In Defense of RENT...

I don’t understand why the movie version of “Rent” is being crucified to the extent that it is. “Rent” is not “Boat Trip”. It is not “Uptown Girls”. It is not any movie starring Ashton Kutcher. It is undoubtedly flawed, as the stage work was flawed, but I can’t believe that people are able to hate a movie that so often is beautiful and inspiring.

I guess I am biased, because I have always had an emotional connection to this work. When this show came out when I was 18 years old, it literally changed my life. At that time, I was just beginning my process of coming out. Same story you all know - gay child growing up in heartland America…I felt like I had been dropped off a ship by aliens. When I first heard the music to this show, I connected in a major way. Here were these characters who fully embraced their “otherness”, even put it on a pedestal. And to see this show explode into the mainstream as it did, well… it helped me realize that the best times were ahead of me. I knew for sure that there would come a time when I too could move to New York and make my own special family of freaks like me.

Going to see the movie, I was skeptical I would have the same emotional reaction. I was far from the feeling of being 18 and drowning, and also so much of the subject matter seemed hopelessly dated. What I pleasantly discovered was that I connected to the material even more – only for different reasons. I love that despite all of the horrible things happening to these characters, they remain hopelessly optimistic, choosing to value life and love more than ever. It made me think of how I felt after the passing of one of my friends several years ago, or how I felt during those miserable months after 9/11. It’s during those confusing, shitty times that we all go through that we're forced to make the same decision these characters were forced to make. Do I want to live, or do I want to die? Well, while those of you who know me might laugh at this statement, like Mimi, Roger, Mark, Maureen, Joanne, Tom and Angel, and all the rest – I am trying my very best to do the former - to laugh, to love, and to live for now. So the next time you hear someone say something nasty about "Rent", feel very sorry for them – they obviously missed the point entirely.