I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance
Four lessons from watching Hamilton
Like many of you, I’m sure, I watched Hamilton this weekend. It was, in a word, amazing. I absolutely LOVED it.
In typical fashion, I can’t just appreciate what I saw. It sat with me for the next few days as I wondered how it had transcended a typically well-produced musical and become a cultural phenomenon. I had to try and draw some lessons from Hamilton, both from the story and the musical itself.
Here are my 4 takeaways from Hamilton.
1 - This is what it looks like to make race an uninteresting characteristic
“I know that greatness lies in you, But remember from here on in, History has its eyes on you.”
Sam Harris often describes an ideal world where we make race an uninteresting characteristic, like hair color. I, like many others, often bristle at the notion, viewing this as an idealistic trope that overlooks the complex history and reality surrounding race as a social construct.
I was surprised to find the casting of Hamilton suggesting that there might be something to this idea. The cast of Hamilton was wonderfully diverse. Lin-Manuel Miranda said in a 2013 interview with Radical Media, “I’m not thinking in terms of race at all when I cast it…I’m going to cast the best rappers I can find, whether they’re white or not. It’s a thorny issue, but I think that race and gender should be considered the same way that height and age are — they’re a factor.”
Some might take issue with the lack of historical accuracy in these portrayals. But, if you view race as an uninteresting characteristic, it becomes one minor element in a larger look at how well you are portraying a historical character. Capturing the essence of Aaron Burr, his mindset, his emotions, seems way more important than his race. This seems obvious, but most traditional casting views race as the most important element and then look for other characteristics after checking the ‘race’ box.
The casting was simply incredible. From King George III to Lafayette to Angelica, each person seemed born to play that role regardless of their race. When you make race an uninteresting characteristic in the world of entertainment, Hamilton seems to suggest you get incredible diversity as a consequence. Of course, other industries may struggle to replicate this (e.g. educational inequities may not lead to diversity if race is merely uninteresting), but it’s interesting to see what this propounded ideal might look like in practice.
2 - Education is, in large part, about curiosity and inspiration
“I wanna be in, the room where it happens, the room where it happens.”
My friend Katelyn recently summarized the recent rise of MasterClass, which was illuminating to understand. While she makes good points about the difference between entertainment and education, I think she overlooks the role of inspiration in education. When my family was watching Hamilton, at some point during the musical, every single member of my family had their phones out at various points to find out about some historical reference they didn’t quite understand. I immediately looked into the biography that served as the basis for the musical. I clearly wasn’t alone as the book Alexander Hamilton returned to the bestseller lists after a ten-year hiatus thanks to Hamilton’s Broadway release in 2015.
When people are inspired or curious, the learning process is fundamentally transformed. When you engage people’s curiosity and they feel inspired to learn, that unlocks the potential for education. For example, I would bet that someone who finished a MasterClass course and then takes a more educationally focused course is way more likely to do well than someone who didn’t. Put simply: I believe any US History class from 3rd grade up that doesn’t incorporate watching Hamilton into their curriculum should be ashamed.
3 - When you are facing disruptive forces, lean into them.
“God help and forgive me, I wanna build something that’s gonna outlive me.”
When an industry faces disruptive forces, it’s easy to be in denial, dig your heels in, and focus on what you do best. In almost all cases, that’s a strategy doomed in the long-term. In fact, it’s a strategy that’s often doomed in the short-term. What should you do instead? Understand the disruptive forces and figure out how to incorporate them into what you do well. Hamilton exemplifies this strategy.
The appeal of Broadway vs. other forms of entertainment? The musical incorporates hip-hop to reach younger audiences where they are. That’s how you bring the next generation in. You can either lament that they don’t appreciate the finer things or you can look to find innovative ways to connect with them. There’s a whole new generation of people that will be interested in Broadway thanks to Hamilton.
The appeal of Broadway vs. other forms of entertainment? They released the musical as a movie, but not in a Sound of Music traditional movie format. They took their live performance and filmed it in a way that allowed it to come to life on screen. Will this substitute for people actually coming to see a Broadway production? Never worry about cannibalizing your customer base. There are always ways to deal with cannibalization – the bigger issue is losing your customers to someone else. First, they released the movie years after the peak of the Broadway run. Second, I am confident that this musical will only increase interest in Hamilton, the next Broadway production that Lin-Manuel Miranda is involved with, and possibly even Broadway more generally.
4 - Our political system no longer allows for reluctant leaders.
“If I say goodbye, the nation learns to move on, It outlives me when I'm gone.”
One thing that struck me about George Washington in the musical was how reluctant a leader he was. He didn’t seek to govern. He was a military man who was thrust into the political spotlight. He seemed to manage it well, using his power wisely and setting precedents that would help our country move forward. It called to mind a recent podcast from Gladwell’s Revisionist History. The central idea there was to use some elements of a lottery to elect leaders because the people best fit to win campaigns may not be the best fit to govern.
I couldn’t help but think – could George Washington win an election now? Would he even be willing to try? Our current political system is more geared towards campaigning and fundraising than ever before, and this all but eliminates anyone that may be a reluctant leader. We are missing out on a lot of potential in our politics because we have limited our pool to only the loudest, most enthusiastic individuals who are best fit to run a campaign.
These lessons are tangential to the magical experience of watching the musical. It’s rare something so hyped lives up to the billing, but this surely did. So, the last, most important takeaway - if you haven’t already, watch Hamilton, either on screen or maybe even in a future theater production.