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To name one example, the Haitian Revolution occurred in the time covered by the musical, ending mere months before Hamilton died. The Hatian Revolution is documented in its own page-turning historical book — Black Jacobins by CLR James — and could just as easily be turned into a musical. But Miranda isn't interested in actually telling the stories of people of color rising up against their oppressors. Instead, Miranda chooses to use diverse casting to tell a story about the Founding Fathers. Slave Owners By removing class, Miranda allows himself to rehabilitate a collection of slave owners with catchy pop tunes. Now, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and their compatriots are no longer bourgeois slave owners, but rather plucky freedom fighters and young men trying to make something of themselves. This bourgeois conception of the American Revolution as a war of freedom erases the fact that the freedoms won for the wealthy white colonists were built off of the labor and murder of Black and Native people.
The acknowledgement that the South has it "made in the shade" because they "don't pay for labor" is a shamefully glib acknowledgement of the new country's slave-based economy. In every scene, Miranda shows his capitalist colors. Is there anything less progressive than presenting the Founding Fathers as moral stalwarts fighting for liberation? Miranda views the Founding Fathers as great heroes and slavery as just an unfortunate lapse in judgement. The political point-of-view in Hamilton is actually to the right of most modern K-12 history books. In a time when protesters for racial justice are tearing down statues of slave owners, this is a musical designed to celebrate those same slave owners. In his review of Hamilton, Ishmael Reed summed up the cognitive dissonance present in having people of color play slave owners: "Now I have seen everything. Can you imagine Jewish actors in Berlin's theaters taking roles of Goering? Goebbels? Eichmann? Hitler? " As memorials to genocidal slave owners fall in cities across the country, we must understand that one created in 2015 sits on Disney+.
"When really successful television shows are about the law, law schools see an uptick in enrollment. Medical shows, when they show the profession in a favorable light, there's similarly an uptick in medical school [applications], " says Johnny C. Taylor Jr., CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management. "It can similarly impact their decision not to pursue a particular career. " Specifically, Taylor says the way in which The Office portrayed human resource professionals has had an adverse effect on the industry's ability to attract talent, and other industries have experienced the same. Furthermore, Taylor says even positive portrayals that stray too far from reality can lead to disappoint and disillusionment. "I think we've experienced that a little with law, " he says. "People think this is how courtrooms work, and then they realize not so much; you get disillusioned people who go bad-mouthing the profession. " Media is key to recruiting Despite the potential damage, however, Taylor admits that the media is an important avenue for educating the public about career opportunities.
The day before July 4, Disney+ released a filmed version of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton. Unsurprisingly, the musical once again became a social media phenomenon. The current uprisings against police violence, however, have created something of a backlash against the musical. Hamilton is now being interrogated at a much deeper political level than it was when it first premiered in 2015. While Hamilton did give opportunities to Black and Brown performers, who are often severely limited in their options, it is important to also engage with Hamilton as a piece of political art. Writer, composer, and star Lin-Manuel Miranda has been very explicit about his attempts to connect the story of Alexander Hamilton with more contemporary themes. Even a cursory investigation of the text of the musical reveals it to be one of the most conservative shows in recent memory. Miranda has written a very effective piece of propaganda for the slave owners who founded this country. He adds insult to injury by having Black and Latinx actors portray the very people who oppressed and murdered their ancestors.
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When Courtney Lukitsch began her career in public relations 18 years ago, she says most people didn't know anything about the industry. "The image [in popular culture] didn't really exist, but it's very popular now, and truthfully it's a good recruiting tool, " she says. Lukitsch says that she no longer has to explain what she does thanks to popular TV shows and films like Thank You for Smoking, Sex and the City, Scandal, and Entourage that have offered viewers a peek into the lives of fictional public relations professionals in recent years. While the uptick in recognition was initially good for business, however, Lukitsch fears those depictions might now be doing the industry more harm. In a 2016 post in Adweek, Lukitsch, who is the founder and principal of Gotham Public Relations, explained how the representation of public relations professionals in the media was creating unrealistic expectations. "I don't think that clients or people in general realize how much work goes in to even one high-quality [press opportunity], " she says.
"There's a misrepresentation that it's smile-and-dial, wave your magic wand, and everything will come together; that's not reality. " According to a recent study by ZenBusiness, 58% of workers say their career choice was at least somewhat inspired by a movie, TV show, book, or other form of media. That number increases to 75% among Lukitsch's peers in marketing, advertising, arts, and entertainment. "Regardless of who we talked to or their industry, there's usually one show or piece of media that people think back to and say 'yes, this is what inspired me, ' or 'yes, that show reinforced my decision or sparked my interest in pursuing that field, '" explains Joey Morris, part of the creative team for ZenBusiness, and author of the study. Accurate portrayals lead to greater satisfaction While such depictions can help in recruiting and sales, a negative or inaccurate portrayal can cause long-lasting damage. In fact, ZenBusiness found a direct correlation between the accuracy of the media's depiction of a given role and overall employee satisfaction within that profession.