Andrew Schocket argues that Hamilton: The Musical fits well within the “American Revolution Rebooted” genre, the main conventions of which he outlines as follows:
First, the protagonist position of Patriotism is assumed of all Anglo Americans.
- The good guys are what dominant American culture has historically coded as good guys: heterosexual white men.
- Markers of Tory or British deviance as portrayed in these productions include cowardice, effeminism, and brutality.(265)
Second, Patriotism consists of a personal, libertarian view of “freedom”. . . (265)
Third . . . conflict is resolved through unanimity among Anglo Americans that results from the expulsion of the deviant opposition. (266)
In your response, comment a feature or scene in Hamilton that exemplifies (and/or subverts) one or more of Schocket’s genre conventions.
One of the main examples of scenes in Hamilton that exemplify Schocket’s genre conventions is King George III’s songs “You’ll Be Back” and “What Comes Next?” In these two scenes, King George III is portrayed as childish, gross, excessive, and melodramatic, all while threatening violence against the colonies. This depiction of the King reinforces Schocket’s idea that Revolutionary stories often depict the British as feminine and cowardly while presenting the colonists as being brave, spirited, and strong. I think that Hamilton’s comedic representation of the King oversimplifies the conflict between the colonies and England, removing nuances that existed on both sides of the conflict.
One example of a scene that partially goes against Schocket’s genre conventions is The Schuyler Sisters. In the scene, Angelica, the oldest of the Schuyler Sisters, sings about how women are often excluded from politics, emphasizing that the Declaration of Independence leaves out the mention of women: “we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal”. This scene goes against the convention of how the “good guys” in Revolution stories are mainly white heterosexual men. However, most of the play’s other scenes focus on the male founders, leaving the Schuyler sisters as only secondary characters.