Cejka1

Marko Cejka

English 1101

Kempton

11/16/22

History Can’t Repeat Itself

The Covid pandemic had an impact on every person in the entire world. But what about the Aids

crisis a few decades ago? These two had big impacts on the world and changed the way we go about our

daily lives. I believe Rent the musical influenced how people should be living in safe environments and

make sure people are safe in any situation.

Firstly, Covid and Aids had vastly different reactions here in the United States. The AIDS crisis

and the Covid pandemic are two events in history which have had a significant impact on society and how

people live their daily lives. Both affected people greatly because it took the lives of many people. While

similar, but also quite different. First, the AIDS crisis was not treated the same as Covid. Specifically in

Rent, throughout the play, the characters go about their daily lives and most of them have tested positive

for HIV. The homosexual relationship between Angel and Collins throughout (Greif) is a perfect example

of how people were not as informed about Aids as people were with Covid. The writers included this

couple to show how many people did not know how Aids spread and how many people did not know why

they were testing positive. It was quite common for people to believe it was a disease for homosexual

people to contract Aids. However, anyone could contract it like many of the characters in Rent. This was

the opposite during Covid. “Sharkey said teachers would rather be in classrooms -- but in-person learning

without added safety precautions would put teachers, staff, students and their families at risk” (Jimenez

par. 33). This quote from a CNN article gives a great example of how Covid and Aids were treated

differently. During Covid, we were given the latest information every day. Specifically, while in school,

safety protocols were in place in case someone got Covid. The quote tells us the opposite is happening in
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Chicago public schools and that is why the teachers are fighting for safety protocols. I believe the musical

influences this because we have seen when no information is known and what protection can be put in

place to protect people from viruses. When there is no protection, many people would be affected like

what happened during Aids.

Another reason Covid and Aids are different is due to public attention behind each virus. Rent

portrays many examples of why public attention was so bad during the Aids crisis. A great example is

when all the characters are at dinner, and they see Benny with other people in suits. Benny is the property

owner, and he is going to evict Mark and Roger. They decide to make a scene about them being evicted.

Many of them show off homosexuality and it bothers Benny and the suits (Greif). This scene perfectly

gives us an idea of how Aids was perceived in the 80s. Aids was not given much attention because people

thought Aids was spread from people who are gay and drug users. Many thought it should not get much

attention because a lot of people did not like gay people back then. Covid was the opposite. Everyone

across the world was talking about Covid. Covid surrounded our daily lives and everywhere we went,

Covid was brought up. In a CNN article it says, “The showdown in the nation's third-largest school

district exemplifies debates playing out across the country: When and how should students return to

classrooms during the Omicron variant surge?” (Jimenez par. 10) This quote is a perfect example of

public attention. This question was being asked nationally. Covid variants brought a lot of panic across

the country because it brought a rise to the number of Covid cases. Media coverage was all over the place

about many different variants and how it would affect the United States. This attention is very different to

Aids. Rent has an influence on this because it makes us aware of how we are living in a world with

various viruses. Also, it makes us aware that these viruses can have big impacts on people no matter what

we believe in or what we support, and public attention allows us to know more about these harmful

viruses.

In conclusion, Rent influenced many people to be more aware of the world we live in. The Aids

crisis throughout the musical show us what it is like to live during a time where a deadly virus is not
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getting the attention it needs and people are suffering from it. I understand that the Covid pandemic was

more of a worldwide pandemic, and it affected more people, however, they both are deadly viruses that

affected many people. Furthermore, both Aids and Covid were treated differently, especially in the United

States. If Covid was treated the same way, people would not be safe and there would not be any clean

environments for people to live in and Covid would have been more deadly than it already has been.

Cites Used

Greif, Michael, director. YouTube, YouTube, 29 Nov. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=Lo8CmwIKiDw.
Jimenez, Omar, and Holly Yan. “Chicago Students to Miss a Second Day of Classes as Teachers Remain
at Home.” CNN, Cable News Network, 6 Jan. 2022, www.cnn.com/2022/01/05/us/chicago-schools-
teachers-union-vote-remote-learning-wednesday/index.html.