(no subject)

[nestra]

A really excellent Hamilton article, about stories and lives and memories.

Hamilton isn’t perfect. But it’s *perfect.* I couldn’t write for a month after I saw it.

Comments

[rachelmanija]

Thank you. That was a really moving, honest essay.

The part about Eliza was really interesting. It is surprising that the finale centers on her, but it feels very right and satisfying to me. It reminds me of how, after Sauron is defeated and peace is restored and the king is crowned and Frodo sails away with the elves, Lord of the Rings ends with Sam coming home. There's the great deeds and famous people and huge battles, but the conclusion honors the people who didn't get the fame but quietly accomplished things that were just as important, but on a more personal scale. It makes me think of Tikkun Olam: to save one life is to save the world.

I don't quite understand the people who think Hamilton doesn't address slavery. For one thing, it's factually wrong - there's quite a bit of talk about it. Also, having an African-American man play Thomas Jefferson is addressing slavery in a way that makes as big an impression as some entire plays I've seen that were directly about slavery. The entire casting of the musical is a statement about race in America, past and present, including slavery and its legacy. I think it's a fair critique that the good guys are abolitionists when it was much more complicated in actual history, but "it doesn't address slavery" isn't that critique.

[selki]

I think it's a fair critique that the good guys are abolitionists when it was much more complicated in actual history, but "it doesn't address slavery" isn't that critique.

Well stated.

[nestra]

I still need to think about this some more, but it may help me resolve my feelings about Burr in the musical. Sometimes he's a narrator, sometimes he's a character, and seeing it live, I found him even more of a cipher.

The entire casting of the musical is a statement about race in America, past and present, including slavery and its legacy.

I guess it doesn't count if they don't say "Slavery is bad" every five minutes?