In the musical film Rent, the overarching themes include poverty, addiction, sexuality and the stark effect of AIDs. A lens that was particularly interesting to me was the AIDs part. As humans, we all desire to live a healthy, long life. In the musical, there are characters who struggle from being AIDs positive; as AIDs is a sexually transmitted disease, it socially stunts patients from being more open in society. This reminded me of the way in which in today’s society, with advances in science, we can study our genetics to predict what diseases we are susceptible to and may attain in the future and the ethical question of if life would actually be happier if we could predict and know about what diseases we would get. Would it not limit us mentally or physically? Some people, like Roger, may try to make the best out of their remaining life but wouldn’t others be rather dejected from knowing? Personally, I would like to know if I am positive for some disease or illness so that I can try my best to control my physical conditions; however, I do think that this is a difficult question for everyone to answer. 

Further, in Rent, there are also other characters who are on the brink of losing their loved ones who became victims of AIDS. Watching this, I not only became thankful for my health that I took for granted and once again came to realize how important it is for us, as a whole, to gain a better understanding of and fight AIDs. It is already known that the HIV virus is a retrovirus, and there are emerging treatments that apply the idea that retroviruses can be limited by means of interrupting the mechanisms of the reverse transcriptase. As such, there should be more studies and researches conducted to eventually provide us with a treatment and even a means of preventing AIDs. In the meantime, it is crucial that we are supportive and understanding of people who are suffering from AIDs so that they do not feel like they are excluded or avoided our society; since, after all, anyone can be susceptible to AIDs.  

Overall, I enjoyed watching the film Rent as it presented me with many interesting topics to consider. The music in the film were nice as well.