Where's my Scar icon'?

[lls_mutant]

I finished writing my review for Rent today, which I had never seen. (For the most part I liked it, but I had a few negative things to say about it being pretentious.) Anyway, after I finished I went looking on Rotten Tomatoes for pictures and read a couple reviews.

I can totally understand why people didn't like it, why they didn't feel like they connected with the characters, why they felt the plot was contrived, why they didn't respect the characters, etc. But the one comment that bugged me? The woman who felt that the movie should have acknowledged that there have been great strides made in AIDS treatment since 1989. Um, hello? This was not a documentary on AIDS, it was a story about 8 people living in 1989. Should Gone With the Wind or Roots be redone to acknowledge the great strides in African-American rights? How about Brokeback Mountain, to acknowledge that homosexuality is somewhat more accepted these days? Or Little Women, because we can cure scarlett fever now?

Honestly. There were so many valid criticisms, why be stupid?

And the worst part? She gets paid to write these.

Comments

[ladyblack888.livejournal.com]

*headdesk*

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

Is that really a criticism? because, yowch. Loved the play and have yet to see the movie.

[poolman.livejournal.com]

"Flintstones The Movie suffers greatly due to its total lack of realism. I mean, dinosaurs are extinct, people! And even when they WERE around, they certainly didn't wash dishes. John Goodman should be ashamed."

Looking forward to your review!

[piyer.livejournal.com]

That woman might want to take a closer look at that storyline and at an HIV-AIDS timeline of events. In all fairness, I think that Jonathan Larson actually did write a bit into the story of what she claimed was lacking in the movie. Roger has AIDS, but he isn't dying from it. Neither is Mimi, really. It's her addiction that's killing her, and whatever money she has is probably going into that and not going for buying her AZT. Those shown as dying from AIDS are cases that seem to predate AZT (approved in 1987), and that's especially true of those in the Life Support group. If I recall correctly, they are all modeled (and named?) after Jonathan's personal friends who died of AIDS in the years before he wrote RENT.

Before I start to ramble on the topic, I'll just add the footnote that I am doing a term paper on HIV-AIDS for health class, and that in the play I am in I have a resident Renthead who is over flowing with all things RENT, and end it there.

As for RENT itself, I've not seen the play, but I listen to the original cast recording all the time. I have seen the movie, and liked it well enough to buy it. That said, I like the show as laid down by the soundtrack better than the movie -- probably because it's truest to Jonathan's vision -- but there some songs that never fully stretched their wings until they had the full width of a movie to fly in. The song "Rent" is the first one that jumps to mind.

Lastly, on a side note, I love the icon. That totally describes the way that I was feeling today at rehearsal.