Remediation and Hamilton

(Note: I apologize to those who wanted to write about Hamilton)

There are many examples of remediation in the world (including my absolute favorite book/musical/film…Les Misérables), but I think the most interesting in our present moment (and, shall I say the most expensive to see) is the musical, Hamilton.

According to Bolter and Grusin, “there is nothing prior to writing, so for our visual culture there is nothing prior to mediation. Any act of mediation is dependent upon another, indeed many other, acts of mediation and is therefore remediation” (346). Rob Chernow’s more than 800-page book has been re-mediated into the Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Though I have not had the pleasure of watching Hamilton, by reading and listening to the reviews of others, it seems there does not seem to be a direct correlation between Chernow’s book and the musical production (except for the fact that they are both about Alexander Hamilton). Similarly, Bolter and Grusin point out that films “do not acknowledge that they are adaptations. Acknowledging the novel in the film would disrupt the continuity and the illusion of immediacy that [reader’s expect]” (Bolter 338). Hence, acknowledging Chernow’s enormous work, would disrupt the creative and remediated work by Miranda. Most people do not find reading a lengthy biography pleasurable, but an adaptation that has both visual and aural qualities would be more popular with the general public.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s genius is not only proven in his writing of the musical and song lyrics, but choosing a medium (in this case, the form of theatre) that allowed him certain affordances.  As previously mentioned, the general public is more likely to attend a musical, than ingest an 800-page novel. Choosing to do a musical over a traditional play also allows for history and cultural critiques to be transmitted through music. Even those who have not watched the musical are familiar with the songs on the Hamilton soundtrack. The lyrics of the Hamilton songs are also remediated from rap and hip-hop music of the past. In this post from Slate, Forrest Wickman points out all the allusions that the music have in connection to other Broadway musical lyrics as well as various references to hip-hop and rap legends. Hamilton is so popular that there is discussion of making it into a film (remember: all “any act of mediation is dependent upon another”). And let us not forget that Hamilton was remediated into the Broadway parody, Spamilton by Gerard Alessandrini.

Bolter and Grusin remark that remediation is not “simple repurposing, but perhaps of a more complex kind of borrowing, in which one medium is itself incorporated or represented in another medium” (339). Both Miranda and Alessandrini are actively participating in a “complex kind of borrowing” and choosing the medium, musical and parody respectively, they feel would be most appropriate.

The diverse cast of Hamilton is also important to point out: “In Hamilton, we’re telling the stories of old, dead white men but we’re using actors of color, and that makes the story more immediate and more accessible to a contemporary audience. You don’t distance the audience by putting an actor of color in a role that you would think of as default Caucasian. No, you excite people and you draw them in” (Lin-Manuel Miranda). Put simply, Lin-Manuel Miranda does not want the audience to find the experience jarring because there are no white men on the stage and believes that more people will find the musical even more accessible.

Questions:

1) Do you find that Lin-Manuel Miranda is aiming for “immediacy” or “hypermediacy” by having a diverse cast and not a typical all or mostly white cast?

2) Do you see a connection between Eyman’s point about memory being an “activity not repository” and Bolter and Grusin’s remarks about our desire to remediate the world around us (including the “self”)?

4 Responses

  1. Caitlin Duffy January 29, 2018 at 4:14 pm |

    Thanks for writing about Hamilton, this was a fun read. 🙂

    I think that Miranda’s choice to use a diverse cast to represent the people of early America creates both immediacy and hypermediacy (although I’m not sure whether he was purposefully aiming for it or not). Bolter and Grusin note that “immediacy depends upon hypermediacy” (314) and I think this proves true in Hamilton’s casting. Although this casting decision did prove controversial, and was therefore jarring, to some, Miranda described the show as “a story about America then, told by America now.” This seems to be move to make Hamilton’s story immediate for a present-day audience, by adding a modern-day layer via the diverse cast (along with the choice of rap/hip-hop music and modern-day language). The show acknowledges its moments of production and reception, as well as its moment of representation. There’s a lot of layers happening here, but it’s proven to create an immersive experience for the majority of its audience members.

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  2. Jon Heggestad January 29, 2018 at 6:07 pm |

    Great post, Caterina! And I like the questions you pose at the end. I’d have to say that Miranda’s color-blind casting is more representative of hypermediacy, as he seems to be playing with the visual elements of the show and drawing them to the forefront.

    I’m curious to know whether *Spamilton* would be an example of remediation. As it’s another Broadway show, and not a new form of media, would it still be considered remediation? Or, being that it’s more a change of genre, would we consider it as something else?

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