[FoxPhile]

I'm tempted to read it, but I haven't seen the movie yet. Are there a lot of spoilers?

[WeBuiltThePyramids]

Originally Posted by Cyclone139 (View Post) I agree with your comment about the unusual pairing of the 19th Century setting with modern music and dance, but as you say, Hamilton is so popular that its influence is likely to be long ranging!

I'm honestly surprised I didn't mind that in Hamilton because in the newer The Great Gatsby that was such a turn off.

[FoxPhile]

I think you can tell any story using music and dance from any period, and if you do a good job of conveying the story - it doesn't matter. A lot of musicals use contemporary music to tell stories from a hundred or more years ago. Think of The King and I, Phantom of the Opera or Jesus Christ Superstar

[WeBuiltThePyramids]

I agree, if it suits the story. Like in Hamilton, rap was the chosen genre because of how much Hamilton talked and rap music has the greatest amount of words per minute, plus the allegory of the present day with the people who are stereotyped as loving rap are the social and class equivalents of the colonists in relation to the British royalty. My issue with the newer Gatsby movie was the music just seemed sensationalized. Everything else, including the dialogue, was pretty period accurate, and then boom they're doing drugs and hooking up with women to lyrics about doing drugs and hooking up with women. And it really took me out of the story.

[WriterFreak001]

I love Gatsby (the book), but the movie was so horrible I almost left the theater. The story is such a great piece of literature conveying life in the 1920s, and the movie, in my opinion, was a total flop.

"Moulin Rouge" was sub par as well, in my opinion. I mean, I love the story, and parts of the movie were all right, but the use of music covers, like "All You Need is Love" from the Beatles was a BIG no no in my book.

I think... if a musical set before the end of the 20th century has modern / contemporary music in it, it would have to be original songs and not covers. I think that might also be why "The Greatest Showman" did so well. These songs weren't covers but originals which made the experience all the more new upon seeing the film for the first time.

And to answer your question, Heidi, I did my best not to spoil the movie in my review. My post is more analytical than anything. It talks about a major theme in the movie but does not highlight any specific instances in the movie that reflects the theme.

[WeBuiltThePyramids]

Yes, that's a good point. Hamilton has a lot of subtle references to modern music, but it's all original material. It may be covers that pull me out of the story like that.

[FoxPhile]

Covers are too recognizable, and that tends to detract from a story that isn't contemporary to the song.

[WeBuiltThePyramids]

Yeah, agreed. The Gatsby movie is the biggest example for me but I know it's happened other times.

[Cyclone139]

With musicals you need to be able to believe that the characters randomly bursting into song is just part of how they communicate, but if they're singing a recognisable cover version then they're just singing a song and it doesn't work.

[FoxPhile]

Originally Posted by Cyclone139 (View Post) With musicals you need to be able to believe that the characters randomly bursting into song is just part of how they communicate, but if they're singing a recognisable cover version then they're just singing a song and it doesn't work.

Exactly. Musicals already stretch credibility because it's just not normal for people to communicate by singing to each other. Adding in songs that the audience recognizes but that don't really fit the period or the setting stretches that past the limit.

[sheisagenius]

Today was supposed to be the first day of the semester, but class was cancelled and the University closed due to winter weather

[FoxPhile]

Originally Posted by sheisagenius (View Post) Today was supposed to be the first day of the semester, but class was cancelled and the University closed due to winter weather

Woo hoo! Snow days are always great - but it would be better if it was later in the semester - preferably on a day you have a paper due so you get an extra day! I remember many a long night pounding away on a typewriter and praying for snow!

[WeBuiltThePyramids]

Originally Posted by FoxPhile (View Post) Woo hoo! Snow days are always great - but it would be better if it was later in the semester - preferably on a day you have a paper due so you get an extra day! I remember many a long night pounding away on a typewriter and praying for snow!

See in today's world we submit papers online so unless there's a city wide power outage that doesn't apply.

[FoxPhile]

Originally Posted by WeBuiltThePyramids (View Post) See in today's world we submit papers online so unless there's a city wide power outage that doesn't apply.

I'd gladly trade in that extra day for SpellCheck, AutoCorrect and the ability to proofread and correct mistakes without retyping an entire paper.

[WeBuiltThePyramids]

If you don't make mistakes in the first place you don't have to worry about that.