Following the recent Disney+ release of âHamilton,â history has its eyes on Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The historically inspired hip-hop musical from Miranda, who is of Puerto Rican descent, has been praised for its diverse cast, which gives all of its most prominent roles to people of colour. However, amid a year marked by protests over police brutality and racial injustice, the film version debuted to a nuanced response on social media, with critics questioning how a show about people who owned slaves just brushes past that fact.
Now, Miranda is responding.
Tracy Clayton, writer and host of Netflixâs âStrong Black Legendsâ podcast, expounded on the criticism in several tweets, noting that the Broadway musical, which debuted in 2015, and the filmed Disney + release were âgiven to us in two different worlds.â
âOur willingness to interrogate things in this way feels like a clear sign of change,â Clayton wrote, noting in another tweet that âfrustrationâ over âa play about slaveholders that is not about slaveryâ is understandable, and that the conversation deserves nuance.
Addressing Claytonâs tweets, Miranda wrote that âall the criticisms are valid.â
âThe sheer tonnage of complexities & failings of these people I couldnât get. Or wrestled with but cut. I took 6 years and fit as much as I could in a 2.5 hour musical. Did my best. Itâs all fair game,â Miranda said.
Slavery isnât ignored in âHamilton.â For instance, Mirandaâs Alexander Hamilton notably brings it up during a cabinet battle against Thomas Jefferson, rapping, âA civics lesson from a slaver, hey neighbour. Your debts are paid âcause you donât pay for labor. âWe plant seeds in the South. We create.â Yeah, keep ranting. We know whoâs really doing the planting.â
However, it is drastically understated. Historian Lyra Monteiro told Slate in 2016 that the production uses âFounders Chic,â which portrays Americaâs founding fathers as ârelatable, cool guysâ but tends to downplay their roles in upholding slavery.
âWashingtonâs ownership of slaves isnât mentioned at all. Heâs this perfect father figure and he has nothing to do with slavery. Even though he was as embedded in slavery, of course, as Jefferson was,â Monteiro said.
âHamiltonâ was originally going to address slavery more, but Miranda revealed to Rolling Stone in 2016 that a rap battle between Hamilton, Jefferson and James Madison on the subject was cut:
In the end, no one does anything. Which is what happened in reality! So we realized we were bringing our show to a halt on something that none of them really did enough on.
Tweeting her thoughts on the âHamiltonâ criticism, director Ava DuVernay wrote that though slavery isnât central to the story, itâs not ignored.
âI greatly enjoyed the work and was wildly curious after watching. I wouldnât have studied any of those âfoundersâ like I did if it wasnât for #Hamilton and @Lin_Manuel,â DuVernay wrote.
Talking to NPR last month, Miranda said he was heartened by âHamiltonâ lyrics being used on signs in anti-racism protests and spoke about all the characters in the musical being complicit in slavery.
âHamilton â although he voiced anti-slavery beliefs â remained complicit in the system,â Miranda said. âAnd other than calling out Jefferson on his hypocrisy with regards to slavery in Act 2, doesnât really say much else over the course of Act 2.â
âAnd I think thatâs actually pretty honest,â he continued. âHe didnât really do much about it after that. None of them did. None of them did enough. And we say that, too, in the final moments of the song. So that hits differently now because weâre having a conversation, weâre having a real reckoning of how do you uproot an original sin?â