oftentimes difficult: all of the characters were basically destitute, scrounging up and borrowing money where they could to fund their artistic lifestyles. A timeless issue in the art world which we have discussed at length in this class is the idea of selling out, or if art is truly authentic once it becomes commercialized. As per the Bohemians, making art specifically for money is unthinkable. Though art is their life, it is not their living and trying to profit off of it makes it inauthentic. To an extent, I believe this to be true. While artists, of course, need to make a living somehow, I think that one’s passion for creating art can be lost if somebody is only making art for a paycheck. Themes aside, I found the story of Francine and Jacques to be very compelling. According to the other Bohemians, Jacques sold out: he managed to make money off of his sculpture. I think that Jacques’ motivations were noble, as everything he did was for Francine, his partner who tragically dies of tuberculosis. As melodramatic as it may be, I do enjoy romances like this and liked both of their characters. On the more negative side, I was frustrated by Rodolphe and Mimi. Mimi never really loved Rodolphe, and it kind of annoyed me that Rodolphe realized this but accepted her back into his life anyway. Though I suppose love blinds.

I may be at ends with musical theater lovers with this opinion, but I did not like Rent in the slightest. Being based on La boheme, I could obviously see the parallels between its cast of struggling New York City artistic minds during the AIDS epidemic and the Water Drinkers of 1840s Paris, but I just could not bring myself to enjoy the film at all. This may be harsh, but I think musicals are mostly pointless. Don’t get me wrong: I love films with masterfully paired soundtracks and I am a firm believer in the fact that a good score elevates any film immensely. However, I just am not a musical person. The fact that they were constantly breaking out into song was truthfully unnerving, and the songs were not even particularly good. I enjoyed Collins’ and Angel’s tragic romance and found myself drawn only to them among the whole cast. I thought the “La vie boheme” number was pretty entertaining as well, and those are probably the only aspects of the film I actually enjoyed. Perhaps the most disquieting part for me was when Mimi basically came back to life from an overdose and burst into song? Art about the archetypical “struggling artist” is usually something I enjoy; however, I found Rent to be a very poorly done version of this.

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.

I thought that listening to Rich Stremme outline his journey in punk music and culture was very interesting and helped me learn more about how it has evolved over time and contributed to the overall landscape of music. I found it interesting when he discussed how bands would pay to press their music on vinyl and often they would sell the records for less than what they paid. This exemplifies the ambition that independent artists possess as they work toward gaining an audience and sharing the music with new listeners. I also found it interesting when he discussed playing and attending gigs at small venues because it shows how live music can unite people and draw a crowd, whether large and small, that shares a passion for it.

I think that many of the experiences Stremme discussed show that the accessibility of both creating and listening to music has increased exponentially over time, mostly due to the evolution of technology. While live music was one of the most prominent ways to discover new music that was not being played on the radio, the avaliability of streaming services has allowed for smaller artists to reach audiences that can connect to their music. It is also interesting to me that vinyl became unpopular for some time and has now seen a resurgence. I collect vinyl because I enjoy listening to music in physical form.

I also learned more about punk culture itself, and how it serves as an outlet for people to make their voices heard. Punks often hold anti-establishment and unconventional beliefs. I feel as though it is important to give people a space to express these ideas, and the punk music scene serves as an effective space for this.