rent & repo! the genetic opera

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME: Samaa Ismaeel

STUDENT ID NO: 0316353

FILMS SELECTED: RENT (2005) & Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

WORD COUNT: 931

ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY

LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

SUBMISSION DATE: 19TH SEPTEMBER 2014

SAMAA ISMAEEL | 0316353 | FNBE FEBRUARY INTAKE| TAYLOR’S UNIVERISTY

Comparing and contrasting – ‘Rent’ and ‘Repo! The Genetic Opera’

Introduction. brief description of musicals. reality vs fantasy. protagonist/ antagonist. the death of two main characters and the way it took turn. style of songs and how it contributes to the time period

p1.. setting- setting and how that plays a role- corruption of government/corporation

p2.. protagonist/antagonist- who is considered to be the antagonist- who is considered to be the protagonist- transformation in roles

p3..turn after death of characters- bittersweetness- changes made

p4.. songs- genre of songs- how they contribute to the time period/theme- what kind of effect they have

Conclusion. conclude all 4 points. give opinion and suggestion


Comparing and contrasting – ‘Rent’ and ‘Repo! The Genetic Opera’

Musical has always been a favourite genre of mine, which vary from a range of famous

classics, such as: Les Miserablé, Chicago, Annie, Oliver Twist, and many more. I believe

musicals tend to be more expressive, symbolic, and successfully manage to grasp the

attention of its audience. On the other hand, although many musicals may appear different

when compared to one another depending on era, and storyline; however, when closely

compared to, you will notice that they are, in fact, similar in certain ways. In this essay I will

be comparing two very different musicals to each other; RENT (2005), and Repo! The

Genetic Opera (2008). What I will be comparing is where setting takes place, the protagonist

and antagonist, how death causes a turning point, and how the songs sung contributes to

the musicals time period.

Firstly, RENT is a musical based in the East Village of New York City, and mainly focuses on

aspects such as, sexuality, drugs, rent, AIDS, and the corruption of government. The general

setting is dodgy areas in order to get its message across to the viewers - that these several

characters are struggling with those aspects on a day-to-day basis - and that the fortunate

perceive them in a judgemental manner rather than to empathise on what they deal with.

On the other hand, Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) is partially digitally made, and slightly

comic themed in order to create that modernistic, grime, industrial look since its sole focus

is on a corrupt corporation known as ‘GeneCo’, which donates organ transplants to those in

need. Therefore, the setting in Repo! Is very sinister, to successfully create a very melancholy

ambience. The way in which RENT, and Repo! The Genetic Opera are similar is because

RENT focuses on the corruption of the Government in the United States due to disregarded

problems concerning sexuality, drugs, rent, and AIDs – which infuriate the citizens in East


New York City. Moreover, Repo! The Genetic Opera focuses on a corrupt corporation that

sells organ transplants; however, it causes extreme fear to its citizens when their debts are

not paid on time or at all.

Secondly, both RENT, and Repo! The Genetic Opera include character s that play both the

antagonist and protagonist at the same time, which is a complete paradox in itself. For

example, although the people from RENT suffer greatly with their day-to-day problems, they

appear to be their own worst enemy because of their addiction, and desires. In comparison

to Repo! The Genetic Opera, Shilo’s dad keeps her locked in her room to avoid her from

harm due to her genetic disorder, and from the Repo Man which kills those who have not

paid their debt. However, we then learn in the musical-film that Shilo’s dad is, in fact, Repo

Man and that he tries to protect her from himself, which makes him both the protagonist

and antagonist as well.

Thirdly, similar to all films, death is generally the turning point of a story making it

bittersweet, and an event a member of the audience cannot forget. For example, in RENT, a

drag queen that goes by the name of ‘Angel’ dies from AIDS. The turning point after her

death was a waking call to all the other characters in the film, this had caused them to go

their own separate ways to make a life for themselves, which some had successfully

managed and others did not. On the other hand, the similarity that I have found with Repo!

The Genetic Opera was that the only time Shilo found emancipation was when the Repo

Man (Shilo’s dad) was killed; she was then set to be free - however - with a price to pay,

since all of her loved ones had either died or were killed.

On the other hand, taking into account the era in which RENT and Repo! The Genetic Opera

is set in; the songs and the style of which they are sung are very different. For example;


RENT has a few duets, such as the famous ‘Seasons of Love’, which fulfilled a theatrical

essence; the musical-film was based in 2005, therefore, soft rock was popular during this

year; songs vary in softness and hardness depending on characters which gives the audience

an idea to what their personality is like, what they’ve gone through, and the tension

between the characters. Repo! The Genetic Opera, however, has songs that are both opera

and rock styled. This duo style was effective as it suggested the position of that character in

society; emotions towards each other, such as hatred or love were easily expressed through

those two different genres of music. The two different styles used in Repo! The Genetic

Opera was, in fact, very suiting even though it sounds extremely odd. It was suitable due to

the sinister, melancholy ambience that the musical-film had appeared to accomplish

successfully using this combination.

In Conclusion, at first glance RENT & Repo! The Genetic Opera appear very different to each

other. However, in my opinion, if you take the time to compare the two musical-films –

despite their clear differences - you will notice subtle similarities between them. For

example, the way the setting had been created, the way that the protagonist plays the

antagonist as well, that although death may be bittersweet it is a necessity in order for

characters to face reality, and how the songs sung are of a genre to contribute to the time

period, setting of the specific musical-film, and to suggest how intimate or distant a

relationship is between two or more characters.


rent & repo! the genetic opera

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