Greenwich Village

Something important to keep in mind is where in New York City RENT is taking place. Roger and Mark live in an "industrial loft on the corner of 11th Street and Avenue B" (2). In other words, right in the middle of Greenwich Village, a New York neighborhood that was/is an artistic bohemian haven. Greenwich Village as a community played a vital role in the beginnings of the LGBTQ+ movement in America.

So it makes a lot of sense that show like RENT is taking place in Greenwich Village at the height of the AIDS epidemic.

The AIDS epidemic is going to come up a lot. (Mimi, Roger, Collins, and Angel all have AIDS) New York City had one of the largest populations of gay people at the height of the epidemic. As a community, Greenwich village was highly reactive to the stigma against AIDS that dominated the American media. A great deal of activist groups formed to push the government into reacting both more quickly and more effectively to the growing epidemic. A few of which are named within the script. (For example, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (54)). 

Another thing I want to point out is the relatively recent gentrification of the Village. As one journalist put it, in the time RENT is taking place the Village was an "gay urban ghetto". Although it was seen as an immensely safe space in comparison to the prevalence of violently homophobic small towns across America. Today the Village has been gentrified, which means wealthier individuals have essentially pushed out all of the poor minorities that made it a "ghetto" in the first place. Many have argued that this surge of well off individuals into the neighborhood has detracted from what has, historically, been a high revolutionary space.

Here are some images of Greenwich today and in the 70's-90's so you can begin gaining a perspective of what this neighborhood has been and what it is.

 

 

 

One last note, since race and sexuality are all vitally important to RENT, I thought it would be good to point out that a gay black man, Mark Carson, was murdered in the Village on a Saturday night a little over a year ago. It was explicitly a hate crime against Carson's identity as a gay man. I mention this because I think it's important to keep an eye on the modern context of the places and spaces we're dealing with within RENT. It's a pretty depressing note to end on but think about it for a bit, I think it puts a lot into perspective and speaks to the importance of the work we're doing.

Sorry if this post is all over the place, there's a lot to talk about! If there's something you'd like me to go into more detail on, let me know! Also the citations in my blog posts will always match up to the page numbers in your script so you know what it is in the script I'm referencing.