A Rent question
[I need another Rent icon]
A question for this story, which I'm ashamed to admit I'm working on again ;).
What does Mimi want?
I mean, Mark wants to make films (and, more personally, he wants to be part of a community, a family). Roger wants to write songs (one great song before he...), to leave some legacy behind. Collins is an activist; he wants to change the world. Maureen is a performance artist/activist; I think she wants to change the world, but she wants everyone watching her while she does it. Joanne is a little harder to pin down, but she's a Harvard-educated lawyer working for Legal Aid, so at least partly she wants to help people? Benny wants to better the neighborhood (and the world?) by making it financially stable (which isn't a bad goal, except he goes about it the wrong way). Angel's a little hard to define, too, but I think she (he?) wants, like Mark, to be part of that community. She's better than Mark is at making that happen, at being the heart and soul of that community, at supporting and encouraging the people around her.
So what does Mimi want? She's a dancer at the Cat Scratch Club, and in the movie they rope her into the "To Dance!" line in LVB, but in the play she and Roger leave before that section of the song even starts. And I always got the sense that she dances because it's a living, not because she loves doing it or because she's passionate about it.
But she's a passionate character. Out Tonight is a pretty passionate anthem. But all of her passion in the show is focused on Roger (and, sometimes, heroine). She pours all of her energy into convincing him that love is worthwhile, that he can't live by waiting to die. We don't see her except as his muse.
So what does she want? What did she want before she met him? And once she's "gotten" him, and they've solved all their problems (I know, that's not possible, but if it were), what does she want after that?
Any thoughts?
A question for this story, which I'm ashamed to admit I'm working on again ;).
What does Mimi want?
I mean, Mark wants to make films (and, more personally, he wants to be part of a community, a family). Roger wants to write songs (one great song before he...), to leave some legacy behind. Collins is an activist; he wants to change the world. Maureen is a performance artist/activist; I think she wants to change the world, but she wants everyone watching her while she does it. Joanne is a little harder to pin down, but she's a Harvard-educated lawyer working for Legal Aid, so at least partly she wants to help people? Benny wants to better the neighborhood (and the world?) by making it financially stable (which isn't a bad goal, except he goes about it the wrong way). Angel's a little hard to define, too, but I think she (he?) wants, like Mark, to be part of that community. She's better than Mark is at making that happen, at being the heart and soul of that community, at supporting and encouraging the people around her.
So what does Mimi want? She's a dancer at the Cat Scratch Club, and in the movie they rope her into the "To Dance!" line in LVB, but in the play she and Roger leave before that section of the song even starts. And I always got the sense that she dances because it's a living, not because she loves doing it or because she's passionate about it.
But she's a passionate character. Out Tonight is a pretty passionate anthem. But all of her passion in the show is focused on Roger (and, sometimes, heroine). She pours all of her energy into convincing him that love is worthwhile, that he can't live by waiting to die. We don't see her except as his muse.
So what does she want? What did she want before she met him? And once she's "gotten" him, and they've solved all their problems (I know, that's not possible, but if it were), what does she want after that?
Any thoughts?