For our final group project we had to pick an ideological lens and apply it to a piece of text we had gone over as a class to create a screenplay. I’ve had the songs from Hamilton stuck in my head since the beginning of the semester when the musical was assigned so I thought it would be of good use to take what is already so prominent in my head and get creative with it. Hamilton is the main character and hero of this play, who is based off of Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers. The character displays extreme confidence and enthusiasm, which can come across as arrogant or cocky to some of the other characters, who are also historical figures, such as Aaron Burr. To the audience Hamilton is still admirable and his …show more content…
Most historians would agree that this film is clearly propaganda for fascism, but to the day she died, Riefenstahl claimed that her film was simply a documentary, showing what was happening during that time (Stupp). This is because she wanted to avoid prosecution and affiliation with the Nazi party, but she did end up being deemed a Nazi sympathizer and her career suffered ("Leni Riefenstahl."). As I watched her film I took notice of the way she highlighted Hitler in positive lighting and how there would be cuts between him and the excited townspeople. There are many images of children, particularly young boys. I knew I wanted to incorporate these images at some point in my screenplay during a montage as an indicator of fascism. While I knew how to show fascist symbols through film media, I knew that I wanted my screenplay to be more like anti-fascist propaganda, so I realized that it wouldn’t make sense to use Riefenstahl’s techniques alone, so I did more research. I found a Disney short film, Education for Death, which was an American propaganda film shown in theaters throughout the United States during World War II. After the release of the Disney cartoon, Fantasia, Disney was going bankrupt because of how terribly it did in
This musical helped me gain confidence because I could relate to a character more than I ever have before, his success reassuring me. Alexander Hamilton was similar to me because he argued for what he believed was right, stopping at nothing. Mediocrity could not satisfy Hamilton and he rose from his circumstances as an orphan immigrant to make an impression, later heading the treasury of the United States in its formation. Listening to the soundtrack of Hamilton inspires me to take a stand and make the most out of my life, no matter what challenging circumstances I face along the
Leni Riefenstahl was one of the most revolutionary and certainly most controversial filmmakers of the early twentieth century. The lasting influence of her innovative filmmaking techniques on twentieth century cinema is undisputed by scholars throughout history, but the exact nature of her work is surrounded by ongoing controversy. Riefenstahl’s production of the feature films “Triumph of the Will” (Source 3) and “Olympia” (Source 1) have left a lasting imprint on history; these films established Riefenstahl’s influential career as a film director under the years of the Nazi regime. Although these films are attributed by scholars and critics to be Riefenstahl’s greatest achievements they are also considered to be her greatest fault, for
As the film opened in Germany and around the world it became obvious that Riefenstahl had achieved overall success, beyond all expectations. In America, specifically New York it was called “flawless” and “a highly fascinating fantasy”. The Blue Light was even awarded a silver medal at the first Venice Biennale that year. Riefenstahl still saw herself primarily as an actress, but after her new found success, expected to continue filmmaking as a career. If The Blue Light had not influenced her career path she would not have reached her prominence with her films such as Triumph of the Will and Olympia to come. Riefenstahl did not only gain wider international fame, she also gained the admiration and support of Adolf Hitler. According to Audrey Salkeld, “Hitler was already an admirer of hers, having been won over by her first dance of fluttering veils in her first movie.......From then on, he had followed her career with interest, The Blue Light in particular catching his imagination.” Indeed the success of The Blue Light was one of the determining influences on Riefenstahl’s rise to prominence as she states, “This film was pivotal in my life, not so much because it was my first successful effort as a producer and director, but because Hitler was so fascinated by this film that he insisted I make a documentary about the Party rally in Nuremberg. The result was Triumph of
Hamilton: An American musical should not be used as an accurate way to explain Alexander Hamilton's life. It is clearly an over-dramatized, candy coated explanation of the time. Alexander Hamilton was a legendary founding father whose legacy has been permanently indented into the history books. He’s a man who will never be forgotten. But Hamilton is not his legacy. His real story is his legacy. History is his story. The truth is what he would want to be remembered by, not some overdone, moneymaking machine loosely based around his
As history is commonly viewed as dull and boring, Miranda changes this perception through the integration of popular music styles, rap and hip-hop, into the musical. While all of the facts are historically accurate, the audience is exposed to the debates through articulated rap battles and charged emotions are expressed through songs. The songs are also accompanied by choreography, which is a writing idea that is taken and exaggerated to an emotional state that is physicalized. Through these methods, the public gets an easier understanding of motives behind certain actions, such as Aaron Burr shooting Alexander Hamilton at a duel, as well as an clearer comprehension on what happened in history. Through rap and the hip hop style, music is used to keep history current, and provide stories the audience hasn’t heard before. In effect, Hamilton has inspired kids who weren’t good at history to look at a different perspective of the characters. In the musical there is no protagonist nor antagonist. Instead, all of the characters are portrayed as flawed, especially Hamilton, as he not only owned slaves, but was the center of the first political sex scandal in the United States. This allows the audience to know the characters on a realistic level, and acknowledge the fact that although Hamilton is one of the nation’s greatest founding fathers, he is also a man capable of
Just like France, the United States, and Russia, Germany also began to make films, as a way to entertain the working class in an inexpensive way. By 1933 Adolf Hitler came to power, creating very harsh social condition that made several writers, actors, and directors flee Germany because they feared that if they stayed they would have gotten killed. Joseph Goebbels later came to run the UFA, as a government owned production company to make films that were shown to civilians and the military as propaganda on March 13 , 1933, and intended to censor German cinema to make the people believe that they were fascist. Numerous movies in that period of time tried to steer clear of talking about the Holocaust to distract people from what was really happening and to make Hitler seem almost godlike. One film in particular directed by Leni Riefenstahl called The Triumph of the Will became a well known example of propaganda in film history. Throughout the film, you really get to experience a sense of historical context that influenced thousands of people during the time of World War 2. Today, several people view The Triumph of the Will and have a difficult time distinguishing whether or not they can conclude if they view the film as propaganda or an actual piece of art.
Throughout time, art has changed the way people perceive history. Lin Manuel-Miranda’s Hamilton has had a strong influence how people view one of the Founding Fathers and the era he lived in. Before Lin Manuel-Miranda took on the task of producing a musical for Hamilton, people had an idea of who the Founding Fathers were and what they stood for. However, Manuel’s take on Hamilton wanted to present American history in which people of diverse cultures and women share the same spotlight with the Founding Fathers. In the musical, Manuel thought it was important for Hispanics and African-Americans to play as the Founding Fathers, so it reminds the audience American history is not composed of one race. Although critics, like Nichols, believe "superficial diversity” of the play’s casting results in a failure to
Oftentimes people have a difficult time connecting with history. They do not see the relevance between something hundreds of years ago and today’s issues. The Broadway musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda does a great job of bridging that gap. Many of the issues that were faced in the time period of Alexander Hamilton are also faced in the world today. An example of this is politicians riding the fence on important issues. A main character in the play is criticized greatly for doing this just as people are currently. In Miranda’s Hamilton, characters are faced with issues and are asked to take a stand just as political leaders are today.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton divulges the human need to have a purpose and the transformative journey in obtaining it. The musical follows one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, from the time he was a young boy to the successful creator of the national banking system. Hamilton encounters many challenges, both environmental and internal, in his lifetime, while also acquiring long-time foe, Aaron Burr, in America. Alexander Hamilton’s character develops as a hard-working, honest man that transforms into a conniving individual in order to pass his legislation and scale up the political totem pole. Aaron Burr’s jealousy of Hamilton’s progress instigates a transformation in his quietest character.
Legacy is the story you leave behind that future generations will know about. Hamilton: An American Musical was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and performed on Broadway. This musical is a modern interpretation of the life of one of the founding fathers of the United States, Alexander Hamilton. Lin-Manuel Miranda expresses the theme of having to work hard to build your legacy, so your story is told throughout the performance. This Broadway show uses the literary devices of tone, allusion, and repetition to execute the theme of legacy.
The creation of propaganda films and posters required a small amount of people to produce, but was still a key part in the grand scheme of propaganda. The Nazis had a Film Academy in which they taught new recruits how to make films and distributed the films that the experts made on their own. These films discretely captured the thoughts of Jews in the minds of Nazis, filling them with stereotypes and threats to the community. The film “The Blue Light” is a film featuring a character that depicted a Jewish woman who found herself near a cave filled with tantalizing, glowing crystals. As she approached the cave, she slipped on a cliff and fell to her death. Later, an entire village of people learned of this cave of riches. Instinctively, they took up arms to carry out an expedition on a potential fortune. Instead, the whole village plummeted to its death. These characters were depictions of greed, a stereotypical characteristic of the Jewish people. These offensive displays were part of the propaganda that persuaded France and Great Britain into declaring war to begin World War II.
People worldwide are praising a man who doesn’t deserve it. Despite being considered one of America’s most influential founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton’s character could never compete with his political status. Alexander Hamilton has been made into an inspiration that he doesn’t deserve to be, being portrayed as the exact opposite of what he stood for in a recent resurgence of praise for him sparked in particular by the world-renowned musical Hamilton. Although he may be receiving this praise, his character is undeniably horrid due to many flaws in his character including the encouragement of anti-immigration laws and his desire for powerful landowners to get complete power in government over the
Hamilton: An American Musical retells the story of Alexander Hamilton, the first United States Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. With the aid of hip-hop and rap, Lin-Manuel Miranda dramatises Hamilton’s struggles and contributions during the American Revolution and the formative years of the United States. It is praised for its breaking of Broadway conventions, compelling characters and their interactions, beautiful musicality, and the progression of its plot. There are many that see this musical masterpiece as Hamilton’s true autobiography. However, it is not an accurate telling of historical events. Hamilton: An American Musical intentionally alters the truth of Hamilton’s tale as it misrepresents the historical figures of America’s birth, falsifies a romantic interest between Angelica Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton, alters details of certain distressing events, and paints the main antagonist, Aaron Burr, as a villain.
The silent film, Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang, released in 1927, reflects the social situation of the time in Germany during the Weimar Period, before the rise of Hitler power. At that time, there was a new political climate, which was in favor of an equity-oriented fascism rather than liberty-oriented capitalism. The film clearly gives viewers an idea that fascism way of the political system is the preferable ideology for the society by depicting the class struggles between capitalists and labours. Thus, the movie was often interpreted as a propaganda movie and being criticized.
There are many characteristics that could impact one’s life in a negative way causing them to lose everything in life such as selfishness, messiness, untrustworthiness, self-righteousness, or ego. In the award-winning musical, Hamilton: The Revolution, by Lin-Manuel-Miranda, the character of protagonist, Alexander Hamilton may be described in many ways. However, one character trait stands out among the rest. The main character trait of Alexander Hamilton, self-righteousness, shaped everything about his life: how he grew up, how he dominated in debates, and even how he fell from grace. Hamilton always stuck by his ideals, not caring whether it affected other people. These traits led him to lose and gain