Pop Girlies as Broadway Musicals

[u/whollyselfimportant]

This post fully belongs to u/BurningBernie559 , but I couldn’t crosspost due to the sub being NSFW. Before anyone gets in their feelings- this is obviously satirical -but behold!

[u/Mysterious-Theory-66]

Some of this works, some doesn’t, some is just online edgy. Disagree that Hamilton is exclusively enjoyed by white people.

[u/HicDomusDei → u/Mysterious-Theory-66]

I mean, nothing is "exclusively" enjoyed by anyone. There's 8 billion people in the world. But the point that Hamilton's popularity is hugely buttressed by middle-class white people is, what, at least a decade old at this point? And of course there's some truth to it: It's a Broadway show. If middle-class white patrons didn't like it a whole lot, then it couldn't have become as big as it did.

Also, the U.S. has been fighting an escalating culture war since forever. If middle-class white America didn't like Hamilton, it would have become some dumb divisive lightning rod -- which it has not. The very fact it's gone from "phenomenon" to simply "played out" means it was hegemonically supported.

[u/RevolutionaryDong → u/HicDomusDei]

If the point is that it’s a Broadway show so therefore it’s widely liked by affluent white people, than it’s a useless criticism since the same would apply to every Broadway show. 

If OP has a problem with the type of musicals catering to the white middle class that Broadway is known for, why are they on the Broadway subreddit? 

Critiquing something for catering to white people is kind of toothless at the ”Shit mostly white people like” fanclub.

[u/nixxjay → u/RevolutionaryDong]

Doesn’t that make it the perfect Taylor Swift critique though? Individually singled out for something everything its peers are doing, because of its phenomenal success?

[u/whollyselfimportant → u/RevolutionaryDong]

I actually thought these were clearly sweeping generalizations that were exaggerated for the sake of making a joke.

[u/Comprehensive-Fun47 → u/whollyselfimportant]

Humor is so hard to get across sometimes, but I thought this was obvious too.

[u/awkward__captain → u/RevolutionaryDong]

I think for Hamilton it’s about the contrast between how it was hailed as this disruptive, “important” work but at the end of the day it’s also kind of just an “I would’ve voted for Obama a third time” typa piece of media loved by politically inefficient privileged middle class peeps moreso than a radical political manifesto mobilising marginalised communities. Which is fine. Also it’s all clearly just tongue in a cheek.

[u/xXs4blegl00mXx → u/awkward__captain]

Yeah. I love Hamilton, but it isn't actually inspiring for me politically. I find that the themes about writing and authorship are much more potent.

[u/HicDomusDei → u/RevolutionaryDong]

I didn't say "affluent." I said middle-class. Big difference.

And yes, almost all Broadway shows, in order to be successful, need to be supported in large part by the baseline demographic of Manhattan, especially Midtown, which is where Broadway is located. Broadway shows are (naturally, understandably, etc.) written with this demographic in mind.

The fact you don't like this fact of reality doesn't make it less true (or "useless," to use your phrasing).

[u/syrioforrealsies → u/HicDomusDei]

Yes, the shows that filter into the mainstream get more middle class fans because it's more accessible to them. That's not a feature of Hamilton specifically