Why is it that black actors can play white characters but white cannot? I did not care who played who but just looking at this from the cancel culture perspective. How you can only play characters like yourself.
@@gandolfthewhite Let me be clear upfront before I give my reply: I'm NOT saying everyone should start smoking cigars, especially not regularly. Like any other "vice", it's at your discretion. That said, can you define what you mean by "big time"? I should preface that cigars are almost worlds different from cigarettes. An FDA study in 2016 reveals that people who smoke 1-2 cigars a day show almost no risk of developing cancer. I personally know a lot of guys who've been smoking cigars or pipes most of their lives regularly (but NOT excessively as say, a cigarette chain smoke who smokes practically the whole day) who lived to be in their 80s and above. You can even look up a video of a guy in his 90s who credits "God and cigars" as his secret to long life. Cigarettes, after all, contain a ton of chemicals that contribute massively to harmful effects and addiction (which is why I don't care for them), unlike cigars and pipe tobacco, which are made up more often than not of PURE tobacco. Again, I'm NOT saying smoking is healthy or even harmless. It's just as healthy or harmless as drinking beer or liquor. And as with alcohol, there's ample scientific evidence pointing to (surprise, surprise) moderation as key to massively minimizing health risks associated with their consumption. I'm sure almost anyone can point to many people in their lives who have zero vices and impeccable diets who may technically be healthier than someone who smokes or drinks, but have died sooner anyway. This knee-jerk negative reaction towards cigars and pipes (again, cigarettes are a different story) needs to stop.
The best song in the show was "One Last Time." It showed the one thing that separated George Washington from Cromwell, Napoleon, Santa Anna, Fidel Castro, Lenin and Mao. George Washington put his country ahead of himself. With his popularity and as Commander in Chief, George Washington could have been President for Life followed by a series of dictators. "The nation learns to move on, it outlives me when I'm gone." This is why King George said that if George Washington can walk away from power, he would be the greatest character of his age. Most Revolutions fail. Most people don't get that. They fail because of the egotism of their leaders who consider themselves irreplaceable or, if your No. 2 is Che Guevara or Josef Stalin, they fear surrendering power would be suicidal. Washington set a precedent of 2 terms that would last until FDR. For "teaching us how to say goodbye," that alone rates a statue or two.
That is what Jefferson never understood about France and their revolution. There was a reason America’s worked and France’s did not, but Jefferson got a bit blinded by ideals.
You are absolutely right Washington never *wanted* to be president in the first place It was the people that said "You led the army, you saved this movement, without you we would all be hanged for treason - we need you to lead"
I loved Klavan's perspective that "Hamilton" does an amazing job showing that America's ideals transcend racial lines. Citing the lyrics "I'm young, scrappy and hungry, just like my country"
@@Black_pearl_adrift So, why do ppl want it canceled; because it is a voice for American assimilation being offered to all to accept (rather than group bitterness and the end to us)?
Michael Knowles: "If you have nothing to say about your for-fathers, then you aren't much of a conservative. Because what is it we are conserving?" good point. You can only raise a conservative child if you also teach them history and our founding principles.
I always looked at conservative being about strong traditional values, family and country. But then im Australian so different history. Guess im just not into history much either. At least, not nation building at least.
OK...yes...I get that and strongly support that notion (ancestors fought with Geo Washington). However, putting a slight twist of perhaps accuracy on this...weren't the Patriots actually the liberals of their day?...all these liberal notions of no taxation without representation, etc...at the time the conservatives were those who did not want to separate from Great Britain...Tories. Am I wrong? :)
@@DragonPilot Yes. If I'm a conservative now, then I would have been a revolutionary back in the day. Actually..... I think those who describe themselves a "libertarians" today are closer to the revolutionaries of the 1700's. But I appreciate Knowles' point. Your child will neither be able to defend "traditional" values, or see why they should be defended, if you fail to teach your child history. Ex: our founding fathers created a republic (not a democracy) which only makes sense in light of the bread and circus rule of the mob which Rome descended into. The word "conservative" is not at all times virtuous, but can only be understood in context of the times. Today "conservative" in the US means one who wishes to return to the literal reading of the US Constitution and its interpretation (such as found in the federalist papers) as well as the Christian social mores which enlightened the men who wrote the constitution. One cannot defend these values, if one does not know how they came to be and why.
Well I'm Irish and during the famine when all the Irish emigrated to the US we called them coffin ships. They might not have been slave ships but because the people were so poor the were stuck in the bottom of the ship in which a large majority of the people died. That was what they were willing to do, sacrifice, for a chance to make it to the best country in the world so they didn't have to watch their children die. Irish people did this for every generation to make a better life. I just think people today in the US should have more appreciation for the country they live in, because so many have died for a chance to do just that, live in the best country in the world.
the indentures slaves had a lot in common with chattle slaves. Many were forced to take the voyage, crammed in ships with high mortality rates; if your family member dies in voyage their years were added to yours, a system which was abused. Both sold at the auction block in chains, many times african slaves were treated better the indentures because the masters would care for them like their livestock, many accounts of indentures and slaves running away together.
@john vina Irish also didnt have welfare systems crammed down their throats. They rolled with the punches. It's not about what others do to you, it's how you react to them that matters most. BLM is a perfect example of a lot of emotion and getting nothing done. Irish are the opposite, they were obviously oppressed, put in tenements, and segregated but chose to rise above it and do something about it
I know somebody who wrote a paper about this and how the characters who have more revolutionary ideals rap, and those who don't sing. Eliza, Peggy, and King George only sing. Angelica sings when she's out in society but raps in her own head because she isn't allowed to express it. It may even explain why Thomas Jefferson sings in his first song, because he wasn't a big part of the revolution, and as he aids in building the government gets to rap.
I’m honestly impressed with Klavan’s thoughts. Very Sophisticated and Nuanced, especially in regards to assimilation. I’m going to listen to more of his work
As a person who is heavily involved in theatre, I can't imagine what would happen if I came out as conservative. Actually I can... I'd have at least 10 less friends. Edit: Just came back to this comment and was overwhelmed by the support. Thanks everyone, and I wish all of you the best.
I’m sorry. There does seem to be a lot of pressure in the arts to think a certain way. I’m not sure why that is. But as a former performer, I do understand what you’re going through. It’s not easy.
As someone who’s heavily involved in theatre and center-right with the same concern of ‘groupthink’ dominating the industry, I would gladly be your friend & collaborator. Without diversity of thought like any other kind of diversity, theatre will grow bland and unremarkable, and I don’t want to see that day through
I 100 percent agree with you, when I see people debate something using intellect and reason it's enough to make me hope for the future of this country. We need to teach more people how to do this
Come on, be reasonable. It's perfectly fine to consider race when casting for a movie or show. An actor's physical appearance is a part of the artistic product.
Zachary Ramirez in another comment in this video someone’s posted the full Snopes evaluation, basically they had to change it in the end to not get sued but the producers were certainly social justice-minded when they made that provision
@@borkguy I haven't seen what Snopes said about it nor do I trust their fact checking. The NYC, London, and California/SF production did call for 'seeking non-white' actors. Now it has changed in NYC to "looking to cast people for the non-white roles.'
Trinity Gilreath Phillipa and Jasmine are both biracial but Jon Rua, Thayne Jasperson, Betsy Struxness, Neil Haskell and Rory O’Malley were all white and in the show
I love Hamilton as a conversative myself . I don’t see anything wrong with it , let’s not be like the libs and complain about every damn thing . Let’s not let the left try to change everything to fit their narrative
To be frank, I think white actors being unable to voice black animated characters is a relatively fringe view, even within the left. I do support getting more black voices in animation regardless though.
Yeah, I don't see anything inherently wrong with it, but I also don't have a problem with trying (trying is the operative word, not as an absolute rule) to keep black actors playing black characters. Vocally, different races tend to have different sounds and it can oftentimes be more natural sounding if a black actor plays a black character. In the case of Cleveland, the actor sold it well enough that it shouldn't have mattered. I respect his decision to step down as a matter of personal choice, but it would have been problematic if he was fired for being white.
@@WeretigerX I think Hamilton sucks, but if people like it that's fine. The character of Cleveland was inspired by a real person who happened to black. The person who developed the character happened to be white. So what? Eddie Murphy used to dress in whiteface constantly, and it was funny. Why does it always have to be about race? I think Hollywood has come a long way in terms of providing opportunities to people of all backgrounds. Is it perfect? Maybe not. I guess it was their own decision to do with the character as they wish, but I don't think they should have been forced to by anyone.
@@WeretigerX i would disagree on races sounding different because well...of their race. Do you have evidence to back this claim up? Because its kind of back handed racism to think that black people only sound...well sounding like they can only have deep tones.
@Trinity Gilreath To be fair, I don't think Chris or Martialarts.stunts have any decision in who is cast in anything. And if you are saying "you guys" as in white people. that is a bit racist. But I do agree with part of your point. But only because there has been so much black history virtually erased by people like Woodrow Wilson that I find things like this petty. On a further point. Black American history is a great and important part of American history. The best thing America can push for (in my opinion) is for everybody to be allowed to compete with skills and talents and may the best person for the job/role/position succeed. Skin color should be irrelevant in every facet of life.
Most educated people vote liberal and most uneducated people vote conservatives, there are so many studies on this. It’s hilarious you have some intellectual superiority complex about conservatives when your primary source of information is probably Fox News or Ben Shapiro
Honestly, if you look past the “race relations” of it all, Hamilton truly is a work of art and is honestly the best theatrical performance I’ve seen to date...
That’s what I think. I try not to think about the race part of it. Some people think too much of the racial politics of the musical and don’t pay attention to the actual musical and that’s kinda sad.
Even the “race relations” show something quite beautiful that Hamilton is the story of all of America not just the white people, it’s everyone’s story.
This! Lin Manuel has said over ans over again, that he wanted the people who would have been picking the cotton, the people who were written out of the history books all of their descendants to feel like they have a part in the American story
@@ebbaynes that’s stupid. There were white slaves, one of the first slave owners in Virginia was a black guy, and Africans are the ones who enslaved and sold black people to Europeans. Whit e people were also enslaved in other parts of the world and white people were the ones trying to end slavery while the rest of the world fought us. Ultimately it’s an attempt to as much as possible defame and reduce white people and our immense accomplishments. If you tried to switch a black character for a white people would lose it because there are double standards like everywhere else. It doesn’t include black people by forcing them into places they wouldn’t be, it includes them by focusing on say Fredrick Douglas or people like that that were actually black and involved in history not trying to randomly make white character black. I feel like if anything it will make race relations radically weirder and more tense when you’re forcing all these random changes. People seem to only be okay with historical inaccuracy if it gives credit to anyone who isn’t white or a man, wether it’s Roots or whatever. I think switching the white fits for black guys would be less of an issue if it had just been a decision actor wise or just whatever like you know they’re white in real life it doesn’t matter. But if it was done to try to include black people by randomly switching peoples races or having black people in places they wouldn’t be that would be dumb. Just use actual black people who existed, don’t try to make them look epic by having white guys suddenly be black something that if you did to a black real life person black people would freak out and so would liberals. We need artists with talent like this to stop being so freaking weird.
I loved Hamilton - The thing that irritated me, ended up being a CNN article about them talking about one of the characters being "one of the few white people". I get that they chose the cast to have that diversity, but why shove that race nonsense down your throat and ruin a great Broadway musical?
Unless it is a 'one man show' every play/movie/musical has tons of diversity. None of the cast look or sound exactly alike. Even Samuel L Jackson has had a diverse career outside of playing a character type is many movies. Jules Winnfield is not Richmond Valentine. Diverse in mainstream Hollywood means few to zero white people (or suspected white people).
Andre A true! It was ok but they tried to make it the BEST movie EVER and it was so empowering for the black community etc. All that nonsense, but at least the characters were good in civil war, infinity war etc
Really funny so when we watch movies like the first captain America or the first iron man (with 1 main black character) it’s normal but when there’s shows and movie with predominantly black person it’s shoving race nonsense and having an agenda…
See, I don’t see him as a villain. I see him as doing a huge mistake through his anger. I saw no villains or heroes EXCEPT for King George. However, you can’t hate King George (in the musical) because he’s so much fun 😂. So I think it’s just up to how you interpret it.
Two days ago my friend of 17 years ago started yelling at me over the phone over how oppressed we are and I disagreed. She yelled, cried and hung up. I wish we could have talked like these two guys.
@@MP-ef9yo I live in another state now and she always gets new numbers because of a crazy baby daddy thing. We actually don't talk or text much so to say friend is a bit of a stretch in my opinion. Childhood friend I guess but She still calls me best friend which is shocking seeing we don't talk. Her life has went a diff path of bitterness and fights at work. I'm a born again Christian so I keep the same number just in case she or anyone needs me. I send scriptures and sermons and check on her kids because I am their god mother.
Get Out is one of the most overrated movies in recent memory, horror or otherwise. It's right up there with Black Panther as a film both Hollywood and critics were desperate to get people to think were some type of transcendent filmic experience, when, in fact, they weren't much more than average at best.
@@willdavey6570 i didn't think much of Get Out. Thought it was okay. I'm pretty hard on horror films, admittedly. Black Panther, imo, was okay. Had its moments, but wasn't anywhere near the best superhero movie they were trying to convince us it was.
I didn't understand Black Panther. It's supposed to be a hyper-advanced society, and yet they still have an absolute monarch, ritual scarification, spear-toting guards, and ascension-by-combat. Huh?
@@banredassaultsuvs361 I'm seriously considering voting red. I'm black and I can say with confidence I don't support BLM and where the Democrat part is heading. I like to compromise and have real talk. Here other's point of view is the point of debating
How can you call rap music “too simple?” If anything the most difficult lyrics to write are in the genre of rap. Every syllable has to be perfect and rhythmic. On top of that the rap from Hamilton is a lot more sophisticated and well structured than the rap you see from artists these days.
To add, there were a full orchestra of classic instruments playing these beats alongside perfect mixing. I’m sorry, but just musically, they are wrong here.
I agree, he was clearly just judging it based on personal tastes (and prejudices). I wonder what he thinks of iambic pentameter? oh wait that's different because Shakespeare was white.
I'm a conservative and if there was a political agenda that influenced the release of Hamilton, it certainly backfired because I think it was a 15/10 masterpiece performance. As a patriot and a Hip Hop head, it was absolutely excellent and told an awesome story.
Doug Donelson 😂😂😂 riiiight, I’m *TOTALLY* such a rino, that’s obviously why I’m voting for Trump in November (wasn’t old enough to vote yet in 2016) and why I love capitalism, and why I’m 100% a social and fiscal conservative Catholic :) cute try though, you gave me a good laugh!
I am a Conservative Christian, I don't generally enjoy rap (especially where someone has such a better voice for singing), and based on my viewing and this debate, I still approve of Hamilton
My hope is that people watching Hamilton will go read more of the founding history and educate themselves. I was inspired to go back and read the Federalist Papers after watching it.
I'm fine with someone saying "I don't like Rap". Everybody has different tastes and preferences when it comes to various genres of music. But relegating the way this musical was lyrically crafted to "simple" is incredibly naive. And I am not saying the music is perfect or hailing it as the greatest of all time. But you have to give the credit where its due on this one!!!
@@AnHeC Bro there are so many rap references and hip hop musical motifs in it that you can't find a song on here that people love that wasn't touched by hip hop (th-cam.com/video/NuXlEJJ_BB0/w-d-xo.html)
LMM actually addressed this and explained it’s not a “good” vs “bad” thing. It’s a “traditional” vs “revolutionary” thing. Washington was one of the few people who had military experience and training which is why he had a more regimented cadence. Whereas Hamilton was an orphan immigrant with nothing to his name. He needed the war to climb socially. Lafayette begins speaking very slowly and making several language mistakes, by the time he becomes proficient in the war he has the fastest rap in the show. Every choice Miranda made he put great thought into.
@@Book_Dragon2562 Except Hamilton wasn't an "immigrant." That was a stretch to make his narrative. An Englishman moving from one colony of the empire to another is like a New Yorker who "immigrates" to California.
@@thomashogan9196 I'm certainly not a historian or expert on this topic but the sense I get was that those that came from the "islands" were looked at as immigrants in the eyes of the mainland colonists? So that may be why they embraced that title for Hamilton?
@@thomashogan9196 Hamilton was considered not from the US through the way we think of immigrants doesn't describe Hamilton. He spoke English as his first language though he grew up on two dutch colonies St Eustatius & St Croix spending very little time on Nevis. "If I should consent to the appointment of Hamilton as second in rank, I should consider it as the most responsible action of my whole life and the most difficult to justify. Hamilton is not a native of the United States but a Foreigner, and I believe has not resided longer at least not much longer in North America, than Albert Gallatin." -John Adams 1798 "I will not suffer my retirement to be clouded by the slanders of a man whose history, from the moment at which history can stoop to notice him, is a tissue of machinations against the liberty of the country which has not only received and given him bread but heaped its honors on his head." -Thomas Jefferson 1792.
Washington actually does rap in the musical during right-hand man. Eliza doesn't rap and she is definitely not the bad guy. Charles Lee Raps and is kind of a bad guy. James Renolds also raps and is considered a bad guy.
@@polyhymnia701 And predicted "Black Lives Matter" toward the end, when John Adams says that if they strike the slavery clause from the Declaration, the founding fathers will only be remembered for that failing. (Obviously the message is that we should go with Franklin, who advocates making the push you can do now, and then go for more later.)
yes! it's so nice to see fellow 1776 fans! truly a work of art. and I wished the new generation would watch more accurate stuff without it having to be hip hop and rap, like it also has it's inaccurate moments, but it's not horribly inaccurate. and it's not a boring documentary either with it's hilarious humour
I would encourage these men to read the book which is riddled with Lin’s notes and intentions. Miranda himself has pointed out that as the culture changes, the perception/meaning of the show has changed as well. So some of the current narratives Knowles is seeing were not necessarily what the creator meant to say.
This is so important! It's something people on the left tend to get wrong when interpreting literature or TV or other works of art: reading into them with their own eyes, and failing to put in the effort to truly understand the intentions of the author/artist. If a creator personally tells you what they meant to say, then that's really the highest authority on the story; even if you don't have that, you still need to look at historical context, what the creator's views and perspectives tended to be outside of the work, and how each element contributes - or doesn't necessarily contribute - to the overall meaning. It's a shame Klavan and Knowles appeared to drop the ball on forming a better-informed critique.
Trying to understand the artist's original intentions is great, but one of the qualities of the best art is its ability to have enduring relevance by seeing it with new eyes. Reinterpreting a piece of art through a different lens (based on current events, personal experiences, etc.) is part of the tradition of great art. (Btw, by reimagining I don't mean erasing the original intent and meaning, but thinking about how it speaks to me/us personally, in this moment; adding to the depth of the work, not subtracting from it)
cyberspacecadet I agree, the best art is open to interpretation and allows the audience to decide for themselves. Lin himself has said the same, and in the book admits he deliberately left several things the history didn’t dictate or fully clarify ambiguous for that exact reason. But they aren’t arguing interpretation here. They are arguing intent and that’s a completely separate discussion. They are making assumptions (incorrect assumptions I might add) about writing choices Miranda has clearly explained and given proper context to. As men who value fact over spin, and research over mainstream media, it surprises me they did not do the same with this. And honestly I feel it would have been a more productive and educational episode had they done a little digging.
While I recognize the immense contributions Hamilton made to the founding and he was clearly a brilliant man, he's my least favorite founder because he actually advocated for strong, centralized government rather than the Jeffersonian model of federalist, distributed power. In the fullness of time, it is now clear what an evil the federal government has become.
@Stacey Estes These two are conservatives, not libertarians. We are so used to both being forced to the "right wing" by the political narrative that we forget that there is space between libertarians and conservatives and all the shades of grey between. Both believe that government should have limits, but to what degree, and what are the appropriate roles of federal governance, there can be trully large disagreements. For that matter even liberals believe there should be some limits to government. The Republican tent used to be called the big tent party when it was ideas that mattered. Now that we focus on race and protected class grievance culture we've lost our perspective on the nuanced differences of these two titanic perspectives.
Thank you. Someone finally pointed this out and it's entirely accurate. I try to keep in mind though that everything's relative though and back in those days trying to create a centralized government to protect against other national interests in our country may have been a far less abhorrent idea than the size of our centralized government today. Do I side with Hamilton and Washington or more toward Jefferson? It's hard to pick a side because I see negatives in both so maybe we don't always have to pick a side but see positives and negatives in each side. Jefferson being a supporter of ideas like violence like during the French Revolution and his leanings towards adopting their model of government I'm not fan of either.
Jefferson was arguably the most left-wing of all the Founding Fathers, though. He ardently supported the French Revolution, and his philosophy was heavily influenced by Rousseau. To my knowledge, Adams and Washington were the most conservative.
Okay this is gonna be a little long, but they didn’t harass him, for as much as I disagree with the views and concerns that they brought up to pence, they voiced them in an incredibly respectful manner and thanked him profusely for attending the show. And when the crowd booed, they (the cast) addressed the crowd and said “there’s nothing here to boo” and basically through that asked them to be respectful. I watched the video of the speech, it was not like I’ve heard it told by some other people that say they were harassing pence. Even Pence said he wasn’t offended by it! For as much as I disagree with them politically, they had an extremely unique opportunity to talk to the VP after the conclusion of a politically-based production about presidents and American history and they took the opportunity to bring up concerns that they genuinely thought to be legitimate. And even after hearing what the cast said/read what the cast said, it wasn’t even that political. You can assume to know why they were referencing based on that theater tends to be more liberal, but they were respectfully vague, thanked Pence profusely for coming to the show, asked for his consideration, and stopped the crowd from booing him and being disrespectful. The actions of the disrespectful crowd should not reflect badly on the musical itself or the cast. They have the freedom to say what they want and they did it in the most respectful way they knew how, and I don’t hold it against them one single bit (and that’s coming from a staunch Catholic conservative republican)
Hamilton is musicaly.and lyrically amazing and I agree with Klaven on this one. I do think there is a lot of racial and political undertones just because miranda used his own perspective but it doesnt take away from it
I love when you guys are talking to each other instead of barking at a camera! I saw Hamilton live. I came away optimistic about a positive let’s go America message. I’ve had trouble correlating that message with the seemingly opposite views of the cast and the writer.
@Domagoj ČovićReading it again, you’re absolutely right. I must have been reacting to his last sentence because I haven’t heard these “seemingly opposite views” expressed.
The complaining about the rapping because it’s “too simple” and “not music” is a stupid complaint. There are just as many show tunes in hamilton as any other show. The rap replaces the dialogue, as there is nothing spoken other than the rap, thus making Hamilton more complex than other musicals
They are, actually. There's been a whole big kerfluffle over the past few weeks on various social media sites about whether the show is "whitewashing history" and portraying Hamilton incorrectly to make him look better. So yeah, not even Hamilton and LMM are immune from cancel culture.
I really loved how they mentioned that Hamilton in a sense is a retrospective critique of the 1619 project. This is exactly what I was thinking as I was watching the musical with my family. Lord be with you both.
When I was a kid I thought the same that I was related to Washington. I watch the play and I enjoyed it. I never saw the actors or the rap as a racial issue until black liberals made an issue of it. I think the talent of ALL the actors was awesome. I have worked back stage of many shows and most of these performers are the kindest sweetest people. {Until politic views are mentioned then they turn into Gollum from Lord Of The Rings} You are spot on regarding assimilation. Yes, everyone should learn English in this country.
It really doesn’t make sense to extrapolate hip hop music to support modern black revolution. The history of Hip Hop isn’t radical revolution it was the way up for many black Americans when they really didn’t have equal opportunity’s and that is the story of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton didn’t use Hip Hop he used his conventional writing to make his way to the top of American life.
Hip Hop was the way out when they didnt have equal opportunity? Think about how that makes no sense for a second. How did this get them out? Were other poor oppressed black people making these artists very popular and millionaires. No, they were largely supported by white people, but how does that make any sense if they had no opportunities because white people were so racist against them?
Thomas77 Saying that they had equal rights under the law and equal opportunities are completely different. In the 1968 presidential election George Wallace won 5 states while supporting segregation and Jim Crow. They may have been equal under the law but culture still had a long way to go and saying otherwise is ignorant to history. I would never suggest hip hop was a political movement it was obviously a cultural one and in the 1970s culture still had a ways to go.
Hayden Cappelle Hip Hop originated in the early 1970s in incredibly low income crime ridden citys. Hip Hop not only created some of the first successful black Americans it also provided an early success story that those people could aspire to become. Saying that white people supported the movement was the point I was making because it was one of the first time the mixing of black and white cultures occurred on a wide scale making it a cultural revolution not the status quo. Think of how dumb you’re argument is if it were to be applied to the American revolution. The founding father were all successful and ended up with decent relations with Britain so how were they ever oppressed by them.
@@erboch7124 Indeed , and I think that’s good thing because it makes it different compared to the regular King George bashing that America usually does and he was hilarious!😂
@@owenglenn4298 where was the demand for colin having his own show? I heard literally no one asking for this. Furthermore, why does OP need a safe space because he doesn't want to support Disney financially anymore by buying their goods and/or services?
I'm gonna stick with Disney for the new Phineas and Ferb movie coming out in August on Disney+ (since Phineas and Ferb ain't woke, it's jsut good), but after that I'm gonna say bye too I guess.
The point about the rap being too simple is actually baffling especially when compared to most modern rap today. But the best part about the must for me is the motifs within the music. It never gets old seeing how Burrs music start incorporating a more blues style like jeffersons songs as Burr becomes more democratic republican. Its just astonishing all the detail that when into this play. Other then that, all of the points had very sensible arguements, making a very engaging vid
It's so dumb that people use the worst of rap to dismiss it entirely, even when it's at its most complex (with artists who lyrically outclass the top lyricists in every other genre)
It’s interesting that “Oh we disagree, so we have something to talk about.” Seems to be usually found in center-right conversations rather than far left circles.
OMG! I have been waiting for conservative perspective on Hamilton for so long! THANK YOU. I love Hamilton. I am Gen-Z and I like rap music. I am also conservative and I thought Hamilton portrayed a phenomenal story of pulling yourself up from your boot straps.
Just want to point out - Eliza, probably the most blameless character in the whole musical, doesn’t rap once, while Jefferson, arguably one of the villains, is constantly rapping. Rapping is not used to label characters as “good guys”, it’s used to show the quickness of a character’s mind and their prowess in battle or debate.
@chocolatecheesecake If that play actually portrayed Thomas Jefferson as a villain, then it must be riddled with outright lies. In reality, Jefferson was far more of a hero to this Nation than Hamilton ever was.
@@shirleypena4133 as I said, “arguably” a villain - it really depends on the audience’s interpretation. Jefferson gets one of the best songs in the show (in which he is portrayed as heroic) and is shown to care about regular citizens and honouring America’s commitment to its allies (which he accuses Hamilton of not doing but anyway). They point out the fact that Jefferson owned slaves but they also spend a good portion of the musical on Hamilton’s flaws. But the story is ultimately about Hamilton and his contribution to America, so it is expected that he will be the protagonist, flawed though he is. I’d say no one in the musical is painted as outright evil except maayybbeee King George but even then his character is basically played for laughs. But don’t take my word for it - watch the musical yourself and see what you think about whether the portrayal is accurate or not.
I’m not sure why these two think rap is so simplistic. There’s one musical number where there is three-part counterpoint between Hamilton, Washington, and Burr and the three vocal lines are ingeniously woven together while still allowing each line to be understood. Add on top of that the rhythmic couplets that are present. That is exactly why Mozart is held in such high regard for his operas and we have the exact same thing occurring here. Oh wait, except Lin Manuel Miranda is writing in the style of rap and he’s new and a man of color, so of course people will think it simplistic.
When you take into context what Hamilton the musical is - which is a piece of very well designed and written entertainment based on a portion of history, it’s very entertaining. I not once during the entire show felt like I was be bombarded by SJW logic or PC culture - acting and actor aside, I had zero issue with the majority of the cast being people of color. The skill was where it was at, and the cast was absolutely on point with their performance. And if anyone want to say “oh your some left wing crazy” - nope, not at all. While I may not be far right , I would say I fall at about 80%% right , 20% center. Very very few of my views could be overlapped with left wing views
Agree 100% with Klavan. I loved the show and had a different reaction to the creative casting. To me, it read as though the performers were claiming and honoring our common history that had previously not always included them. Hamilton's life is about a brilliant but flawed individual who achieves great things, but falls short because of his personal failings... yet, he achieves redemption. America is beautiful and brilliant, horribly flawed, but worthy of redemption as well.
I like the fact that Washington and key figures can be white or black, implying that the History of the US is not one separated into colours. Washington is your ancestor in America regardless of race. It's also an incredibly patriotic musical which engages with some historical difficulties whilst still presenting the founding fathers as flawed heroes.
ERBOCH Not sure why you’re commenting to me. I’m only clarifying that someone is referring to the musical, not the animated version. I expressed no opinion.
I love Hamilton, the music is amazing. I’m a history buff and while it wasn’t 100% accurate, no production about history ever is, it did the best it could for the time frame. And it honestly makes me want to find books about the founding fathers to see what was left out. But what I also loved is that it didn’t paint the founding fathers as villains or pure saints, just people trying to make their mark in their new country. Granted in a catty teenage girl type of way but that’s just because they just really did not like each other. The music immediately grabs your attention and makes history fun. I didn’t care that the cast was mainly non-white because I was more focused on how they sounded, which was breathtaking and felt that the best singers were chosen for the music. No matter who does or says what I still like the musical for entertainment, because people are allowed to just enjoy things in this crazy world of ours. But that’s just my humble opinion
I found Hamilton to be an overrated musical, not because of its politics, but the songs just feel out of place. And I’m a history buff, I was so excited to see it for free, but I was so underwhelmed.
NuclearHobo42 and majority doesn’t mean right :) from an objective standpoint, musically Hamilton is a work of genius. And that doesn’t mean everyone has to like it! But just don’t go around telling people who actually like it that they’re “wrong” or that people who hate it are “right” because objectively, aside from a technical perspective of how the music is made and how it’s choreographed etc... there’s no objective parameters for judging whether or not it’s good based on people’s opinions.
@NuclearHobo42 no, but if Hamilton was underwhelming it wouldnt be such a huge success. I agree, with Luis. Most people were satisfied and beyond by the music and educational story. As a non american, i was pleasantly surprised by this american hip hop musical.
Even though I don't agree with some of what these two say, I would still love to drink some whiskey and smoke a cigar with them. I really like this open conversation format.
Ehh I like the rapping in Hamilton. That’s what got me into it. And those who sing aren’t always the bad guys- Eliza didn’t rap at all. And George is supposed to be kinda the comical villain. It’s not that bad I don’t think.
I heard a conservative say, "well Hamilton is bad because it makes people think Aaron Burr and these other historical figures were black"... hate to break it to ya, but cabinet didn't have rap battles when discussing policy either...
people always use that as and excuse to trash on musicals. i was watching SIX: the musical and someone was saying “aNnA oF cLeVeS wAsNt bLaCk” and “none of the ex wives would be famous without henry the 8th!!!” LIKE DUDE YEAH BUT THE WIVES ALSO DIDNT FORM A POP GROUP
"US" being either a utilitarian using whatever is available or being a cheap bastard and not going out and replacing the torch lighter you bought at the dollar store.
I highly encourage people who like the musical to read the book. It not only has the lyrics to every song, it has commentary from LMM about the specific writing choices he made, the subtle nods to other shows, his vision and intentions. Lin is a progressive, unfortunately. But you have to remember he wrote this play seven years before it came out and starting winning awards. A lot of the social narratives people are reading into based on today’s culture weren’t as present or prominent back then. People get different things out of it as the times change. But what I appreciated was 1) it’s historically accurate (for the most part. He tinkers with some details for subplot but nothing major that relates to the founding of the US) 2) he makes the founding fathers real people. He shows strengths and weaknesses, sins and redeemable qualities. He addresses the good and bad of their legacy and that’s why BLM is pissed. Because they want the founding fathers to be villains and Lin didn’t paint them in a harsh enough light to satisfy them.
Yes same! I was super worried about it but it was only as political as the history it was telling, and honestly that was a breath of fresh air :) (plus the music is phenomenal lol)
Beauty in a Breakdown Does he address anything about why he chose to make the only prominent white people in the cast the king and Samuel Seabury? I would be very curious to know if that was as intentional as I think it is.
Brezo11 Lin isn’t anti white is that’s what you’re insinuating. He is however pro immigrant. Keep in mind Broadway is often known as “the great WHITE way” There aren’t many roles made with people of color in mind. He wasn’t trying to exclude white people, so much as he was trying to include people who would normally feel discluded. The goal was to show that as Americans this is just as much their history as it is ours and that there’s just as much a place for them on broadway as their more traditional (and yes often white) counterparts in the industry.
I think Michael is reaching here. I’m as conservative as it gets but I didn’t look at the show with races or which race was singing show tunes or raps. It was just a good show.
I disagree. It was clear to me that the bad guys on stage were white and the good guys were POCs. It’s a very clear casting choice that’s not a coincidence.
@@chanilerner6410 The bad guys like General Charles Lee and the primary antagonist, Aaron Burr? It was just King George who was portrayed by a white actor.
I was having an interesting discussion with my family about this recently. We felt that although we could see why at the time Hamilton was first starting up it was important to feature the less represented side of Broadway to show that they have the ability to play these roles, it is now equally important that Hamilton release that requirement and allow anyone to play those parts. Otherwise, how can they expect to be treated the same in return?
When I saw Hamilton on Broadway, Burr was played by a white guy, Ham was black, Angelica was white, I think they are really striving for color blind casting.
My question is why does historical and cultural accuracy matter when it's Tom Cruise playing an Asian character, Elizabeth Taylor playing Cleopatra, Mike Henry playing Cleveland Brown, Matt Damon in the Great Wall, etc. but all of that goes out the window when they make George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, John Adams, etc. black? The hypocrisy reeks with this one. Why is whitewashing bad and blackwashing ok?
"The only white actor basically on stage - which is the villain - King George." I couldn't take this video seriously. King George was NOT the villain, he had at most 3 songs mostly for comedy. The story follows Hamilton, not the country, so it's not the colonists vs the king. But on top of that, Burr is considered the villain, he's even introduced as the villain in the opening number, "And me? I'm the damn fool that shot him." He and Hamilton the whole show were butting heads, and Hamilton was always ahead of him. Burr kills Hamilton in the end, literally stating "now I'm the villain in your history." It's spelled out clear as day
It is interesting to me how I'm hearing people call out Hamilton for "racism against whites" by casting mainly POC... But I have never heard these same voices calling out the many, many, MANY films where white people have played originally POC roles.
I personally don't care either way. To me, the best actor/actress should get the part. However, if you are/were upset at like Scarlett in Ghost in the Shell bc Asian....then why shouldn't you be upset about George Washington being black? Now, in the case of Scarlett, if I am remembering right, the author of Ghost in the Shell wanted Scarlett to play the part but everyone else was like ASIAN? Unfortuntially, some of the people who were upset at the former, are ok with the later. I think for some people it is just pointing out how hypocritical that is.
I don't think that anybody actually cares to be honest, what people care about is the blatant hypocrisy over the multiple times that liberals have screamed about racism and 'cultural appropriation' when white people play roles that were originally minorities, yet it's somehow neither of those things when people of colour do it
It's because Hamilton's casting policy exclusively stated that white people will not be allowed to audition/be considered for the lead roles which is flat out racist. If any movie/threatre production were to have that same policy with another race, the outrage would've been much much bigger but of course, the left likes it when white people are discriminated against. Actively preventing diversity is racist but so is forcing diversity. And in this case, Hamilton was doing both.
@@The_Minhace what Hamilton is doing is a means of boosting black & POC faces in an industry where they often don't make it and are therefore incredibly underrepresented
I love the cast of Hamilton, I think everyone does great in their roles. However I am upset that when casting they went out of their way to pick pocs and tried to exclude white people from the main cast, excluding King George, who is a villain anyway. They justified this by saying broadway has been historically very white, so they were making up for that in a way, and being a musical with many hip hop songs, pocs would fit the roles better. These points may be true, but that doesn’t mean that you purposefully exclude white people from the main cast, you hire who is best for the job and based on the genre of music primarily used, they still would have gotten what they wanted, a fairly colorful cast, but they wouldn’t have to be purposefully discriminatory. I was very disappointed when I learned of this, it really makes me enjoy the musical less.
Yeah, it seems to me like they're trying to make some sort of a 'statement' about white oppression considering one of the only white people in the piece is the villain, or maybe they are just trying win points with the SJW crowd, which they've definitely succeeded with. I think the musical would've been significantly better if it was about people of all colours working together regardless of race, which it kind of seemed the script was originally written for considering some of the song lyrics, and I think that would've been refreshing and especially necessary in today's climate, but it seems like they're too busy vehemently promoting race wars to give racial unity the treatment it deserves. It reminds me of when Netflix removed the film 'Glory', which was about the 54th regiment (also known as the 'all black regiment'), and how they worked together with white people while simultaneously overcoming the stereotypes and preconceptions that they had, leading to an amazing sense of comradery between them regardless of race. It was an incredible movie, until Netflix removed it from their US page because it went directly against all of these BLM protests, that people should be judged by their character, not their skin colour. I feel like a similar thing happened with Hamilton, the casting team turned it into less of a story about peace and solidarity between everyone, instead more of a "minorities vs white people" narrative, the same one that the media are trying to push. It's pretty disappointing
This is from a section of comment: PS. I can already hear this objection: "But why is King George white? Why is the villain white while the heroes are black?" Simple. Miranda wanted the King to have a "Beatles like feel" to represent the "British invasion"... a black actor wouldn't be very well suited to fulfill that role. Also, I would argue that Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are the real villains of the play (both played by black actors) so I'm seriously unconvinced that the play makes black people "good" and white people "bad"
Really good take, I defo like Andrew Klavan's take on it, as it's far more nuanced. I found myself wanting to hate the play when I watched it, but after 20 minutes of intense scrutiny I came to the same conclusion as him.
Just because you don’t like rap music doesn’t make it simple and easy. The song “My Shot” is a master class in complex storytelling, both technically and lyrically. Saying it’s “easy” because you don’t like rap aesthetics is biased and lazy.
Lot of comments about the casting choices concerning race so I want to clarify (beyond the fact that most of the cast is phenomenally talented): Lin Manuel Miranda has explained that his reasoning was to show the story with more diversity so that the revolution looked more like America today in terms of race, where we have much more diversity. He also hoped that by showing men like Washington and Jefferson as black that it would encourage minorities to learn about these figures since they can see them more like themselves (and in part learn about actual black or minority historical figures). Basically, it’s hard for people of color to get into history when most people are just old white guys, so it’s supposed to help make it interesting. Plus these are the most talented performers in the game when it comes to this style of music. For the people saying “why is this okay but white actors can’t play black characters,” well that’s mainly due to the history of white actors playing black characters that has plagued broadway and Hollywood and every medium like them where it was designed specifically to stereotype blacks. Since that’s not what Hamilton is doing (they aren’t stereotyping white people or trying to “act white”), it’s not the same thing
I'm a leftist to my core, when I saw the title of the video I went "Oh, seriously!?" but seeing this too guys analyzing hamilton in such a calm and respectful way was a completely welcome surprise, I don't agree with more than 1/3 of what they said in the video but I have to give them my respects being able to talk in such an analytic way about people they disagree with, the left need more of that kind of commentators.
When I saw Hamilton, I went back and found this note from Lincoln's speech about the Revolution. I think this encapsulates why I love Hamilton, and and as a strong conservative I *love* the choice of black people as the main actors in it. On July 10, 1858, during his campaign for the U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in Chicago, in which he reflected on the Declaration of Independence: "It happens that we meet together once every year, sometime about the 4th of July. . . . We run our memory back over the pages of history [to 1776]. We find a race of men living in that day whom we claim as our fathers and grandfathers. They were iron men. They fought for the principle that they were contending for; and we understand that by what they then did, it has followed that the degree of prosperity that we now enjoy has come to us. We hold this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the good done, of how it was done and who did it, and how we are historically connected with it. . . . We have [among us immigrants] who are not descendants at all of these men. . . If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none. . . . But when they look through that old Declaration of Independence, they find that those old men say that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” And then they feel that that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration. And so they are. That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world." You see, when I saw Hamilton, I kept thinking, "This is incorporating black people into our history, because black history *is* American history. We (the country) took too long to recognize it, but our history was theirs, and their history is part of ours. A black or east Asian or person from South America can join our country and call themselves just as much an heir of the American Revolution as Michael Knowles can, bc it's not about your blood, it's about your love for freedom and the principles of the Fouding.
20:51 my sister blasted me saying I should be more considerate to people who come to this country and not speak English, that I should learn their language. I told her they should be more considerate and learn the most common language used in the United States. All because a guy was pissed off at me for not knowing Spanish while taking his order.
I had to watch Hamilton for school and I went into it thinking it was going to be straight trash since it was a musical and I don’t like musicals, and it is all non-white actors (which I should clarify, obviously nothing against non-white actors I just thought it would be woke). However, it was a fantastic play and I loved it. I will agree the guy who played Aaron Burr was fantastic. He was my favourite character of the play.
The moment this guy said that he didn’t like that this Broadway musical was 2 and half hours... I’m now taking everything he says with a grain of salt.
Why is it that black actors can play white characters but white cannot? I did not care who played who but just looking at this from the cancel culture perspective. How you can only play characters like yourself.
Good question ...here is my answer to it....BLM and Political Correctness.
Because of "Muh Racism"
White privilege of course,
White people can't crap er uh I mean rap.
Yep. One of the things this shows is that if the Founders were minorities, the racially indoctrinated would support them.
This format is nice
I agree good production value
Its such a calm open discourse i feel everyone could get along if we all talked like this.
gwilled cheese if you pwease I agree, if everyone could talk this calmly it would be a better place.
Are you kidding me too feminine looking guy sitting around smoking cigars talking about musicals this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen
@@keithhutchins8803 wow you must not get out much. Feels Weird Man
Love that they’re social distancing, solely because we MUST save the Klavan
Holden Edwards what about lung cancer 🤫
@@USA-qm2bk If you're referring to the cigars, you don't inhale stogies.
@@sovereigndeleon but they give you mouth and throat CANCER big time.
@@gandolfthewhite Let me be clear upfront before I give my reply: I'm NOT saying everyone should start smoking cigars, especially not regularly. Like any other "vice", it's at your discretion.
That said, can you define what you mean by "big time"? I should preface that cigars are almost worlds different from cigarettes. An FDA study in 2016 reveals that people who smoke 1-2 cigars a day show almost no risk of developing cancer. I personally know a lot of guys who've been smoking cigars or pipes most of their lives regularly (but NOT excessively as say, a cigarette chain smoke who smokes practically the whole day) who lived to be in their 80s and above. You can even look up a video of a guy in his 90s who credits "God and cigars" as his secret to long life. Cigarettes, after all, contain a ton of chemicals that contribute massively to harmful effects and addiction (which is why I don't care for them), unlike cigars and pipe tobacco, which are made up more often than not of PURE tobacco.
Again, I'm NOT saying smoking is healthy or even harmless. It's just as healthy or harmless as drinking beer or liquor. And as with alcohol, there's ample scientific evidence pointing to (surprise, surprise) moderation as key to massively minimizing health risks associated with their consumption. I'm sure almost anyone can point to many people in their lives who have zero vices and impeccable diets who may technically be healthier than someone who smokes or drinks, but have died sooner anyway. This knee-jerk negative reaction towards cigars and pipes (again, cigarettes are a different story) needs to stop.
💪🏼💪🏼
The best song in the show was "One Last Time." It showed the one thing that separated George Washington from Cromwell, Napoleon, Santa Anna, Fidel Castro, Lenin and Mao. George Washington put his country ahead of himself. With his popularity and as Commander in Chief, George Washington could have been President for Life followed by a series of dictators. "The nation learns to move on, it outlives me when I'm gone." This is why King George said that if George Washington can walk away from power, he would be the greatest character of his age. Most Revolutions fail. Most people don't get that. They fail because of the egotism of their leaders who consider themselves irreplaceable or, if your No. 2 is Che Guevara or Josef Stalin, they fear surrendering power would be suicidal. Washington set a precedent of 2 terms that would last until FDR. For "teaching us how to say goodbye," that alone rates a statue or two.
That's my favorite song also, Chris Jackson also sang with tremendous passion.
That is what Jefferson never understood about France and their revolution. There was a reason America’s worked and France’s did not, but Jefferson got a bit blinded by ideals.
Jefferson was getting high with the French during the American revolution -a. Ham
he is also just a genius, but yeah that too.
You are absolutely right
Washington never *wanted* to be president in the first place
It was the people that said "You led the army, you saved this movement, without you we would all be hanged for treason - we need you to lead"
I loved Klavan's perspective that "Hamilton" does an amazing job showing that America's ideals transcend racial lines. Citing the lyrics "I'm young, scrappy and hungry, just like my country"
Yes! That’s the best way I’ve heard so far to describe it!
I'm not sure he understood why people want it canceled. He made an alright argument but it was kind of based off of a strawman.
@@Black_pearl_adrift So, why do ppl want it canceled; because it is a voice for American assimilation being offered to all to accept (rather than group bitterness and the end to us)?
Andrew Klavan always has magnificent insight on things, truly the best and most underrated DW host
Michael Knowles: "If you have nothing to say about your for-fathers, then you aren't much of a conservative. Because what is it we are conserving?" good point. You can only raise a conservative child if you also teach them history and our founding principles.
I always looked at conservative being about strong traditional values, family and country. But then im Australian so different history. Guess im just not into history much either. At least, not nation building at least.
OK...yes...I get that and strongly support that notion (ancestors fought with Geo Washington). However, putting a slight twist of perhaps accuracy on this...weren't the Patriots actually the liberals of their day?...all these liberal notions of no taxation without representation, etc...at the time the conservatives were those who did not want to separate from Great Britain...Tories. Am I wrong? :)
As Sir Roger Scruton once said, "To be a conservative is to conserve".
If you got nothing to conserve then it becomes pointless
We're conserving the power of president Trump in all his glory
@@DragonPilot Yes. If I'm a conservative now, then I would have been a revolutionary back in the day. Actually..... I think those who describe themselves a "libertarians" today are closer to the revolutionaries of the 1700's. But I appreciate Knowles' point. Your child will neither be able to defend "traditional" values, or see why they should be defended, if you fail to teach your child history. Ex: our founding fathers created a republic (not a democracy) which only makes sense in light of the bread and circus rule of the mob which Rome descended into. The word "conservative" is not at all times virtuous, but can only be understood in context of the times. Today "conservative" in the US means one who wishes to return to the literal reading of the US Constitution and its interpretation (such as found in the federalist papers) as well as the Christian social mores which enlightened the men who wrote the constitution. One cannot defend these values, if one does not know how they came to be and why.
Well I'm Irish and during the famine when all the Irish emigrated to the US we called them coffin ships. They might not have been slave ships but because the people were so poor the were stuck in the bottom of the ship in which a large majority of the people died. That was what they were willing to do, sacrifice, for a chance to make it to the best country in the world so they didn't have to watch their children die. Irish people did this for every generation to make a better life. I just think people today in the US should have more appreciation for the country they live in, because so many have died for a chance to do just that, live in the best country in the world.
the indentures slaves had a lot in common with chattle slaves. Many were forced to take the voyage, crammed in ships with high mortality rates; if your family member dies in voyage their years were added to yours, a system which was abused. Both sold at the auction block in chains, many times african slaves were treated better the indentures because the masters would care for them like their livestock, many accounts of indentures and slaves running away together.
@@92bagder Cool, now tell us how many white indentured servants were still in America after the 1820s?
"A large majority of the people died"
.... you do realize that would mean literally millions died, right? What an obvious lie
@john vina Uhhhhhhhhh...... what?
@john vina Irish also didnt have welfare systems crammed down their throats. They rolled with the punches. It's not about what others do to you, it's how you react to them that matters most. BLM is a perfect example of a lot of emotion and getting nothing done. Irish are the opposite, they were obviously oppressed, put in tenements, and segregated but chose to rise above it and do something about it
Also worth noting: Eliza Hamilton is one of the few characters who only sings and never raps during the whole musical
She does do some beatboxing for her son, which was the cutest thing ever. ❤️
I know somebody who wrote a paper about this and how the characters who have more revolutionary ideals rap, and those who don't sing. Eliza, Peggy, and King George only sing. Angelica sings when she's out in society but raps in her own head because she isn't allowed to express it. It may even explain why Thomas Jefferson sings in his first song, because he wasn't a big part of the revolution, and as he aids in building the government gets to rap.
@@hydebosley5336 Damn that's good
@@hydebosley5336 Very interesting observation.
Eliza is also the central character.
I’m honestly impressed with Klavan’s thoughts.
Very Sophisticated and Nuanced, especially in regards to assimilation. I’m going to listen to more of his work
You will enjoy his podcasts. He’s my favorite.
He's the best!
My thoughts exactly--I just got a ton of respect for him in one video.
His Klavan on the Culture bits are classic bits of spot-on analysis, clever writing and biting commentary.
He’s really good. I love his work.
As a person who is heavily involved in theatre, I can't imagine what would happen if I came out as conservative. Actually I can... I'd have at least 10 less friends. Edit: Just came back to this comment and was overwhelmed by the support. Thanks everyone, and I wish all of you the best.
10 is more than none
I’m sorry that you feel “in the closet” as it were, about your conservatism :( sometimes I feel like that too as an opera singer actually
I’m sorry. There does seem to be a lot of pressure in the arts to think a certain way. I’m not sure why that is. But as a former performer, I do understand what you’re going through. It’s not easy.
As someone who’s heavily involved in theatre and center-right with the same concern of ‘groupthink’ dominating the industry, I would gladly be your friend & collaborator. Without diversity of thought like any other kind of diversity, theatre will grow bland and unremarkable, and I don’t want to see that day through
Same here
Loved it. Make more of this. Demonstrate how to intelligently disagree on things and be friendly.
An emphatic "Please"!
Karen wants to know your location.
Several Karens are typing...
I 100 percent agree with you, when I see people debate something using intellect and reason it's enough to make me hope for the future of this country. We need to teach more people how to do this
No one affiliated with the Daily wire has ever been intelligent about anything
When you begin the production with "whites may not audition"... I don't waste my time or money.
There were a lot of white actors, just not in main roles
This was never a policy.
owen glenn Yes it was. I’ve literally seen it on the audition page
@Olga Sven thank you, Olga. Very enlightening.
Come on, be reasonable. It's perfectly fine to consider race when casting for a movie or show. An actor's physical appearance is a part of the artistic product.
I quit caring about the play in all forms when they were getting sjw points a few years by excluding white actors.
What a horrible thing to do honestly
Zachary Ramirez in another comment in this video someone’s posted the full Snopes evaluation, basically they had to change it in the end to not get sued but the producers were certainly social justice-minded when they made that provision
@@borkguy I haven't seen what Snopes said about it nor do I trust their fact checking. The NYC, London, and California/SF production did call for 'seeking non-white' actors. Now it has changed in NYC to "looking to cast people for the non-white roles.'
Trinity Gilreath Phillipa and Jasmine are both biracial but Jon Rua, Thayne Jasperson, Betsy Struxness, Neil Haskell and Rory O’Malley were all white and in the show
@Trinity Gilreath and Athony Ramos I think.
I love Hamilton as a conversative myself . I don’t see anything wrong with it , let’s not be like the libs and complain about every damn thing . Let’s not let the left try to change everything to fit their narrative
"Conversative"? Did you mean conservative?
I love Hamilton, it doesn’t come off as woke to me at least.
Thank you!
Exactly
YES!!!
Hamilton, good. A white actor voicing the animated character Cleveland, bad. Okayyyy….
To be frank, I think white actors being unable to voice black animated characters is a relatively fringe view, even within the left. I do support getting more black voices in animation regardless though.
Yeah, I don't see anything inherently wrong with it, but I also don't have a problem with trying (trying is the operative word, not as an absolute rule) to keep black actors playing black characters. Vocally, different races tend to have different sounds and it can oftentimes be more natural sounding if a black actor plays a black character. In the case of Cleveland, the actor sold it well enough that it shouldn't have mattered. I respect his decision to step down as a matter of personal choice, but it would have been problematic if he was fired for being white.
@@WeretigerX I think Hamilton sucks, but if people like it that's fine. The character of Cleveland was inspired by a real person who happened to black. The person who developed the character happened to be white. So what? Eddie Murphy used to dress in whiteface constantly, and it was funny. Why does it always have to be about race? I think Hollywood has come a long way in terms of providing opportunities to people of all backgrounds. Is it perfect? Maybe not. I guess it was their own decision to do with the character as they wish, but I don't think they should have been forced to by anyone.
People have actually been trying to cancel Hamilton the musical on Twitter. I dont think they're doing it now but maybe like a week ago.
@@WeretigerX i would disagree on races sounding different because well...of their race. Do you have evidence to back this claim up? Because its kind of back handed racism to think that black people only sound...well sounding like they can only have deep tones.
Let’s just say if they did something like this and re casted a black history story with White people the leftists would be outraged. So
Imagine Roots with the races reversed
@Trinity Gilreath To be fair, I don't think Chris or Martialarts.stunts have any decision in who is cast in anything. And if you are saying "you guys" as in white people. that is a bit racist. But I do agree with part of your point. But only because there has been so much black history virtually erased by people like Woodrow Wilson that I find things like this petty. On a further point. Black American history is a great and important part of American history. The best thing America can push for (in my opinion) is for everybody to be allowed to compete with skills and talents and may the best person for the job/role/position succeed. Skin color should be irrelevant in every facet of life.
It is an AMERICAN history story and the multiracial cast was used to SHOW that.
"White Man's Burden" starring John Travolta
It's kinda a fantasy tho...
FYI, The king George guy was the guy that voiced Kristoff from Frozen
He also guest stared on Glee
He was in mind hunter too I think
He’s also Jesse st James on glee
He also keeps water in his mouth for all of his roles, but spit some out because King George used to spit and foam when angered.
Dylan Green I noticed that in the movie and I could see that when I saw him on Broadway
I mean, not every person on the American side rapped. The show ended on a traditional ballad sung by Eliza Hamilton.
Exactly! "Wait For It", "One Last Time", "Quiet Uptown" .... they're just solid Broadway numbers
I think Hamilton forced liberals to learn about American history a little bit.
Most educated people vote liberal and most uneducated people vote conservatives, there are so many studies on this. It’s hilarious you have some intellectual superiority complex about conservatives when your primary source of information is probably Fox News or Ben Shapiro
@@horatiohuskisson5471 yeah but what kind education they received "from liberals" ?
@@horatiohuskisson5471I think you mean indoctrination not education.
Honestly, if you look past the “race relations” of it all, Hamilton truly is a work of art and is honestly the best theatrical performance I’ve seen to date...
That’s what I think. I try not to think about the race part of it. Some people think too much of the racial politics of the musical and don’t pay attention to the actual musical and that’s kinda sad.
Even the “race relations” show something quite beautiful that Hamilton is the story of all of America not just the white people, it’s everyone’s story.
This! Lin Manuel has said over ans over again, that he wanted the people who would have been picking the cotton, the people who were written out of the history books all of their descendants to feel like they have a part in the American story
@@tim5274 you don’t do that by randomly switching white people for black people that makes no sense. Those people weren’t black so it’s just a lie.
@@ebbaynes that’s stupid. There were white slaves, one of the first slave owners in Virginia was a black guy, and Africans are the ones who enslaved and sold black people to Europeans. Whit e people were also enslaved in other parts of the world and white people were the ones trying to end slavery while the rest of the world fought us. Ultimately it’s an attempt to as much as possible defame and reduce white people and our immense accomplishments. If you tried to switch a black character for a white people would lose it because there are double standards like everywhere else. It doesn’t include black people by forcing them into places they wouldn’t be, it includes them by focusing on say Fredrick Douglas or people like that that were actually black and involved in history not trying to randomly make white character black. I feel like if anything it will make race relations radically weirder and more tense when you’re forcing all these random changes. People seem to only be okay with historical inaccuracy if it gives credit to anyone who isn’t white or a man, wether it’s Roots or whatever. I think switching the white fits for black guys would be less of an issue if it had just been a decision actor wise or just whatever like you know they’re white in real life it doesn’t matter. But if it was done to try to include black people by randomly switching peoples races or having black people in places they wouldn’t be that would be dumb. Just use actual black people who existed, don’t try to make them look epic by having white guys suddenly be black something that if you did to a black real life person black people would freak out and so would liberals. We need artists with talent like this to stop being so freaking weird.
Wonderful format where two can disagree and have an intelligent conversation.
“I don’t like rap.” -The guy with a hip hop beat for his intro
hmm maybe a rap musical isn't for him
Oh wow bruh
Maybe he doesn't pick the intro.
@Honey Badger Musical genres are defined by instrumentation, you can sing or rap in any genre.
@Vince Ellis Ah yes because mainstream rap is the only rap that exists
I loved Hamilton - The thing that irritated me, ended up being a CNN article about them talking about one of the characters being "one of the few white people". I get that they chose the cast to have that diversity, but why shove that race nonsense down your throat and ruin a great Broadway musical?
The media did that with Black Panther. The movie wasn’t meant to be racially divisive but the media certainly had that goal.
Unless it is a 'one man show' every play/movie/musical has tons of diversity.
None of the cast look or sound exactly alike.
Even Samuel L Jackson has had a diverse career outside of playing a character type is many movies. Jules Winnfield is not Richmond Valentine.
Diverse in mainstream Hollywood means few to zero white people (or suspected white people).
Exactly - I want to see a play or a movie without having some “agenda” shoved in my face.
Andre A true! It was ok but they tried to make it the BEST movie EVER and it was so empowering for the black community etc. All that nonsense, but at least the characters were good in civil war, infinity war etc
Really funny so when we watch movies like the first captain America or the first iron man (with 1 main black character) it’s normal but when there’s shows and movie with predominantly black person it’s shoving race nonsense and having an agenda…
Isn’t the villain Aaron burr? Who does rap and is played by a minority actor.
Yup. Leslie odom jr. he doesn’t really rap as much as sing though, and he’s ridiculously good at it.
Well yes, but you’re looking at it like a reasonable person. Knowles was really, really reaching with some of this stuff, I think.
See, I don’t see him as a villain. I see him as doing a huge mistake through his anger. I saw no villains or heroes EXCEPT for King George. However, you can’t hate King George (in the musical) because he’s so much fun 😂. So I think it’s just up to how you interpret it.
DogAndTheaterLover the only villain in the show was Hamilton himself.
I'd argue he's the main character.
Two days ago my friend of 17 years ago started yelling at me over the phone over how oppressed we are and I disagreed. She yelled, cried and hung up. I wish we could have talked like these two guys.
Have you both not spoken in 17 years to the point where you were both so unaware of each others beliefs?
@@MP-ef9yo I live in another state now and she always gets new numbers because of a crazy baby daddy thing. We actually don't talk or text much so to say friend is a bit of a stretch in my opinion. Childhood friend I guess but She still calls me best friend which is shocking seeing we don't talk. Her life has went a diff path of bitterness and fights at work. I'm a born again Christian so I keep the same number just in case she or anyone needs me. I send scriptures and sermons and check on her kids because I am their god mother.
Get Out is one of the most overrated movies in recent memory, horror or otherwise. It's right up there with Black Panther as a film both Hollywood and critics were desperate to get people to think were some type of transcendent filmic experience, when, in fact, they weren't much more than average at best.
shreder75 I think get out was mostly as good as people say. Black panther is incredibly overrated, just an average MARVEL film.
@@willdavey6570 i didn't think much of Get Out. Thought it was okay. I'm pretty hard on horror films, admittedly. Black Panther, imo, was okay. Had its moments, but wasn't anywhere near the best superhero movie they were trying to convince us it was.
I thought Get Out was okay, Black Panther was mostly trash.
Agreed.
There's nothing from Get Out that hadn't been done before by The Stepford Wives, only better.
I didn't understand Black Panther. It's supposed to be a hyper-advanced society, and yet they still have an absolute monarch, ritual scarification, spear-toting guards, and ascension-by-combat. Huh?
I'm Democrat.... I hate that we can't have discussion...... we need more discussion.......
talk to your people.... I left Dems because of all this
Go to a planned parenthood-pray-defend life. That is the first choice. Democrats do not defend life. They manipulate it.
I also jumped ship. Way back when the SJW movement kicked off.
@@banredassaultsuvs361 I'm seriously considering voting red. I'm black and I can say with confidence I don't support BLM and where the Democrat part is heading. I like to compromise and have real talk. Here other's point of view is the point of debating
@Doctor Octagon I don't know! I'm not up to date on pop culture.
How can you call rap music “too simple?” If anything the most difficult lyrics to write are in the genre of rap. Every syllable has to be perfect and rhythmic. On top of that the rap from Hamilton is a lot more sophisticated and well structured than the rap you see from artists these days.
To add, there were a full orchestra of classic instruments playing these beats alongside perfect mixing. I’m sorry, but just musically, they are wrong here.
I agree, he was clearly just judging it based on personal tastes (and prejudices). I wonder what he thinks of iambic pentameter? oh wait that's different because Shakespeare was white.
@Parsimonious Most rap? Name most rappers then.
I felt the same I feel like rap music can be the most complex kind of music.
Parsimonious If you believe rap is simple, it means you have been listening to the wrong rap.
I'm a conservative and if there was a political agenda that influenced the release of Hamilton, it certainly backfired because I think it was a 15/10 masterpiece performance. As a patriot and a Hip Hop head, it was absolutely excellent and told an awesome story.
You're not conservative. Stop sipping leftist Kool aid
@@dougdonelson9471 I actually am a conservative lol
Doug Donelson you can be a conservative and still like Hamilton and recognize it’s musical genius but okay :)
@@littledrummergirl_19 no you can't. You're called a rino for a reason.
Doug Donelson 😂😂😂 riiiight, I’m *TOTALLY* such a rino, that’s obviously why I’m voting for Trump in November (wasn’t old enough to vote yet in 2016) and why I love capitalism, and why I’m 100% a social and fiscal conservative Catholic :) cute try though, you gave me a good laugh!
I am a Conservative Christian, I don't generally enjoy rap (especially where someone has such a better voice for singing), and based on my viewing and this debate, I still approve of Hamilton
My hope is that people watching Hamilton will go read more of the founding history and educate themselves. I was inspired to go back and read the Federalist Papers after watching it.
It’s what made me pick up the Federalists Papers at all went I was 16
Good on you for digging in. The federalist papers take away a lot of the ignorant messaging told about the founding.
Thats what I did
I'm fine with someone saying "I don't like Rap". Everybody has different tastes and preferences when it comes to various genres of music. But relegating the way this musical was lyrically crafted to "simple" is incredibly naive. And I am not saying the music is perfect or hailing it as the greatest of all time. But you have to give the credit where its due on this one!!!
He literally said the lyrics were great and brilliant at times
@@AnHeC Bro there are so many rap references and hip hop musical motifs in it that you can't find a song on here that people love that wasn't touched by hip hop (th-cam.com/video/NuXlEJJ_BB0/w-d-xo.html)
Exactly, it was very complex and intricate and detailed.
This is like The Daily Wire Siskel and Ebert
More like Statler and Waldorf!
“The people who rap are portrayed as the good guys”
Ah, I see. So, your saying Washington was the bad guy?
LMM actually addressed this and explained it’s not a “good” vs “bad” thing. It’s a “traditional” vs “revolutionary” thing. Washington was one of the few people who had military experience and training which is why he had a more regimented cadence. Whereas Hamilton was an orphan immigrant with nothing to his name. He needed the war to climb socially. Lafayette begins speaking very slowly and making several language mistakes, by the time he becomes proficient in the war he has the fastest rap in the show. Every choice Miranda made he put great thought into.
@@Book_Dragon2562 Except Hamilton wasn't an "immigrant." That was a stretch to make his narrative. An Englishman moving from one colony of the empire to another is like a New Yorker who "immigrates" to California.
@@thomashogan9196 I'm certainly not a historian or expert on this topic but the sense I get was that those that came from the "islands" were looked at as immigrants in the eyes of the mainland colonists? So that may be why they embraced that title for Hamilton?
@@thomashogan9196 Hamilton was considered not from the US through the way we think of immigrants doesn't describe Hamilton. He spoke English as his first language though he grew up on two dutch colonies St Eustatius & St Croix spending very little time on Nevis.
"If I should consent to the appointment of Hamilton as second in rank, I should consider it as the most responsible action of my whole life and the most difficult to justify. Hamilton is not a native of the United States but a Foreigner, and I believe has not resided longer at least not much longer in North America, than Albert Gallatin." -John Adams 1798
"I will not suffer my retirement to be clouded by the slanders of a man whose history, from the moment at which history can stoop to notice him, is a tissue of machinations against the liberty of the country which has not only received and given him bread but heaped its honors on his head." -Thomas Jefferson 1792.
Washington actually does rap in the musical during right-hand man. Eliza doesn't rap and she is definitely not the bad guy. Charles Lee Raps and is kind of a bad guy. James Renolds also raps and is considered a bad guy.
I’m more a fan of 1776, myself.
“You’ll Be Back” is a masterstroke, though.
_1776_ is so underrated 🇺🇸
@@polyhymnia701 And predicted "Black Lives Matter" toward the end, when John Adams says that if they strike the slavery clause from the Declaration, the founding fathers will only be remembered for that failing. (Obviously the message is that we should go with Franklin, who advocates making the push you can do now, and then go for more later.)
Agreed. I loved the cabinet debate rap battles, too.
I saw it in middle school
yes! it's so nice to see fellow 1776 fans! truly a work of art. and I wished the new generation would watch more accurate stuff without it having to be hip hop and rap, like it also has it's inaccurate moments, but it's not horribly inaccurate. and it's not a boring documentary either with it's hilarious humour
I'm mostly with Klavan, sat down wanting to dislike it and ended up liking it.
I sat down hoping to love it and fearing the disintegrationists would have influenced it enough that I couldn't. But I liked it.
The only reason I'm not a fan of the musical is because I'm a John Adams fan...
His presidency was kind of a mess. Not entirely his fault though.
Why hello there good sir
I still don’t that race was really involved with Hamilton, but this conversation is still interesting.
Well... actually no. Lin Manuel Miranda actively wanted it to be steeped in poc culture.
Elesian Subs yeah and?
I would encourage these men to read the book which is riddled with Lin’s notes and intentions. Miranda himself has pointed out that as the culture changes, the perception/meaning of the show has changed as well. So some of the current narratives Knowles is seeing were not necessarily what the creator meant to say.
This is so important! It's something people on the left tend to get wrong when interpreting literature or TV or other works of art: reading into them with their own eyes, and failing to put in the effort to truly understand the intentions of the author/artist. If a creator personally tells you what they meant to say, then that's really the highest authority on the story; even if you don't have that, you still need to look at historical context, what the creator's views and perspectives tended to be outside of the work, and how each element contributes - or doesn't necessarily contribute - to the overall meaning. It's a shame Klavan and Knowles appeared to drop the ball on forming a better-informed critique.
Trying to understand the artist's original intentions is great, but one of the qualities of the best art is its ability to have enduring relevance by seeing it with new eyes. Reinterpreting a piece of art through a different lens (based on current events, personal experiences, etc.) is part of the tradition of great art. (Btw, by reimagining I don't mean erasing the original intent and meaning, but thinking about how it speaks to me/us personally, in this moment; adding to the depth of the work, not subtracting from it)
cyberspacecadet I agree, the best art is open to interpretation and allows the audience to decide for themselves. Lin himself has said the same, and in the book admits he deliberately left several things the history didn’t dictate or fully clarify ambiguous for that exact reason. But they aren’t arguing interpretation here. They are arguing intent and that’s a completely separate discussion. They are making assumptions (incorrect assumptions I might add) about writing choices Miranda has clearly explained and given proper context to. As men who value fact over spin, and research over mainstream media, it surprises me they did not do the same with this. And honestly I feel it would have been a more productive and educational episode had they done a little digging.
While I recognize the immense contributions Hamilton made to the founding and he was clearly a brilliant man, he's my least favorite founder because he actually advocated for strong, centralized government rather than the Jeffersonian model of federalist, distributed power. In the fullness of time, it is now clear what an evil the federal government has become.
@Stacey Estes These two are conservatives, not libertarians. We are so used to both being forced to the "right wing" by the political narrative that we forget that there is space between libertarians and conservatives and all the shades of grey between. Both believe that government should have limits, but to what degree, and what are the appropriate roles of federal governance, there can be trully large disagreements. For that matter even liberals believe there should be some limits to government. The Republican tent used to be called the big tent party when it was ideas that mattered. Now that we focus on race and protected class grievance culture we've lost our perspective on the nuanced differences of these two titanic perspectives.
Thank you. Someone finally pointed this out and it's entirely accurate. I try to keep in mind though that everything's relative though and back in those days trying to create a centralized government to protect against other national interests in our country may have been a far less abhorrent idea than the size of our centralized government today. Do I side with Hamilton and Washington or more toward Jefferson? It's hard to pick a side because I see negatives in both so maybe we don't always have to pick a side but see positives and negatives in each side. Jefferson being a supporter of ideas like violence like during the French Revolution and his leanings towards adopting their model of government I'm not fan of either.
Jefferson was arguably the most left-wing of all the Founding Fathers, though. He ardently supported the French Revolution, and his philosophy was heavily influenced by Rousseau. To my knowledge, Adams and Washington were the most conservative.
Can we get Knowles and Klavan sitting around and reviewing scotch?
I'll do that for you right now!! Shit is delicious
And cigars
Can we get them to moderate a Presidential debate instead of these biased liberal political hacks masquerading as jounalists
As soon as I saw the way they treated Pence I disliked everything about the people involved. And I'm a Brit and don't even care about Pence.
You clearly do
@@jrad410 No it's not about Pence, it's about their truly awful behavior. That should be obvious.
Okay this is gonna be a little long, but they didn’t harass him, for as much as I disagree with the views and concerns that they brought up to pence, they voiced them in an incredibly respectful manner and thanked him profusely for attending the show. And when the crowd booed, they (the cast) addressed the crowd and said “there’s nothing here to boo” and basically through that asked them to be respectful. I watched the video of the speech, it was not like I’ve heard it told by some other people that say they were harassing pence. Even Pence said he wasn’t offended by it! For as much as I disagree with them politically, they had an extremely unique opportunity to talk to the VP after the conclusion of a politically-based production about presidents and American history and they took the opportunity to bring up concerns that they genuinely thought to be legitimate. And even after hearing what the cast said/read what the cast said, it wasn’t even that political. You can assume to know why they were referencing based on that theater tends to be more liberal, but they were respectfully vague, thanked Pence profusely for coming to the show, asked for his consideration, and stopped the crowd from booing him and being disrespectful. The actions of the disrespectful crowd should not reflect badly on the musical itself or the cast. They have the freedom to say what they want and they did it in the most respectful way they knew how, and I don’t hold it against them one single bit (and that’s coming from a staunch Catholic conservative republican)
Truth ^
@@littledrummergirl_19 Totally agree. The cast were very respectful. The crowd was the issue booing.
Hamilton is musicaly.and lyrically amazing and I agree with Klaven on this one. I do think there is a lot of racial and political undertones just because miranda used his own perspective but it doesnt take away from it
I love when you guys are talking to each other instead of barking at a camera!
I saw Hamilton live. I came away optimistic about a positive let’s go America message. I’ve had trouble correlating that message with the seemingly opposite views of the cast and the writer.
I’m baffled by this comment. I thought it was a celebration of America.
@Domagoj ČovićReading it again, you’re absolutely right. I must have been reacting to his last sentence because I haven’t heard these “seemingly opposite views” expressed.
The complaining about the rapping because it’s “too simple” and “not music” is a stupid complaint. There are just as many show tunes in hamilton as any other show. The rap replaces the dialogue, as there is nothing spoken other than the rap, thus making Hamilton more complex than other musicals
To be fair, at least this version, it's more operetta than musical
I am surprised they didn't try to cancel Hamilton.
"They"?
They're more reasonable than you think
@@owenglenn4298I think, the guys in this video, is who is being referred to in the original comment
@@therabitoshowrules thanks for the clarification.
They are, actually. There's been a whole big kerfluffle over the past few weeks on various social media sites about whether the show is "whitewashing history" and portraying Hamilton incorrectly to make him look better. So yeah, not even Hamilton and LMM are immune from cancel culture.
I really loved how they mentioned that Hamilton in a sense is a retrospective critique of the 1619 project. This is exactly what I was thinking as I was watching the musical with my family. Lord be with you both.
When I was a kid I thought the same that I was related to Washington.
I watch the play and I enjoyed it. I never saw the actors or the rap as a racial issue until black liberals made an issue of it. I think the talent of ALL the actors was awesome. I have worked back stage of many shows and most of these performers are the kindest sweetest people. {Until politic views are mentioned then they turn into Gollum from Lord Of The Rings}
You are spot on regarding assimilation. Yes, everyone should learn English in this country.
Michael is wrong, plenty of people got show tunes/ballads. That’s just an unforced error by him.
And the show didn’t just have rap. It had jazz r and b hip hop and show tunes.
It really doesn’t make sense to extrapolate hip hop music to support modern black revolution. The history of Hip Hop isn’t radical revolution it was the way up for many black Americans when they really didn’t have equal opportunity’s and that is the story of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton didn’t use Hip Hop he used his conventional writing to make his way to the top of American life.
Wrong. Hip hop came on the scene in the 1970s, after the Civil Rights movement gauranteed them equal opportunity.
Hip Hop was the way out when they didnt have equal opportunity? Think about how that makes no sense for a second. How did this get them out? Were other poor oppressed black people making these artists very popular and millionaires. No, they were largely supported by white people, but how does that make any sense if they had no opportunities because white people were so racist against them?
Thomas77 Saying that they had equal rights under the law and equal opportunities are completely different. In the 1968 presidential election George Wallace won 5 states while supporting segregation and Jim Crow. They may have been equal under the law but culture still had a long way to go and saying otherwise is ignorant to history. I would never suggest hip hop was a political movement it was obviously a cultural one and in the 1970s culture still had a ways to go.
Hayden Cappelle Hip Hop originated in the early 1970s in incredibly low income crime ridden citys. Hip Hop not only created some of the first successful black Americans it also provided an early success story that those people could aspire to become. Saying that white people supported the movement was the point I was making because it was one of the first time the mixing of black and white cultures occurred on a wide scale making it a cultural revolution not the status quo. Think of how dumb you’re argument is if it were to be applied to the American revolution. The founding father were all successful and ended up with decent relations with Britain so how were they ever oppressed by them.
@@tuckern.3534 Hip Hop didn't create the first successful black americans but it has been a great avenue for modern black americans to create riches.
Honestly thought King George was the best part about the whole thing.....
He wasn't even that big of a villain he was written to be a character that everybody liked.
@@erboch7124 Indeed , and I think that’s good thing because it makes it different compared to the regular King George bashing that America usually does and he was hilarious!😂
This entire conversation makes me incredibly happy
Same!
We can all learn something from blind people
“What is color?”
King George was black when I went to it so uhhh
Amazing, amazing format. Please, many more discussions in this style. T'was a pleasure to watch. Great job guys!
The patio setting and the wind blowing through the trees brought so much open, real freshness to the conversation...loved it all.
Done with Disney plus, between Hamilton and now Colin Kaepernick new shows he got millions for, can’t stand any more shoved down my throat.
You're right. How dare Disney hire people and publish content which the general public like! You should run off to your safe space and cancel Disney.
Agree - NO more Disney in our Home !!!
@@owenglenn4298 where was the demand for colin having his own show? I heard literally no one asking for this.
Furthermore, why does OP need a safe space because he doesn't want to support Disney financially anymore by buying their goods and/or services?
Have you seen Hamilton? It’s brilliant, and quite patriotic.
I'm gonna stick with Disney for the new Phineas and Ferb movie coming out in August on Disney+ (since Phineas and Ferb ain't woke, it's jsut good), but after that I'm gonna say bye too I guess.
The point about the rap being too simple is actually baffling especially when compared to most modern rap today. But the best part about the must for me is the motifs within the music. It never gets old seeing how Burrs music start incorporating a more blues style like jeffersons songs as Burr becomes more democratic republican. Its just astonishing all the detail that when into this play.
Other then that, all of the points had very sensible arguements, making a very engaging vid
It's so dumb that people use the worst of rap to dismiss it entirely, even when it's at its most complex (with artists who lyrically outclass the top lyricists in every other genre)
meh whatever, it's not something worth arguing over, just some simple rap
“I grant a lot of those points.” Wow, never heard Knowles say that before 😂
It’s interesting that “Oh we disagree, so we have something to talk about.” Seems to be usually found in center-right conversations rather than far left circles.
OMG! I have been waiting for conservative perspective on Hamilton for so long! THANK YOU. I love Hamilton. I am Gen-Z and I like rap music. I am also conservative and I thought Hamilton portrayed a phenomenal story of pulling yourself up from your boot straps.
Andrew always reminds me of Gruncle Stan from gravity falls
Just want to point out - Eliza, probably the most blameless character in the whole musical, doesn’t rap once, while Jefferson, arguably one of the villains, is constantly rapping. Rapping is not used to label characters as “good guys”, it’s used to show the quickness of a character’s mind and their prowess in battle or debate.
@chocolatecheesecake If that play actually portrayed Thomas Jefferson as a villain, then it must be riddled with outright lies. In reality, Jefferson was far more of a hero to this Nation than Hamilton ever was.
@@shirleypena4133 as I said, “arguably” a villain - it really depends on the audience’s interpretation. Jefferson gets one of the best songs in the show (in which he is portrayed as heroic) and is shown to care about regular citizens and honouring America’s commitment to its allies (which he accuses Hamilton of not doing but anyway). They point out the fact that Jefferson owned slaves but they also spend a good portion of the musical on Hamilton’s flaws. But the story is ultimately about Hamilton and his contribution to America, so it is expected that he will be the protagonist, flawed though he is. I’d say no one in the musical is painted as outright evil except maayybbeee King George but even then his character is basically played for laughs. But don’t take my word for it - watch the musical yourself and see what you think about whether the portrayal is accurate or not.
I’m not sure why these two think rap is so simplistic. There’s one musical number where there is three-part counterpoint between Hamilton, Washington, and Burr and the three vocal lines are ingeniously woven together while still allowing each line to be understood. Add on top of that the rhythmic couplets that are present. That is exactly why Mozart is held in such high regard for his operas and we have the exact same thing occurring here. Oh wait, except Lin Manuel Miranda is writing in the style of rap and he’s new and a man of color, so of course people will think it simplistic.
When you take into context what Hamilton the musical is - which is a piece of very well designed and written entertainment based on a portion of history, it’s very entertaining. I not once during the entire show felt like I was be bombarded by SJW logic or PC culture - acting and actor aside, I had zero issue with the majority of the cast being people of color. The skill was where it was at, and the cast was absolutely on point with their performance.
And if anyone want to say “oh your some left wing crazy” - nope, not at all. While I may not be far right , I would say I fall at about 80%% right , 20% center. Very very few of my views could be overlapped with left wing views
Yes thank you! That’s a wonderful way to describe the show
Agree 100% with Klavan. I loved the show and had a different reaction to the creative casting. To me, it read as though the performers were claiming and honoring our common history that had previously not always included them. Hamilton's life is about a brilliant but flawed individual who achieves great things, but falls short because of his personal failings... yet, he achieves redemption. America is beautiful and brilliant, horribly flawed, but worthy of redemption as well.
I'm more with Klavan
Same I thought it was really good
I like the fact that Washington and key figures can be white or black, implying that the History of the US is not one separated into colours. Washington is your ancestor in America regardless of race. It's also an incredibly patriotic musical which engages with some historical difficulties whilst still presenting the founding fathers as flawed heroes.
Imagine white actors replacing all the actors in The Lion King.
So basicaly the animated movie?
@@adamkoopmans3635 animated movie had animals. Are we assigning human race/color to animals now?
Redragon The musical, not the animated version.
@@cozzaruckus That would be fine lmao
ERBOCH Not sure why you’re commenting to me. I’m only clarifying that someone is referring to the musical, not the animated version. I expressed no opinion.
red shirt guy is looking too far into it
I love Hamilton, the music is amazing. I’m a history buff and while it wasn’t 100% accurate, no production about history ever is, it did the best it could for the time frame. And it honestly makes me want to find books about the founding fathers to see what was left out. But what I also loved is that it didn’t paint the founding fathers as villains or pure saints, just people trying to make their mark in their new country. Granted in a catty teenage girl type of way but that’s just because they just really did not like each other. The music immediately grabs your attention and makes history fun. I didn’t care that the cast was mainly non-white because I was more focused on how they sounded, which was breathtaking and felt that the best singers were chosen for the music. No matter who does or says what I still like the musical for entertainment, because people are allowed to just enjoy things in this crazy world of ours. But that’s just my humble opinion
Love seeing these two guys together......People can agree to disagree? Imagine that? What a concept. 🙄
I’m a liberal but I like Andrew’s take on Hamilton. He seems more nuanced than many of the people commenting here.
He was pretty radical.
I found Hamilton to be an overrated musical, not because of its politics, but the songs just feel out of place. And I’m a history buff, I was so excited to see it for free, but I was so underwhelmed.
Luis Alejandro you like Hamilton, that’s your opinion. But I watched it, and didn’t really like it, the songs aren’t that great. People overhyped it.
NuclearHobo42 and majority doesn’t mean right :) from an objective standpoint, musically Hamilton is a work of genius. And that doesn’t mean everyone has to like it! But just don’t go around telling people who actually like it that they’re “wrong” or that people who hate it are “right” because objectively, aside from a technical perspective of how the music is made and how it’s choreographed etc... there’s no objective parameters for judging whether or not it’s good based on people’s opinions.
@NuclearHobo42 no, but if Hamilton was underwhelming it wouldnt be such a huge success. I agree, with Luis. Most people were satisfied and beyond by the music and educational story. As a non american, i was pleasantly surprised by this american hip hop musical.
Even though I don't agree with some of what these two say, I would still love to drink some whiskey and smoke a cigar with them. I really like this open conversation format.
Where is this location?
Ehh I like the rapping in Hamilton. That’s what got me into it. And those who sing aren’t always the bad guys- Eliza didn’t rap at all. And George is supposed to be kinda the comical villain. It’s not that bad I don’t think.
Hamilton is brilliant. No exceptions. This is an objective fact.
I heard a conservative say, "well Hamilton is bad because it makes people think Aaron Burr and these other historical figures were black"...
hate to break it to ya, but cabinet didn't have rap battles when discussing policy either...
people always use that as and excuse to trash on musicals. i was watching SIX: the musical and someone was saying “aNnA oF cLeVeS wAsNt bLaCk” and “none of the ex wives would be famous without henry the 8th!!!” LIKE DUDE YEAH BUT THE WIVES ALSO DIDNT FORM A POP GROUP
Look- I'm Australian and it made me feel like I was American so I hope it worked for African Americans :p
Nothing makes Knowles and Klavan more human than lighting a cigar with a BBQ lighter. :P They're just like us!!!
"US" being either a utilitarian using whatever is available or being a cheap bastard and not going out and replacing the torch lighter you bought at the dollar store.
I didn’t think I’d like Hamilton but it was a great play. I thought it were be sjw trash but it wasn’t.
There were definitely left-leaning messages here and there, but I generally enjoyed it as well
I highly encourage people who like the musical to read the book. It not only has the lyrics to every song, it has commentary from LMM about the specific writing choices he made, the subtle nods to other shows, his vision and intentions.
Lin is a progressive, unfortunately. But you have to remember he wrote this play seven years before it came out and starting winning awards. A lot of the social narratives people are reading into based on today’s culture weren’t as present or prominent back then. People get different things out of it as the times change. But what I appreciated was 1) it’s historically accurate (for the most part. He tinkers with some details for subplot but nothing major that relates to the founding of the US) 2) he makes the founding fathers real people. He shows strengths and weaknesses, sins and redeemable qualities. He addresses the good and bad of their legacy and that’s why BLM is pissed. Because they want the founding fathers to be villains and Lin didn’t paint them in a harsh enough light to satisfy them.
Yes same! I was super worried about it but it was only as political as the history it was telling, and honestly that was a breath of fresh air :) (plus the music is phenomenal lol)
Beauty in a Breakdown Does he address anything about why he chose to make the only prominent white people in the cast the king and Samuel Seabury? I would be very curious to know if that was as intentional as I think it is.
Brezo11 Lin isn’t anti white is that’s what you’re insinuating. He is however pro immigrant. Keep in mind Broadway is often known as “the great WHITE way” There aren’t many roles made with people of color in mind. He wasn’t trying to exclude white people, so much as he was trying to include people who would normally feel discluded. The goal was to show that as Americans this is just as much their history as it is ours and that there’s just as much a place for them on broadway as their more traditional (and yes often white) counterparts in the industry.
"Wait for it." Hands down the best song in the show imo
As a conservative and identity politics hater, Hamilton is genius lyrically and artistically, but also created with SJW/leftist narrative.
What do you mean? How was it created with a leftist narrative?
I think Michael is reaching here. I’m as conservative as it gets but I didn’t look at the show with races or which race was singing show tunes or raps. It was just a good show.
I disagree. It was clear to me that the bad guys on stage were white and the good guys were POCs. It’s a very clear casting choice that’s not a coincidence.
You should realise that it is because you are a conservative you didn't notice the race of the actors.
@@chanilerner6410 The bad guys like General Charles Lee and the primary antagonist, Aaron Burr? It was just King George who was portrayed by a white actor.
Chani Lerner, wasn’t Eliza white?
Agreed, Klavan had a much more nuanced and substantive view.
Mike unfortunately was just reaching for the old “ liberals are race bating “ trope
FYI the title of the video is spelled wrong, “HAMILTON” not “HAMLITON” lol
They fixed it.
At the very least Hamilton does have that *"Netflix Adaptation"* vibe about it
I was having an interesting discussion with my family about this recently. We felt that although we could see why at the time Hamilton was first starting up it was important to feature the less represented side of Broadway to show that they have the ability to play these roles, it is now equally important that Hamilton release that requirement and allow anyone to play those parts. Otherwise, how can they expect to be treated the same in return?
When I saw Hamilton on Broadway, Burr was played by a white guy, Ham was black, Angelica was white, I think they are really striving for color blind casting.
My question is why does historical and cultural accuracy matter when it's Tom Cruise playing an Asian character, Elizabeth Taylor playing Cleopatra, Mike Henry playing Cleveland Brown, Matt Damon in the Great Wall, etc. but all of that goes out the window when they make George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, John Adams, etc. black? The hypocrisy reeks with this one. Why is whitewashing bad and blackwashing ok?
"The only white actor basically on stage - which is the villain - King George." I couldn't take this video seriously. King George was NOT the villain, he had at most 3 songs mostly for comedy. The story follows Hamilton, not the country, so it's not the colonists vs the king. But on top of that, Burr is considered the villain, he's even introduced as the villain in the opening number, "And me? I'm the damn fool that shot him." He and Hamilton the whole show were butting heads, and Hamilton was always ahead of him. Burr kills Hamilton in the end, literally stating "now I'm the villain in your history." It's spelled out clear as day
It is interesting to me how I'm hearing people call out Hamilton for "racism against whites" by casting mainly POC... But I have never heard these same voices calling out the many, many, MANY films where white people have played originally POC roles.
I personally don't care either way. To me, the best actor/actress should get the part. However, if you are/were upset at like Scarlett in Ghost in the Shell bc Asian....then why shouldn't you be upset about George Washington being black? Now, in the case of Scarlett, if I am remembering right, the author of Ghost in the Shell wanted Scarlett to play the part but everyone else was like ASIAN? Unfortuntially, some of the people who were upset at the former, are ok with the later. I think for some people it is just pointing out how hypocritical that is.
I don't think that anybody actually cares to be honest, what people care about is the blatant hypocrisy over the multiple times that liberals have screamed about racism and 'cultural appropriation' when white people play roles that were originally minorities, yet it's somehow neither of those things when people of colour do it
It's because Hamilton's casting policy exclusively stated that white people will not be allowed to audition/be considered for the lead roles which is flat out racist. If any movie/threatre production were to have that same policy with another race, the outrage would've been much much bigger but of course, the left likes it when white people are discriminated against. Actively preventing diversity is racist but so is forcing diversity. And in this case, Hamilton was doing both.
@@The_Minhace what Hamilton is doing is a means of boosting black & POC faces in an industry where they often don't make it and are therefore incredibly underrepresented
Yeah I found it really interesting too
I love the cast of Hamilton, I think everyone does great in their roles. However I am upset that when casting they went out of their way to pick pocs and tried to exclude white people from the main cast, excluding King George, who is a villain anyway. They justified this by saying broadway has been historically very white, so they were making up for that in a way, and being a musical with many hip hop songs, pocs would fit the roles better. These points may be true, but that doesn’t mean that you purposefully exclude white people from the main cast, you hire who is best for the job and based on the genre of music primarily used, they still would have gotten what they wanted, a fairly colorful cast, but they wouldn’t have to be purposefully discriminatory. I was very disappointed when I learned of this, it really makes me enjoy the musical less.
Yeah, it seems to me like they're trying to make some sort of a 'statement' about white oppression considering one of the only white people in the piece is the villain, or maybe they are just trying win points with the SJW crowd, which they've definitely succeeded with. I think the musical would've been significantly better if it was about people of all colours working together regardless of race, which it kind of seemed the script was originally written for considering some of the song lyrics, and I think that would've been refreshing and especially necessary in today's climate, but it seems like they're too busy vehemently promoting race wars to give racial unity the treatment it deserves. It reminds me of when Netflix removed the film 'Glory', which was about the 54th regiment (also known as the 'all black regiment'), and how they worked together with white people while simultaneously overcoming the stereotypes and preconceptions that they had, leading to an amazing sense of comradery between them regardless of race. It was an incredible movie, until Netflix removed it from their US page because it went directly against all of these BLM protests, that people should be judged by their character, not their skin colour. I feel like a similar thing happened with Hamilton, the casting team turned it into less of a story about peace and solidarity between everyone, instead more of a "minorities vs white people" narrative, the same one that the media are trying to push. It's pretty disappointing
This is from a section of comment: PS. I can already hear this objection: "But why is King George white? Why is the villain white while the heroes are black?" Simple. Miranda wanted the King to have a "Beatles like feel" to represent the "British invasion"... a black actor wouldn't be very well suited to fulfill that role. Also, I would argue that Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are the real villains of the play (both played by black actors) so I'm seriously unconvinced that the play makes black people "good" and white people "bad"
Really good take, I defo like Andrew Klavan's take on it, as it's far more nuanced. I found myself wanting to hate the play when I watched it, but after 20 minutes of intense scrutiny I came to the same conclusion as him.
Just because you don’t like rap music doesn’t make it simple and easy.
The song “My Shot” is a master class in complex storytelling, both technically and lyrically. Saying it’s “easy” because you don’t like rap aesthetics is biased and lazy.
Lot of comments about the casting choices concerning race so I want to clarify (beyond the fact that most of the cast is phenomenally talented):
Lin Manuel Miranda has explained that his reasoning was to show the story with more diversity so that the revolution looked more like America today in terms of race, where we have much more diversity. He also hoped that by showing men like Washington and Jefferson as black that it would encourage minorities to learn about these figures since they can see them more like themselves (and in part learn about actual black or minority historical figures). Basically, it’s hard for people of color to get into history when most people are just old white guys, so it’s supposed to help make it interesting. Plus these are the most talented performers in the game when it comes to this style of music.
For the people saying “why is this okay but white actors can’t play black characters,” well that’s mainly due to the history of white actors playing black characters that has plagued broadway and Hollywood and every medium like them where it was designed specifically to stereotype blacks. Since that’s not what Hamilton is doing (they aren’t stereotyping white people or trying to “act white”), it’s not the same thing
Noah Kelly thank you.
I'm a leftist to my core, when I saw the title of the video I went "Oh, seriously!?" but seeing this too guys analyzing hamilton in such a calm and respectful way was a completely welcome surprise, I don't agree with more than 1/3 of what they said in the video but I have to give them my respects being able to talk in such an analytic way about people they disagree with, the left need more of that kind of commentators.
Stop grandstanding
More of this type of content please!
When I saw Hamilton, I went back and found this note from Lincoln's speech about the Revolution. I think this encapsulates why I love Hamilton, and and as a strong conservative I *love* the choice of black people as the main actors in it.
On July 10, 1858, during his campaign for the U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in Chicago, in which he reflected on the Declaration of Independence:
"It happens that we meet together once every year, sometime about the 4th of July. . . . We run our memory back over the pages of history [to 1776]. We find a race of men living in that day whom we claim as our fathers and grandfathers. They were iron men. They fought for the principle that they were contending for; and we understand that by what they then did, it has followed that the degree of prosperity that we now enjoy has come to us. We hold this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the good done, of how it was done and who did it, and how we are historically connected with it. . . .
We have [among us immigrants] who are not descendants at all of these men. . . If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none. . . . But when they look through that old Declaration of Independence, they find that those old men say that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” And then they feel that that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration. And so they are. That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world."
You see, when I saw Hamilton, I kept thinking, "This is incorporating black people into our history, because black history *is* American history. We (the country) took too long to recognize it, but our history was theirs, and their history is part of ours. A black or east Asian or person from South America can join our country and call themselves just as much an heir of the American Revolution as Michael Knowles can, bc it's not about your blood, it's about your love for freedom and the principles of the Fouding.
20:51 my sister blasted me saying I should be more considerate to people who come to this country and not speak English, that I should learn their language. I told her they should be more considerate and learn the most common language used in the United States. All because a guy was pissed off at me for not knowing Spanish while taking his order.
nonsense. English is a modern lingua franca that is widely spoken throughout the world, let alone the United States!
I had to watch Hamilton for school and I went into it thinking it was going to be straight trash since it was a musical and I don’t like musicals, and it is all non-white actors (which I should clarify, obviously nothing against non-white actors I just thought it would be woke).
However, it was a fantastic play and I loved it.
I will agree the guy who played Aaron Burr was fantastic. He was my favourite character of the play.
The moment this guy said that he didn’t like that this Broadway musical was 2 and half hours... I’m now taking everything he says with a grain of salt.
Ciara Jeanine well he said he hated it. Idk how you can have so much feeling for something like that.