by Lesley Aeschliman

Created on: April 06, 2009   Last Updated: April 07, 2009

Rent started out as a Broadway musical in the mid-1990s, and a film version was produced in 2005. It tells the story of young bohemians in New York City during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Among the cast of characters, you have a lesbian couple (A performance artist and a lawyer), a gay couple (both of whom have AIDS), a drug user and stripper, a musician who has AIDS, a filmmaker, and a former friend of many of the characters who married the daughter of one of the owners of the building many of the characters live in (this former friend is now trying to collect the rent for his father-in-law, after the tenants had been allowed to live there rent-free for a substantial amount of time).

Over the course of the film, topics such as drug use, AIDS, homosexuality, friendship, love, and death are touched on and depicted in a very realistic manner. Many of these topics would be very appropriate for a high school health class, and these topics are just as relevant today as they were when Johnathan Larson wrote the original Broadway musical back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. However, I know that some parents may be uncomfortable not only with the subject matter included in the film, but how the subject matter is portrayed (for example, the gay and lesbian couple can be seen being affecionate with one another, but not in a graphic sense; there are occasional shots of kissing or hand holding). There is even a brief bit of nudity (in the song "La Vie Boheme." one of the characters flashes her buttocks to the camera).

Personally, I don't have a problem with Rent being shown in the classroom. However, I believe that the teacher who intends to show the film in class needs to send home a note to the families about it. In the note, not only should the teacher say the class will be watching it, but to give some background on the film and the topics included in it. The teacher should also give interested parents an opportunity to view the film ahead of time to help make a determination as to whether or not the parent(s) would feel comfortable with their child watching the film. If a parent determines they don't want their child seeing the film, the teacher and parent should be able to make arrangements for the student not to be in the classroom during those days, and to come up with alternate activities for that student to do in order to get the same information as his or her peers.

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