Cancel Culture Claims Hamilton? (The Musical)

[SirSamuelVimesBlackboardMonito]

Just seen a story (link below, it's DM for those who care) about calls on twitter for the musical Hamilton to be cancelled, due to the real life Alexander Hamilton having connections to the slave trade.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8492387/amp/Backlash-Hamilton-musical-revisionist-history-days-debuted-Disney-amid-BLM-protests.html

(Short version, for those that don't want to read the link, he didn't own slaves, but his wife's family did, and he did accounting for a firm with slaves. The musical doesn't address this nor does is explicitly condemn the other characters who own slaves.).

Have to say I am a bit by this. Five years ago when Hamilton hit Broadway it was hailed as revolutionary. Colour blind casting, a huge number of black actors on stage, an international hit. And now, five years later, boom, it's racist, get rid of it?

Surely the logical conclusion of this cancellation frenzy is to erase all references to anything and anyone from a past era with different moral values? Which, at this rate, will be anything from pre-2015. Any story from the past will have things we now don't find acceptable. But is the solution really to just ignore it? Wipe the slate clean?

It feels wrong to me.

YABU = Hamilton should be cancelled.
YANBU = Hamilton should NOT be cancelled.

I do think in some cases there is something to be said for asking, why write a play etc about a real person and make up things that were totally false.

I've wondered that about The Greatest Showman, for example. Why not just write explicit fiction?

In some instances though I think it is because writers feel like they have to put this spin on controversial issues, because people won't accept historical figures unless they had the right modern opinions.

They can try all they like but they won't cancel Hamilton. It's not supposed to be 100% accurate but equally it doesn't glorify him, he is shown as a flawed character.

A couple of weeks ago it was Book of Mormon they were trying to cancel.

If you read the accompanying book to Hamilton, Lin goes into detail about his creative choices and does not shy away from the flaws. For example Lafyette, Hamilton, Burr and Hercules Mulligans were never in the same space at the same time Mulligans did not know Lafyette at all and yet they are portrayed as close friends.

It is a work of fiction with roots in reality and at no point was it out across as exactly what happened but it had to creatively edited to make the story flow.

There is another reference on the mixtape, Immigrant song I think "Don't think I don't see those tombstones disguised as waves." in reference to the slave boats.

IMO the Greatest Showman was much more egregious. Hamilton didn’t directly address slavery, but it makes a powerful point about who controls the narrative of national history and why. Whereas The Greatest Showman rewrote P T Barnum, an obvious bastard who exploited people mercilessly and criminalised contraception, as some kind of hero of diversity who provided a safe haven to society’s misfits, all for the sake of a few feel good showtunes.

I also wonder if the shortness of American history has something to do with it. The country is so young! (I remember once being in Tallinn, and there's a chemist's shop / pharmacy there that's older than America. Just a little shop, in continuous existence as a chemist since before the declaration of independence.)

Does it make it more raw, somehow, or more important, because it's not that far back in the past?

Or is it that the American's people's perception of themselves is so wedded to the idea that they are the good guys, anything otherwise is so jarring?

I find it quite fascinating. Also I'm aware I've strayed slightly from the musical! I do find the idea that art has to be rooted in something real a little odd too. I think it's an easy route to take when trying to acquire gravitas - look at all the Oscar winning biopics.

The shortness of American history? Well I guess that's depends on where you count from and whose history you include. There was life (and therefore history) in America long before Europeans arrived or the Revolution was won.

Isnt it suprising these 'claims' always seem to pop up in the daily mail these days. Like the 'claims' the other day that 'they' wanted to ban the film Zulu, which turned out to be from 3 years ago.

I think because Hamilton was both a member of the Society for the Promotion of the Manumission of Slaves AND the son in law of a massive slaver, you can spin it how you like. It's a story not a history. It's mythologising Hamilton.

We would do better to accept that fiction isn't reliable in this way and it never should be. It just...isn't a good way to find out facts!

YANBU - such a shame as Lin ended up locking his twitter account during the viewing party on Friday - presumably because of this. Anyone who has seen Hamilton isn’t going to walk away going ‘oh what an upright moral chap that Hamilton was!’

@Porcupineinwaiting

The shortness of American history? Well I guess that's depends on where you count from and whose history you include. There was life (and therefore history) in America long before Europeans arrived or the Revolution was won.

Well, I don't think it's an unreasonable point to make. Apart from the clear fact she's talking about the USA, not the continent of America, history generally means recorded events. Things that happen in societies without writing systems are generally called part of prehistory. It's not that nothing happened in pre-history, it's just not recorded in the thing we call history. Cultures enter history at different points - Britain entered at 325 BC, when obviously world history had been going on a while already, and the Mayans had already been through several civilisations.

So in American terms, at the time of the European invasions, the Mesoamericans (Mayans, Aztecs etc) were in history and the North Americans were in prehistory. Andeans are their own thing again - does the quipu count as a writing system?

Those who can, do.

Those who can't, whine and bitch and cancel.

@SirSamuelVimesBlackboardMonito
Wasn’t sure whether it was for me but now I am off to watch it 👍

Thanks, @mollokoy, you made my point better than I could have done!

To be clear when I refer to American history I am meaning the history of the political state of America / USA. Not the continent.

If you get the chance the book 'My Dear Hamilton' is written from Eliza's perspective (Betsy as she was actually known for a lot of her life) and is a great read. A few liberties have been taken to make the narrative fit but the writers put a great deal of effort into making it as accurate as they possibly could. The musical has quite a lot of inaccuracies in it for dramatic effect as mentioned by PP, so it was interesting reading a slightly more historically correct version of events, and whatsmore, from a woman's perspective.

Betsy was from a wealthy family in the south who owned a plantation, and grew up with (and kept) slaves even when she and Hamilton had almost no money or status. She begins to question this as she gets older, as abolition gains traction, and she reflects very thoughtfully on the keeping of slaves, who she loves and almost considers her family, yet not.

Despite having slaves, she was an extraordinary person and a massive force for good for the poor and destitute, as well as sacrificing everything personally for her family.

No person in history is black-and-white, there are shades of grey and I think the musical does that well. I can never make up my mind whether I like Hamilton or not, he has both exceptional intellect, bravery and fortitude, and was also a bit of a dick.

I don't think it should be cancelled but, having seen it for the first time over the weekend, it does seem to have aged badly in a short space of time.

Surely all the arts should be “out there” and if people like it they will watch and like it and if they don’t it dies a death.

Surely all the arts should be “out there” and if people like it they will watch and like it and if they don’t it dies a death.

I don't think that level of freedom of expression and ideas is currently accepted in the ultra woke twitter sphere!

I don't think it should be cancelled but, having seen it for the first time over the weekend, it does seem to have aged badly in a short space of time

Gosh, I don't agree at all. I'm incredibly familiar with the soundtrack but somehow it sounds fresh every time. I think/hope that it will continue to fascinate and move audiences for a long time to come.

@Miafey

I don't think it should be cancelled but, having seen it for the first time over the weekend, it does seem to have aged badly in a short space of time.

How so? What's wrong with it?

I can't understand this insistence on moral purity in all regards. Intolerance of slight failings wiping out huge positive contributions. Absolute insanity.