mels blog » Rent

Dec. 13: Rent

MeL — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 21:56:50 +0000

Imagine that it’s Christmas and it’s freezing and dark in your apartment because your landlord decided to cut off the current and the heating. What can you do? Here’s a suggestion…

For most people, Christmas is a time of joy and contemplation, an opportunity to meet with family and friends and just have a good time together. But what can you do when, on Christmas Eve, your landlord decides to cut off the current and the heating, too, because you’re not paying rent? You SING!

At least that’s what they do in the movie “Rent”. (Oh yes, you could also burn things, but that’s not recommendable…)

Dec. 7: Seasons of Love

MeL — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 17:13:42 +0000

A lot can happen in a year, and the holiday season is usually a good time to remember – the good, the bad, and especially the seasons of love.

The movie Rent wouldn’t necessarily be considered a Christmas movie – it’s not about happy families who gather around the Christmas tree, but about a group of friends in New York’s East Village who are struggling with life, love, the impacts of AIDS to their community, and paying their rent.

The mood of the movie is not nice, merry or calm, but rather rocking and – at times – sad and dark. But the storyline starts on Christmas Eve, and it comes full circle on Christmas Eve a year – or rather 525.600 minutes – later, which in itself would be a good enough excuse for me to include it in the Advent calendar.

But what is even more important: It’s a movie about love – and isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

Dec. 23: No Day But Today

MeL — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:00:38 +0000

Whatever you do on Christmas, try to have the best time you can have and to make the most of it. And not only on Christmas, but everyday – because there is no day but today.

The movie “Rent” is about a group of friends who live in New York’s East Village in the late 1980s, and who are struggling with life, love, the impacts of AIDS to their community, and paying their rent. Both the first and the last scene of the movie are set on Christmas Eve, and a lot happens in the passing year – falling in love, breaking up, getting back together and losing a loved one.

But in the end, it all comes down to this one message: There is no day but today, so you better make the most of it.

Dec. 17: Take Me Or Leave Me

MeL — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:45:16 +0000

Christmas is not always as peaceful as people would like it to be, and more than a few relationships are being put to the test during the holiday season…

It is common knowlegde that once Christmas is over, the number of people who file for divorce rises significantly. Some of them might just have waited for the holidays to be over for the children’s sake, but others might have gotten into a fight that made them question their relationship altogether – like Joanne and Maureen in the movie “Rent”:

Dec. 10: Meeting the Ex

MeL — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:13:15 +0000

For most people, it is common to spend Christmas with family and friends. Sometimes, though, we also get to meet someone we never really wanted to meet…

In the beginning of the movie “Rent”, which takes place on Christmas of 1989, we learn that performance artist Maureen left her boyfriend Mark to be with a woman, the lawyer Joanne. But when she runs into technical difficulties while preparing for her next show, Maureen turns to Mark for help – to the great displeasure of Joanne.