99: picspam - RENT.
{ done for challenge twenty @
picspammy. }i'd never even heard of tv tropes before this challenge, and i'm kind of mad i do now, because i definitely don't need another time drain to add to my life. that's exactly what this site is. so easy to get lost in the linked, wiki-style pages. it really is a fandom encyclopedia.
rent has about a million tropes attached to it, so i decided to use the alphabet to narrow down my choices. g, k, q, u, v, x, & z are the letters not represented.
disclaimers - (1) don't get it twisted by looking at this spam: i am a huge RENThead. these tropes just gave me the op to poke fun at some of its wackier aspects, and it was insanely fun to dissect the film. (2) very, very image heavy. very. (3) lots of text taken straight from the tropes pages. (4) FILLED WITH SPOILERS.
- do not use/repost any of the following images without proper credit. namely @ tumblr. -
anything that moves
a bisexual character in fiction. gender, personality, appearance, even, with some of them, whether the other person wants to sleep with them? none of this is a barrier to these characters. if they can have sex with it, they will.
maureen. at least during the first half of the movie.
big applesauce
the idea that anything that occurs in, or references new york is automatically more interesting to the average american viewer than anything elsewhere. new york is the place to be, since people don't eat, paint, dance, or act anywhere else.
ny is at the heart of RENT. there's so much of the city in it that i literally can't imagine it being set anywhere else.
crowning music of awesome
a selection of music that is just...awesome. it brings the moment to life. it compels you to do your best, to use the power of love, or just look in shock. it can come from unexpected places, it can come from a genre of music that you thought you hated. it is the reward for the work, the finishing touch.
la vie boheme. loud, raucous, and infectious, complete with table-dancing, mooning, and "up-yours" gestures. if you're not singing and dancing along by the time mark hits "to days of inspiration, playing hooky, making something out of nothing...", there's something wrong with you.
dark reprise
early in the show, we get a joyous song. in a later act, sadder and wiser, those same lyrics are ironic and sad. sometimes the reprise parodies the original lyrics; sometimes they are the same, only sung more slowly and mournfully. the "dark" part may even be literal, with the reprise using dimmer lighting.
the literal reprise of i'll cover you sends 97% of people into either quiet, manageable tears or full-blown hysterics.
jesse's voice. OHEMGEE.
ear worm
those songs that weasel their way into your head like uninvited guests and then proceed to stink up the inside of your cranium by playing themselves there over. and over. and over.
this could be almost any song; lord knows jonathan knew how to write some infectious stuff. but i'm showcasing seasons of love just based off the fact that i never thought about how many minutes there were in a year before seeing the musical on stage for the first time. now i have the number ingrained into my brain waves. ♥
fridge logic
tiny details/inconsistencies that don't start to bug you until the movie/show is over and you're staring into the fridge scavenging for food. an actual writer's room term, coined by alfred hitchcock.
the most hilarious one mentioned on the tropes page: how did roger get enough gas money to get to santa fe and back, if he had to sell his guitar to afford the car?
this is in reference to the stage version, and the movie version goes a little bit differently. my trips to the fridge have brought me to this conclusion: rog basically takes what equates to a songwriter's sabbatical in the desert plains of arizona. he sold his (what i'm assuming was trusty and many years old) guitar to buy a car. a beat-up one, yes, but somehow this price match was still feasible in the early 90s. he sold the car once he got to his destination in order to buy another guitar. saw some visions, contemplated on some plateaus, then took a bus back to the big city. i've also decided that he took bartending up again to make the cash for the bus ticket.
hooker with a heart of gold
a sex worker who is a good person and might become a love interest for a main character. underneath the sex kitten exterior there's actually a sweet, innocent flower that needs nurturing.
mimi, all the way.
ivy league for everyone
despite being considered among the most selective colleges in the united states, with admission rates from 7% to 19%, ivy league schools show up frequently in fiction.
margins and discipline fan joanne. graduate of harvard law school. i'm convinced she took an elective course in fierce staredowns during undergrad, probably at another ivy.
the jimmy hart version
an instrumental version of a tune with a note tweaked here and there, designed to sound as much like the original as possible while being different enough not to break copyright.
santa fe includes elements of do you know the way to san jose, a song originally recorded by dionne warwick.
love triangle
a is in love with b, but b is in love with c.
mark/maureen/joanne, and more minorly, benny/mimi/roger.
man hug
when two men hug in western media, it usually indicates that they are close friends, brothers (in blood or in spirit) or trusted comrades-in-arms.
there's one during la vie boheme as well, but the most notable mark/roger man hug is during what you own.
nakama
"nakama" is a japanese word for company, fellow, colleague, associate, comrade, mate, group, circle of friends, or partner. it has come to be a fan speak term for a group of people who are as close as real family would be, due to the circumstances under which the group of companions find themselves.
the overall relationship of the main characters. (except benny.)
the other darrin
a new actor is brought onto a show to play the same character as an actor who's leaving. often not explained to the audience at all. named for arguably the most famous case: the darrin swap — dick york to dick sargent — on bewitched.
only mimi (rosario dawson) and joanne (tracie thoms) are recast in place of the originals for the movie, because daphne rubin-vega (original mimi) was pregnant at the time and gained too much weight to play a junkie stripper with aids and fredi walker (original joanne) felt she was too old to portray a recent law school graduate. her one request was to keep joanne black.
i also must shout out the fact that rosario and tracie went off and became one of the most adorbs celeb friendships known to man.
the power of rock
in which the world is saved and the big bad defeated, not only through the power of love or the power of friendship, but through rock.
the most plausible explanation for how mimi is saved. which isn't saying much. i'd actually chance it to say that her seeing the vision of angel is more plausible.
i feel like everyone else's faces in this scene displays their character's skepticism. like they were trying to emote hope, but just couldn't even pull it off as human beings with common sense. but they made the effort, for jonathan's sake.
romance on the set
a couple falls in love while working on a movie or tv show (or musical) together, possibly even getting married and/or having kids.
taye diggs (benny) and idina menzel (maureen). fall in love: check, marry: check, have kid: check. :)
so beautiful it's a curse
an admittedly attractive character (almost always female) remarks on how their beauty is a drawback.
the entire first verse of take me or leave me. literally.
tearjerker
a scene or moment with just the right imagery, tone, and music that cause you to work your tear ducts.
take your pick. RENT has tons of this. different moments affect different people, but some of the biggies are one song glory, life support/will i, without you, i'll cover you (reprise) and goodbye love.
wholesome crossdresser
well-groomed, compassionate, nice, and above all, so convincing that his or her sex is mentioned on occasion just to remind newer viewers.
who doesn't love them some angel?
you fail biology forever
self explanatory.
mimi's body absolutely would not be able to fight hard enough to break a fever after everything she'd gone through. so i guess it's a good thing that roger has magic. all he had to do was whip out his guitar patronus. this goes hand in hand with power of rock.
fin. no day but today!
caps thanks to elfmoogle.net, idina-here.com, rosario-dawson.net, & dj_capslock.
also, the first of the two tracie/rosario pics is an edited graphic from
bluesuzanne. my search for the original image turned up dry.previously
1: picspam | annoyance & amusement: cris/avery.
2: icons | fela! on broadway / jill scott / y: the last man.
3: picspam | recasting the color purple.