AIDS Awareness Week: “Rent” Film Screening

This past week was Emory’s AIDS awareness week. On Wednesday night, I attended a screening of the film “Rent.” This film, directed by Christopher Columbus is based off of Jonathon Larson’s musical, “Rent,” which has been running on Broadway since 1996. For readers who are not familiar with the storyline, this film was selected to be screened during AIDS Awareness Week because four of the main characters (Angel, Collins, Roger, and Mimi) are HIV positive. The idea for the musical “Rent” was inspired by Puccini’s opera, “La Bohème.” In “La Bohème,” the characters are Parisian bohemians who are being affected by the tuberculosis epidemic. “Rent,” in contrast, is the story of struggling artists living in New York City who are confronted with AIDS.
One of the most powerful themes of the film was the seize-the-day attitude of many of the characters. Despite pitiful living conditions, the hardships of disease, as well as facing other social stigmas, the characters possess a great resilience to maintain a positive outlook on life. During one song the characters describe themselves as “people living with, not dying from disease.” This is one of my favorite lines in the movie because it reminds people of the importance to fight disease until the very last moment, and never surrender to despair. Often when addressing the subject of AIDS, academics and advocates alike resort to a grim and bleak outlook concerning the disease. The characters of “Rent” remind the audience that they have not died yet, and while still living there is still hope. The song, “No Day but Today” is probably the best example of how the characters strive to embrace life. Mimi, an exotic dancer with AIDS and a drug addiction sings, “There's only us, There's only this, Forget regret, Or life is your to miss, No other road, No other way, No day but today.” This line clearly demonstrates the perspective of living every day as if it was the last. I am particularly fond of this theme because it is relevant to a far greater demographic than just AIDS patients. Everyone could use an occasional reminder to cherish the importance of friendship and love, throw away the monotony of day-to-day life, and remain true to our ideals.
Another interesting aspect of the film is to see how the support network system for people with AIDS has evolved in the last two decades. The film shows a couple of scenes set in a life support group, one of the original support networks for people with AIDS. The characters assist one another in answering the questions “Will I lose my dignity? Will someone care? Will I wake tomorrow, from this nightmare?” The life support meeting is run on a very small scale; it takes place in a rundown public school building. Currently, the support networks for people who have been affected by AIDS are tremendous. Enormous support systems include The National AIDS Hotline (which exists in both Spanish and English), the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and People with AIDS Coalition of New York. There are research initiatives such as the American Foundation for AIDS research, advocacy initiatives such as ACT UP, and even a World AIDS Day, December 1st annually. It is quite clear that the number of people affected by this disease has risen at an unprecedented pace, and despite certain enduring social stigmas, AIDS is not just a disease for bohemians anymore.