No day but today

I watched the movie Rent for the first time in a few years last weekend. Ever since then I've had songs and bits of the show running through my mind. Not complaining one single bit. I adore that show and its music and its message. (If you only know Rent by Seasons of Love, you're missing out.) Rent is also packed full of incredible talent. I believe the stage version came before the movie, and these people are phenomenal. Musicians first, actors second. Not like the Les Mis movie that came out a few years ago-actors first, musicians second (if you're lucky). Ugh. Les Mis is one of my favorite musicals and I think that movie did it a huge disservice. But, I won't go into that rant here. Generally I really like musicals, but only six have made it to my highly exclusive list of favorites. Rent's on that list as well, so now you know two of the six. Maybe one day I'll explain that list, but I digress.

To me, Rent screams acceptance of everyone, regardless of their outward appearances, sexual preference, past mistakes or experiences. This is something I wish we had more of as a people. I've run into too many people who judge an individual based on what they see before they even get to know them. And it drives me nuts. You know what? Those people with piercings, tattoos, and/or crazy hair are some of the nicest and most accepting people you will ever meet; at least in my experience. The ways they've chosen to express themselves outwardly does not make them bad people or freaks. Let's look at the characters in Rent: we've got a lesbian couple, two straight guys, a straight girl who works at a strip club for a living, a drag queen, and another gay guy who ends up in a relationship with said drag queen. A few of them have AIDS. One is fighting a drug addiction. Are any of them bad people? No. Heck, one of the cutest love songs I've ever heard is in Rent, and it's sung by two men. All these people come together and form their own version of a family and accept each other despite their pasts and flaws. How I wish more people did this. How quick we are to judge and condemn a person based on one little detail about them, ignoring all else. Folks, when we do that, we are missing out on some amazing relationships.

I'm not trying to be preachy, so I apologize if I'm coming off that way. This is just something I'm very passionate about. Just please, let's try to be a little more accepting and loving of everyone. Many people are fighting demons we know nothing about. Take a moment to get to know someone a little more and your life will become so much richer.

I wanted to post one of the songs from the musical to show how wonderfully brilliant it is, but it is so hard to choose! Ultimately, I decided to showcase a very simple one. Background to the song is that the people in the circle singing have AIDS and are at an AIDS support group. Musically, it is so simple. It's just a round. Four lines. Yet it gets me teary every time. That right there speaks for how powerful the rest of the songs in the show are.

And, since I don't want to leave things on a somewhat sad note, (haha pun) here's Seasons of Love. (Check out the crazy high note at 2:55!!)

Divergent, Insurgent, Urgent...Detergent?

Earlier today, I saw something from someone who said they didn't like the new Avengers movie. This is the first negative response to the movie I have seen. To this person, it was more of the same. This got me thinking and the gears in my head turning. Obviously, it shares many things with the first Avengers movie, but that's to be expected--Age of Ultron is a sequel. The trend that I'm seeing way too much of (in my opinion) in movies is the post apocalyptic end of days type movies. Movies where a supreme force, usually the government, is trying to create a utopia and suppresses everyone--except for our heroic main character. Our main character does not fall prey to these collectivist ideas and ultimately breaks down the corrupt leadership. The message is always the same. Break away from the mindless crowd and fight the oppression of authority. I'm not saying these movies are bad, I've enjoyed some of them, however it is getting old. So the question I'm always asking myself is why? Why are these movies doing so well? Why do we seem to respond so well to them?
I have a few different ideas floating in my head as to why this is the case right now. Firstly and simply, Hollywood is out of ideas. They're remaking almost anything they can think of (we're on round 3 of Spiderman movies for crap's sake) for lack of new fresh ideas. And these movies have done well, so might as well try to get as much money out of the idea as they can.
Or, we as a population are fed up with the government and those in authority. I can't speak for everyone, and I'm definitely not trying to, but there does seem to be an increase in these attitudes. We see a lot of examples of this through the media, and I don't feel the need to rehash them here.
Running along the same path of our frustration with authority is the inner desire to rebel and fight back. But we've all been taught that if you fight against government and laws, you often end up in jail and possibly even killed depending on the severity of your offense. That's where these movies come in. The main characters in these movies go against rules and laws and don't get punished. In fact, usually the opposite happens. They are praised and given anything their hearts could desire and the world is healed and wonderful again. We can live vicariously through characters like Triss Prior (Divergent) and Jonas (The Giver). Quick side note-I know The Giver has been a book long long before it was made into a movie, and long before the Divergent series was written, it's just an example that came to mind quickly. We can feel like our desires have been fulfilled without doing anything that may get us into sticky situations. And who doesn't like to see good prevailing over evil? Even I do, even though I do love me a good villain. More on that in another post. And it's uplifting to see the "power of one" put into action. Oftentimes we can feel as though just one person could never make a difference in this world and it can be nice to see those feelings proven wrong.
Not to mention these movies tend to have a very strong sense of individuality, and we are all looking for something to set us apart from the pack. Whether it's a talent, a tattoo, a piercing, hair color, or different way of performing a common task. We all want to be seen as different from the crowd, yet not so different that we are no longer part of the crowd. The crowd is comfort. Assuming those in the crowd share generally the same thoughts and feelings as you do. And in these movies, the crowd has become so enmeshed that individuality becomes virtually non existent. Eventually that one person pushes back and we get a blockbuster. That one person shows us it's okay to be different and not be afraid to entirely be ourselves because in the end, it is what will save the world. The similarities between these types of movies and superhero movies is not lost on me, I know I mentioned The Avengers at the beginning of this post. But I'm not going to dive into those now, maybe in a later post. Until then, hopefully I got you thinking just a little bit. :)