Tuesday, July 07, 2020
So 2015 was apparently a long time ago...
Like a lot of other people, I watched the movie version of Hamilton last weekend.
I had seen the original cast in previews in New York, and was blown away by it. There is no doubt that it is a remarkable musical.
But, watching it now, something seems off. We are just in a different moment, and a lot of what is different has to do with race.
Lin-Manuel Miranda was innovative in casting the musical cross-racially, so that the white historical characters were played by people of color (except King George). In 2015, that seemed like a blow against our racial expectations. Now, it seems almost gimmicky, in the face of the fact that nearly all of them were complicit in the slave economy in some way. The dancing, singing Schuyler sisters are a little less fun when you realize that they were from a New York slave-owning family, and were raised with the help of slave labor.
The play didn't change, but the mainstream of society did. I suppose we ask harder-edged questions, and are more willing to see the full stories of historical heroes more clearly-- something that Hamilton edges away from.
This might be the break-up we need. It's not you, Hamilton, it's us-- and that's a good thing.
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I can appreciate a thoughtful critique of "Hamilton," such as you've provided here. What I have not enjoyed over the past few days is people who haven't seen it railing against it.
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