We’re expecting flash flooding so I wouldn’t wish too hard for a switch 😭 plus Wednesday they’re predicting snow anyway so I may end up with both lol

I’d rather the snow! Unfortunately if we close that day I still gotta use my sick time because I’m scheduled off 😂 sucks

Thanks! i appreciate it! 💜

Seriously, it’s “gross class dynamics” now?
Y’all, they’re adults. You’re taking things out of the context of the story to make up other things to excuse why you hate the show.

You can dislike a thing without saying it’s “bad” art. It is not “the worst thing I’ve ever seen” levels of “garbage”, it is not “bad representation” or “irrelevant today”. It is art, it is history, and it’s a reflection of the world the writer lived and died in.

RENT is flawed! Of course it is! It’s messy and gritty and flawed and the characters have that 90s edginess. It’s also an important lens with which to view history through. And the arguments against it are often so shallow and moral, I wonder how you enjoy any media at all?

Yes there’s a lot of stereotypes or bad rep to combat, but would you expect a white/straight/cis character to be perfect? Or reasonably flawed? Should the good and bad not be balanced? Do stories not deserve to be told even if the characters have done bad things, as part of the story?

If you want representation to ONLY be “moral” representation of perfect, never failing, never flawed minorities… are you advocating for these minorities to be represented to be palatable to white/straight/cis audiences? Or to be standards/role models for minority audiences?

Because they’ve done bad things and make mistakes or are annoying, etc. and that LGBT+ and POC characters should be better represented (even when portrayed with as many flaws as the white or straight characters), you’re holding ACTUAL minorities up to the same ridiculously high standards.

There’s a lot of searching for morally pure, unflawed representation in art. You want every movie and show and book and game to be a role model, but that’s not what art is. Nor is it good representation. And if you complain that the characters aren’t good representation because they’re unlikable -

It’s not that there isn’t a good point to make about white privilege, but you’re expecting a show in the 90s written by a white man to explicitly address this. Many are not arguing for better representation, they’re arguing for something impossible —
Perfect, moral, unflawed art.

You’re arguing for a very progressive for its time show to be more progressive by today’s standards. You want them to address racism, too. But it’s hard not to feel like the majority of the people I hear complaining about Mark and Roger being white are… well, also white.

The main characters is because they’re “white”, it insists that those characters are only problematic because of their race. Or, it implies that they are “white” roles only. Perhaps you expect more nuanced writing, but then, your problem is with the character writing, not with the race of the actor.

I use Mark over Roger as the main example here, because Mark still feels like more of the main character than him. Why? Because he’s the storyteller. The documentarian. The one who will be telling their story, in the end, when he’s the only one left. When people argue the reason they dislike —

Do his struggles, his problems, detract from the story ONLY because of his race? Well, easy enough to answer — there HAVE been versions of RENT where POC actors have played Mark, for example. Jordan Fisher as Mark comes to mind first. So does this version fix the problem you have with the musical?

I want to go back briefly. The attitude of “well RENT would’ve been better without white male leads”. But would it have? Do you prefer the same character, written exactly the same, if the main actor wasn’t originally white? Would the same character suddenly be palatable if he wasn’t white?

I have more to say on this, but gotta get ready for work. Be back shortly.

Is it appropriate to fandomize and ship two characters from art meant to express a tragedy of history, a painful reality for many back then? Is it appropriate to take them out of their context as playthings, but then to disregard another piece of art as “art” when you can’t do the same to them?

- make the toxic arguments into cute bickering, they wash over and ignore the toxic parts, or only use them for drama. I liked Falsettos fine, mind you. But if you insist one is better than the other, I challenge you to really focus on your arguments. Do you just like the shipping element?

There’s still that subset of mostly women — straight or not — who take any two attractive (oft white) guys and ship them almost obsessively. Like, Tumblr-era shipping. The main couple in Falsettos is toxic. Imperfect. But they’re pretty, and cute together, so people make fanart and videos and