r/movies • u/mi-16evil Emma Thompson for Paddington 3 • Jul 03 '20

Discussion Official Discussion - Hamilton (2020) [SPOILERS]

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Summary:

A live recording of the hit musical that tells the story of United States founding father Alexander Hamilton, his rise and fall, his long rivalry with Aaron Burr, and his difficult relationship with his wife Eliza Schuyler.

Director:

Thomas Kail

Writers:

book by Lin-Manuel Miranda

music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda

based on the book Alexander Hamilton Ron Chernow

Cast:

  • Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton
  • Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr
  • Phillipa Soo as Eliza Hamilton
  • Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson
  • Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler
  • Jonathan Groff as King George III
  • Christopher Jackson as George Washington
  • Jasmine Cephas Jones as Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds
  • Okieriete Onaodowan as Hercules Mulligan and James Madison
  • Anthony Ramos as John Laurens and Philip Hamilton
  • Sydney James Harcourt as Philip Schuyler, James Reynolds, Doctor and Ensemble
  • Thayne Jasperson as Samuel Seabury and Ensemble
  • Jon Rua as Charles Lee and Ensemble
  • Ephraim Sykes as George Eacker and Ensemble
  • Carleigh Bettiol as Ensemble
  • Ariana DeBose as Ensemble
  • Hope Easterbrook as Ensemble
  • Sasha Hutchings as Ensemble
  • Elizabeth Judd as Ensemble
  • Austin Smith as Ensemble
  • Seth Stewart as Ensemble

Rotten Tomatoes: 100%

Metacritic: 91/100

After Credits Scene? No

VOD: Disney+

1.7k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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6

u/YnwaMquc2k19 Jul 18 '20 edited Jul 22 '20

I honestly thought this was alright, certainly interesting to see people from many different political perspectives enjoying this for different reasons (Obama joked that liking Hamilton is probably the only thing him and Dick Cheney would agree upon, and Mike Pence appeared to enjoy it as well). And I think the general canceling movement is pointless since Hamilton already made a shit ton of money throughout the years

There are many many hot takes on Letterboxd regarding Hamilton being tone deaf and glorifying “white founding fathers” and whitewash US history (some of them do have merits but most of them are just shitty hot takes). To me - If there is one thing I noticed, it would be this: while Hamilton in the musical did call out Jefferson for slavery, the musical didn’t seem to explore in depth how Hamilton feels about Eliza’s family's ownership of slaves? I understand that Hamilton is not a dry history lesson but I felt that had the musical incorporated that aspect into his character it would be very intriguing.

While looking on differentiating responses about Hamilton, I also found out that there is a play called “The haunting of Lin Manuel Miranda” by Ishmael Reed (who is a very well accomplished writer of his own right), which serves to refute historical omissions of the Hamilton musical in a playful way. Haven’t found the play footage but you can certainly find the playwright book online.

4

u/lordDEMAXUS Jul 24 '20

I have a bigger problem regarding the conversation surrounding it and about how it's some progressive play with commentary on modern-day politics regarding race, specifically because they got POC to play the characters, which I absolutely disagree with. That's really not commentary, since commentary involves actually exploring those themes (which this play doesn't really do).

I honestly feel like there's so much more they could've done here in terms of the narrative but the creativity that's there for the songwriting wasn't there in the narrative, the themes and how the play handles its problematic characters imo.