RENT the movie was interesting at various points and conveyed important societal messages. I usually do not find musicals entertaining, but in this particular movie the music and characters were perfectly selected to fulfil the goal of the movie.

The main issue I have with RENT now is that it is a remake. Yesterday, the class saw La Boheme at Lincoln Center. This opera was telling the same story told in RENT. The themes of the two pieces are the same and even some scenes are repeated. The characters in RENT mirror the characters in La Bohemeand the situations are similar. The similarity is the story of poor artists who are basically killed off by society because they do not have the money or the resources to stay healthy. La Boheme is an original opera written in 1895. RENT is an unoriginal movie made in 2005. I understand that RENT’s goal was to show that the situation presented in La Boheme applies in the late 20^thcentury and even the 21^stcentury. However, I do not see a reason to make a reproduction to convey the same idea. Instead efforts should be used to actually make a change. Putting millions of dollars into a movie to tell a story that was already told does not make a change. The movie producers may claim that they want to make a change, but their movie does not make that change.

Poverty is still growing problem in our nation and around the world. Giacomo Puccini created La Boheme in 1895 to show the rich, who go to the opera, the life of the poor. This could have been instrumental in making a change because he took an idea and literally showed it to people who refused to pay attention to the problem. There is real motivation in his actions and real possibility of change. In RENT, the impact is different. It is not 1895 anymore and even the richest people in the world know there is a poverty crisis; making a movie about this crisis will not change any one’s opinion.

I am writing this and thinking about what would truly change someone’s opinion, and I do not have an answer. In today’s world, changing a person’s opinion is very difficult because of the amount of information people are able to receive. If a person has an opinion, they most likely got that opinion based on information and providing them with different information won’t change their mind. This is a big issue because if society continues to produce people that are very close minded and do not even consider other opinions, we will not be able to move forward.

The character development, the general story, and the music in both RENT and La Boheme were truly amazing. They were eventful stories with lots of plot twists and drama. The messages were basically the same, but the message sent by La Boheme was more powerful and impactful because it was an original created at the right time.

This is a photo of the actors from La Boheme after the show.