Hamilton (2020) – Review

Grade:

transfiguring-adoption-three-hoot-book-review

Transfiguring Adoption awarded this movie 3 Hoots out of 5 based on how useful it will be for a foster/adoptive family. [Learn more about our Hoot grading system here]


Movie Info:

  • Rating: PG-13
  • Genre: Musical, Historical Drama
  • Runtime: 160 Minutes
  • Studio: Disney+

From the Cover of Hamilton by Disney+:

“The filmed version of the original Broadway smash hit, Hamilton combines the best elements of live theatre, film and streaming in n astounding blend of hip-hop, jazz, R&B and Broadway. Presenting the tale of American founding father Alexander Hamilton, this revolutionary moment in theatre is the story of American then, told by America now.”


Transfiguring Adoption’s Overview:

It feels like the whole world has been talking about Hamilton for years (and for good reason!) but viewing it has been largely unattainable for the average person given the limited availability and high price tag of tickets. That has all been changed with the recent release of a filmed performance making its debut on Disney+, just in time for the 4th of July weekend. While it lacks the energy you get with watching a live performance, they did an incredibly good job with the filming and edition of the production. There were times that I forgot I was watching a play rather than a movie!

The casting was incredible, and I felt like the characterizations were spot on for those figures I was familiar with (so I’m assuming it is also the case for those I didn’t recognize). Personally, I grew up down the street from Monticello and attended the University of Virginia so Early American/Revolutionary War history has been force-fed to me my entire life, but Hamilton adds an element of humor and fun to the subject while also maintaining historical accuracy with the story. The choice to have almost all characters (with the exception of King George) portrayed by POC actors and modernize the story with contemporary rap for the music makes the story accessible and relatable to a wider audience that’s more reflective of our current cultural make up, and also gets the viewer questioning and thinking about early American history in a new way.

While a great way to get younger generations more interested in history, the material and presentation are fairly mature and I would definitely recommend keeping to the PG-13 recommendation of the rating (though some more mature pre-teens may do alright with it). While two uses of f**k were edited out in order to get the Disney stamp of approval, pretty much every other swear word is used liberally throughout. The character of Hamilton is also frequently referred to (by himself and others) as a ‘bastard, orphan, son-of-a-whore’ with candor- a word-choice which may bother children with similar backgrounds. But overall the message is one of resilience as it shares the story of how someone with such a background was able to accomplish so much against all odds and can be a great starting point for conversations about the importance of what you do, not where you come from.


** Spoilers Could Be Ahead **


How Is This Relevant To Adoption & Foster Care?

Hamilton does not directly address adoption or foster care- however the title character (Alexander Hamilton) was orphaned at the age of 10 when his mother died, his father having abandoned the family years prior. This identity as a ‘bastard orphan’ very much shapes Hamilton’s behavior and choices throughout his life- even in the way he parents his own child. Aaron Burr is also an orphan, a fact that makes Hamilton immediately latch onto him.

Hamilton’s story is also one of overcoming the odds and not letting where he came from define who he is- a message that will likely resonate with children who have experience a difficult home life and trauma. Despite being orphaned at a young age Alexander studied and worked hard to get to America and then continued working his way up the ranks and fighting to be someone the world remembered. He never let his upbringing stop him from achieving his dreams and ends up George Washington’s right-hand-man, despite those telling him he would never amount to anything.


Discussion Points:

  • Resilience
    Alexander Hamilton overcame extraordinary childhood trauma to grow up to become one of our nation’s founding fathers, right-hand mand to George Washington himself during the war and the first Secretary of Treasury. At one point he states, “We rise, and we fall, and we break, and we make mistakes- but I’m still alive.” This sentiment is likely attractive to youth who have experienced trauma. They may feel like they’ve been broken and made mistakes but they’re still here and they’re still fighting towards a better life. Looking at someone like Alexander Hamilton and all he was able to accomplish despite his childhood situation is inspirational to others who are working to overcome similar circumstances. Other characters describe him saying, “No one has more resilience” and his wife remarks, “Look at where you started. The fact that you’re alive is a miracle.” And he isn’t just alive, he’s accomplished a great deal all at a relatively young age. This can be a great time to talk to youth about how they can work towards overcoming their own traumatic experiences and work towards building the lives they want.
  • Future Planning / Living in the Moment
    Alexander Hamilton is the poster child for ‘living in the moment’. The people around him repeatedly say that he “writes like he’s running out of time” and that he never slows down. When he first meets Lafayette and the others and they start planning the revolution he says, “For the first time, I’m thinking past tomorrow.” Hamilton has spent his life up until this point living one day at a time. When a person experiences repeated trauma it tends to make their fight-or-flight response overactive and so their brain is in constant stress making split-second decisions for how to survive. This is an adaptive function when living through trauma because decisions are life or death. But once the trauma has ended, the brain continues to make decisions this way which can be detrimental as a person isn’t thinking things through fully. Hamilton’s trauma never fully ends given that he goes from a difficult childhood straight into fighting a war and for the most part tends to continue to live as if he’s running out of time. He says himself that he feels like death is always chasing him (“I imagine death so much it feels like a memory. When’s it gonna get me?”) This leads to him sometimes make reckless and rash decisions. Use this as an opportunity to discuss future planning with children and the ways in which Hamilton may not have always made the best choices due to the constant sense of urgency he felt. Let children know that while they were experiencing trauma their brain’s response was adaptive, but, now that they are no longer in a life or death situation on a daily basis, they would benefit from slowing down and thinking things through more. Help them come up with strategies of how to do this.
  • Healthy Vs. Unhealthy ‘Caregiver’ Relationships
    The way leaders care for and deal with the people they govern takes on a relationship similar to that of a caregiver/child. In this show we see two examples of this that are strikingly different. One the one hand we have King George and the colonies as his subjects (pre-revolution). He gets angry at them for daring to stand up to him rather than being submissive to his every whim and feels betrayed by them. In a healthy relationship, a caregiver or leader should be proud and happy when a child demonstrates that they’ve learned enough to be on their own. Yes, it’s sad to say goodbye but it’s part of life. Instead, King George is petty and threatens the colonists to keep them in line, much the way an abusive parent might. He even mocks them, hoping they fail and tells them not to ‘come crawling back’ to him when they do, which he is certain will happen. On the other side of the spectrum, we have George Washington who spearheads the revolution and goes on to become the first president and leads for a number of years. Then, he makes the choice to resign his position, explaining to Hamilton that he will ‘teach them how to say goodbye’ and trust that they built a strong enough nation to keep going on its own. This can be likened to a healthy caregiver relationship- once a child is ready for more independence it’s the caregiver’s role to take a step back and let them spread their wings, but also be there to catch them should they stumble on the way out. Teaching children how to have a healthy goodbye is an important skill. There will be any number of goodbyes in a person’s life and while most will be painful on some level, they can also be healthy. For children who have experienced foster care or adoption, most of their experiences with separation so far in life has been extremely unhealthy. They are given up or removed from their biological parents, often in traumatic circumstances, and sometimes without any warning or goodbye. Therefore, it’s of extra importance to model what healthy goodbyes look like so when they experience the normal partings of life (end of romantic relationships, moving, death, etc.) they are better equipped to deal with it in a less traumatic way.

Cautionary Points:

  • Language
    In order to get a PG-13 rating, two occurrences of the work f**k were left out of the movie (though if your children look up the soundtrack, expect to hear those in the lyrics!). There is one instance still in the film and pretty much any other swear word you can think of is used pretty liberally.There is also pretty frequent use of somewhat derogatory terms to refer to Hamilton and others (Bastard, Orphan, etc.)  Those these terms are used in line with the historical context of the time, but it still might be upsetting for children to whom those words could apply.
  • Sexual Content
    The biggest occurrence of this is when Hamilton is having an affair in the middle act of the film (both he and his partner are married to other people) and he claims that he ‘can’t say no’ and ‘can’t help himself’ which are problematic messages to be sending to youth. They have a fairly steamy dance number together. Alexander also frequently flirts with his Sister-in-Law, Angelica, after he is married. We also hear about Burr engaging in an affair with a married woman (though not shown on stage). Hamilton’s affair is especially a pretty major plot point during the second half of the show. There are also several references to ‘getting beneath a corset’, though they may go over some children’s heads, especially if they are unfamiliar with period clothing.
  • Loss of parents/caregivers
    Hamilton’s father abandoned his family when he was fairly young, and shortly thereafter he loses his mother to illness only to move in with a cousin who commits suicide. He is left to essentially raise himself. None of these occurrences are shown on stage, but Hamilton and others talk about them frankly throughout the show. We also find out that Burr’s parents are dead leaving him an orphan as a young man, though it’s not clear how young he was when it happened and is only mentioned briefly.
  • Character Death
    Hamilton’s son Phillip is killed in a duel defending his father’s honor and dies in the arms of his parents in a pretty emotional scene. We see both Hamilton and Eliza mourning his death and struggling with the loss. Later, Hamilton is shot by Burr on stage as well. There is mention of other character deaths as well, but they are not shown on stage.
  • Violence
    The show is about the American Revolution/War so that is an overarching theme. We don’t see a ton of character-on-character violence on screen other than several gun duels (two of which result in the death of Hamilton and his son). There are a number of musical numbers where characters dance with weapons (mostly rifles/bayonets) and there is often talk about fighting and some of the characters glorify this violence talking about how they long for war or are eager to prove their worth on the battlefield.
  • Natural Disaster
    It’s not shown on stage, but Hamilton mentions a few times that a hurricane destroyed his home and his town when he was young, and he lost everything. This may be upsetting for children who have lived through a hurricane or other natural disaster that displaced them.
  • Substance Use (Alcohol)
    We both see and hear about the characters drinking pretty frequently, though it is shown in a historically accurate context that is reflective of social norms of the time.
  • Abusive ‘Relationship’
    While not a traditional parent/child role we get some glimpses of the US colonists and their relationship with King George through the latter’s musical numbers. The description of this relationship somewhat mirrors an abusive relationship. George talks about all he’s done for his subjects and his frustration that they are independent thinkers and not submissive enough. He also talks about doing things like killing their friends and family and sending army battalions to ‘remind them of their love’. While this is all done as a comedic interlude it might be problematic to children who have experienced abusive caregivers who may have threatened them with violence to keep them in line.

About the Author: Jenn Ehlers

Jenn is a central Virginia native who received her BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia in 2012. Since then she has worked for a local mental health agency and the Department of Social Services in various capacities and has been involved in her community’s efforts to create a Trauma Informed Network. Currently Jenn works in vocational rehab and mentors youth in foster care. When she isn’t working, Jenn enjoys writing stories, anything and everything Harry Potter, and spending time with her niece and nephew.


**Transfiguring Adoption is a nonprofit organization seeking to nurture growth in foster and adoptive families by giving a HOOT about their families. Transfiguring Adoption does not intend for its reviewers nor its review to be professional, medical or legal advice. These reviews and discussion guides are intended to help parents to better be able to connect and understand their children who come from traumatic backgrounds.

Written by
Jenn is a central Virginia native who received her BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia in 2012. Since then she has worked for a local mental health agency and the Department of Social Services in various capacities and has been involved in her community’s efforts to create a Trauma Informed Network. Currently Jenn works in vocational rehab and mentors youth in foster care. When she isn’t working, Jenn enjoys writing stories, visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and spending time with her nieces and nephew.

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