History YMMV / Rent

** Even Joanne, Mimi, Angel, and Collins, characters who all have jobs (some of which highly respectable) enable Roger and Mark's entitled attitudes and are depicted as rebellious, but never make it clear exactly what they're rebelling against except... society.

* {{Narm}}: Some of the lyrics are [[PurpleProse a bit too heart-on-sleeve]]. Roger's "Who do you think you are/Barging in on me and my guitar" may be the corniest line in the whole show.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Benny has a number of points. While he's a jerk and uses immoral means, he is trying to improve the neighborhood. The idea that he somehow owes his friends eternal free rent doesn't hold water.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Being unemployed is preferable to paying your dues at a sensationalist tabloid show, where you're paid more per story than most journalists earn in a month.
** It's perfectly okay to happily sing to your friends that you were hired to murder someone's animal for cash with a booty shake here and a drum solo there.
** The one which most upsets the show's detractors: "You're either a penniless bohemian, or you're a sell-out." It's a kick in the teeth to all the creative people out there who work day jobs to support themselves while still finding time to make art, or worse (according to the musical), find a way to make money ''through'' their art.
*** The extent to which the "all the characters are lazy bohemians" trope has become associated with the play has obscured the fact that the majority of the characters actually ''are'' working to support themselves: Collins, Mimi, and Joanne are all conventionally employed, while Angel has a serious street hustle going. Roger is getting back on his feet after overcoming a heroin addiction; only Mark and (going by the book) Maureen can really be construed as living totally self-indulgently "for their art."

* FairForItsDay: The show was and still is highly regarded for its normalized portrayal of queer sexuality and the frankness in its discussion of AIDS, two things that the wealthy, theater-going crowds of the mid-90s weren't used to seeing. Nowadays, it's often accused of trivializing the AIDS crisis from an ''extremely'' brutal and blatantly homophobic battle for human rights, as well as homelessness itself, to somewhat-minor difficulties (squatters would not be able to afford AZT). The fact that it [[BuryYourGays kills off the gay drag queen/gender-fluid Angel]], while {{spar|edByTheAdaptation}}ing the cishetero Mimi, whose ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' equivalent dies, has also been called into question. It also remains one of the few mainstream shows to feature an openly bisexual character... who perpetuates [[AnythingThatMoves their most hated stereotype]]. The fact that author Jonathan Larson died on opening night means that we'll never know how his views would or wouldn't have changed with the times.

** Even though even the ''original cast'' acknowledged at the time of shooting the movie (ten years on from the debut of the stage musical) that their feelings towards Benny had softened, the movie goes out of its way to keep him as the villain by removing scenes that feature his redeeming qualities ([[spoiler:like paying for Mimi's rehab and Angel's funeral, and encouraging Roger to get back together with Mimi after he returns to New York, thereby reconciling with everyone]]). Instead, he simply disappears after ''Goodbye Love''. Most frustratingly, these scenes were filmed, but cut for time. Though on the other hand, his comeuppance in the stage version (getting caught by his wife) never occurs, so there's that.

* FairForItsDay: The show was and still is highly regarded for its normalized portrayal of queer sexuality and the frankness in its discussion of AIDS, two things that the wealthy, theater-going crowds of the mid-90s weren't used to seeing. Nowadays, it's often accused of trivializing the AIDS crisis from an ''extremely'' brutal and blatantly homophobic battle for human rights to a somewhat-minor difficulty (squatters would not be able to afford AZT), as well as homelessness itself. The fact that it [[BuryYourGays kills off the gay drag queen/gender-fluid Angel]], while {{spar|edByTheAdaptation}}ing the cishetero Mimi, whose ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' equivalent dies has also been called into question. It also remains one of the few mainstream shows to feature an openly bisexual character... who perpetuates [[AnythingThatMoves their most hated stereotype]]. The fact that author Jonathan Larson died on opening night means that we'll never know how his views would or wouldn't have changed with the times.

* {{Narm}}: Some of the lyrics are a bit too heart-on-sleeve. Roger's "Who do you think you are/Barging in on me and my guitar" may be the corniest line in the whole show.

** The film getting back most of the original cast had the unfortunate side effect of all of them looking at least a decade too old to still be ranting about society the way they are, and just seeming pathetic.

* SnarkBait: The 2019 "Live" Fox Production -- mainly because, except for the last 15 or so minutes, it wasn't live at all. The actor playing Roger, Brennin Hunt broke his foot during dress rehearsal, in between "What You Own" and "Voice Mail #5". Fox didn't have an understudy so everything broadcast before "Voice Mail #5" was actually the filmed dress rehearsal from the previous night (which Fox recorded in case the live performance couldn't go on) which is something many felt undermined the production; since it's obvious that the cast weren't giving it their all because it was just the rehearsal, and not the real thing. It didn't help that the cast gave a very energetic concert staging of the show to the studio audience while the dress rehearsal was being broadcast on TV, then delivered a dynamic, professionally staged performance of the finale after Fox finally cut back to live footage. The airing ended up receiving lower ratings than any musical to air live on network TV from 2013-'18.

** '''The parents of the main characters''' -- Apparently a bunch of overbearing, overprotective and disapproving types who smother and oppress their children. But we don't see much of them, meaning that most of this [[InformedFlaw comes from their children]], and what we ''do'' see might suggest to some that they're actually reasonably loving and caring people who just have the misfortune to have rather troubled and ungrateful children.

* DawsonCasting: Mimi "You look like you're 16." "I'm 19, but I'm old for my age." Marquez.
** The original Broadway cast were ten years older when they reprised their roles in the film. This is exactly why Fredi Walker (the original Joanne) ''didn't'' come back.

** Pretty much every song has its fans for one reason or another.

** "Over the Moon" has a line about being pushed off a cliff by a suicidal Mickey Mouse. Naturally, it has become this trope thanks to Maureen's (who sang the song in the show) original actress having worked several times (first with the ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' TV show, later in ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'' and the many ''Frozen'' works) with the Mouse House. Additionally, the two "live" recordings of ''RENT'' feature Maureens who either later or previously worked on Creator/DisneyChannel.[[note]]''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries''[='=] Eden Espinosa in ''RENT: Filmed Live on Broadway'' and ''Film/HighSchoolMusical''[='=]s Vanessa Hudgens in Fox's ''RENT''.[[/note]]

* EarWorm: [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Every.]] ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis Freaking.]]'' '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis SONG.]]'''

** Maureen. She's either a hilarious PluckyComicRelief and a super fun role for a stage actress to play with a wonderfully vivacious musical number ("Over the Moon"), or a pretentious AttentionWhore who treats her lover like crap while perpetuating the [[AnythingThatMoves most hated bisexual stereotype]] there is. This may have been exacerbated by the movie adaptation, in which several characters were adjusted/toned down for the new medium, but Maureen was played more or less exactly the same, highlighting flaws that audiences were previously more willing to overlook. However, no matter what one's opinion of the character may be, Maureen ''was'' Creator/IdinaMenzel's StarmakingRole.

** Maureen. She's either a hilarious PluckyComicRelief and a super fun role for a thespian girl to play with a wonderfully vivacious musical number ("Over the Moon"), or a pretentious AttentionWhore who treats her lover like crap. This may have been exacerbated by the movie adaptation, in which several characters were adjusted/toned down for the new medium, but Maureen was played more or less exactly the same, highlighting flaws that audiences were previously more willing to overlook. However, no matter what one's opinion of the character may be, Maureen ''was'' Creator/IdinaMenzel's star-making role.

** The one which most upsets the show's detractors: "You're either a penniless bohemian, or you're a sell-out." It's a kick in the teeth to all the creative people out there who work hard to support themselves while still finding time to make art.

* TearJerker: It varies from person to person, but especially, as noted above, the DarkReprise of ''I'll Cover You''.
** Multiple fans can't get through "Goodbye Love" without crying.
** Hey! Did you forget "Finale B"? Or "Life Support" or "Will I?"
** "Halloween" is a quieter one.
** In the film, "Without You", on the surface just a simple love song, is re-purposed to accompany scenes of [[spoiler:Angel slowly getting weaker and dying]], and becomes many measures more heartbreaking.
** A real life example: The creator of the musical, Jonathan Larson, tragically died on the morning that ''Rent'' was supposed to open. The performance was then cancelled and there was a sing-through in his memory, although it did continue as planned. It was a pretty heartbreaking thing that Larson never saw his creation come to be.
*** A bigger heartbreaking example was that his death ''was preventable'', but he really didn't know what it was at the time.

* FairForItsDay: The show was and still is highly regarded for its normalized portrayal of queer sexuality and the frankness in its discussion of AIDS, two things that the wealthy, theater-going crowds of the mid-90s weren't used to seeing. Nowadays, it's often accused of trivializing the AIDS crisis from an ''extremely'' brutal and blatantly homophobic battle for human rights to a somewhat-minor difficulty (squatters would not be able to afford AZT), as well as homelessness itself. The fact that it [[BuryYourGays kills off the gay drag queen/gender-fluid Angel]], while {{spar|edByTheAdaptation}}ing the cishetero Mimi, whose ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' equivalent dies has also been called into question. It also remains one of the few mainstream shows to feature an openly bisexual character... who perpetuates [[AnythingThatMoves their most hated stereotype]]. And of course this is all exacerbated by Jonathan Larson's death on the show's opening night, meaning we'll never know how his views would or wouldn't have changed with the times.

** Mark and Roger, who are squatters ''by choice'' and only refuse to pay their rent because they aren't willing to "sell out" (read: get a job). Mark even moreso: the only reason he doesn't want to go back to his perfectly supportive and loving parents is he thinks they're kind of lame. Roger at least has an excuse of being a shut-in due to recovering from his addiction and dealing with his AIDS diagnosis. Mark does not.

* ValuesDissonance: The show equates being openly gay and living with AIDS as a form of rebellion from the establishment. 20+ years later, it comes off as either no big deal or more than a little insulting.

** Roger. A sensitive, emotional rock star with not one but two tragic love stories.
** Mimi is so hopelessly in love with Roger and so self-destructively vulnerable that you may hate Roger for throwing her out.
** Angel's slow death makes her arguably the biggest one in a cast of woobies.
*** Not to mention all four of the above characters have AIDS, which doubles the Woobie factor for each of them.
** Mark -- hiding behind a camera to avoid facing the inevitable fact that his friends will die, and faking smiles to attempt to seem the pillar of the group? Awwwwww.
** Tracie Thoms plays up Joanne's helplessness a lot, coloring her with much of this trope as well.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: A chunk of the cast for their blatant disregard for society despite the fact that they refuse to contribute to it [[note]]Benny, Joanne, Mimi, Angel, and Collins all have jobs, some of which are very respectable, so these five aren't really guilty of this[[/note]] under the proviso that they're artists. Not helped by the fact that they're depicted as rebellious, but never make it clear exactly what they're rebelling against except... society.

** '''Benny''' -- The villain if one exists, starts to look like the OnlySaneMan for coming up with an intelligent and workable way to have a day job ''and'' enable creativity on the side. (Even more crazily, Benny does not show ''any'' canon inclination towards the arts himself, meaning that he comes up with the Cyber Arts plan ''largely to help his friends''.)
*** That said, it is unreasonable to demand a whole year's worth of back rent from your two unemployed friends without at least giving them advance notice.

* CantUnhearIt: Fo many fans the original cast is ''how'' they see the characters, no doubt helped by just how many times they've reunited: the 2005 film, the 10th Anniversary concert, and performances for the 2008 Tony Awards, the final Broadway performance, and the 2019 Fox TV production.
* CrossesTheLineTwice: The reason a lot of viewers are able to let the whole "killed a dog" thing go and still like Angel? Because the whole thing is just ''so ridiculous''. Crosses into RefugeInAudacity, especially when it's revealed Benny hated the dog, too, and probably knew all along that Angel killed it.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Half of the cast for their blatant disregard for society despite the fact that they refuse to contribute to it [[note]]Benny, Joanne, Mimi, Angel, and Collins all have jobs, some of which are very respectable, so these four aren't guilty of this[[/note]] under the proviso that they're artists. Not helped by the fact that they're depicted as rebellious, but never make it clear exactly what they're rebelling against except... society.