Guns and Ships

"Guns and Ships"

I believe this song helps introduce the topic of discussion of how the French helped in the Revolutionary War. It can be easily said that without the French help we would have had no chance in the Revolutionary War. Out of their hatred of England, we profited, but that's not what we are here to discuss.

What I find interesting is that when I looked up information about French and American contact, Hamilton never came up, but Benjamin Franklin did. The musical over-hypes Hamilton's relation with the French in general through his relation with Lafayette. Benjamin Franklin is getting completely forgotten in this regard.

In a way Franklin is getting the Hamilton treatment. His story is not being told of how he was the main contact to France. Without Franklin, who knows where we would be. One of our most early foreign diplomats gets forgotten to give Hamilton a time a in the spotlight. He's not a character in the musical despite his importance and the musical seems to credit Hamilton with some of Franklin's work. But I guess that's what you get when you die and someone else has to tell the story.

Source:
- https://history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/french-alliance

Idolization of Famous People

Idolization of Famous People

We can see clearly in Hamilton and in history that people looked up to General George Washington as a figure to follow and one who could not falter. The American people of that time put him on a pedestal. He was their shining beacon of hope during tough times. He was the celebrity of that time.

Today, we have many celebrities that we look up to. Athletes, movie stars, comedians, you name it. We enjoy what they do and part of us wants to be like these people. We may not follow them into battle, but we do follow them in almost everything else they do. We go to their concerts, follow them on Twitter, read about them, and talk about them to everyone we know.

I'm not directly coming out and saying we have a problem...buuutttt we look up to these people in a way no one really should. The American's during the Revolutionary War loved Washington and didn't really looks at his flaws. Like in "History Has Its Eyes on You" Washington mentions an early mistake he made where sent a lot of men to their own deaths, and to be honest that was the first I had ever heard of it. Celebrities are people too and I believe we can't just look at the right they did; we must also look at their mistakes, so we may learn.

In "History Has Its Eyes on You" Washington is talking to Hamilton and gives him the warning that he is becoming too important to ignore, and soon his actions will  be remembered for the history books. This is something I like about Miranda on this topic of idolizing people. Miranda doesn't. He exposes so many of these people that the history books tell you to only the good words of. I plead that today's people look at the celebrities of our time and see them as people, so when they are looked back on there is not a boring, biased memory that grants less learning for the future.

"My Shot" and "Lose Yourself" Comparison

"My Shot" and "Lose Yourself"

Though these two songs may seem very different as they were written in different context, they both share a similar theme of knowing what you want and chasing it before it gets away from you.

Funnily, the first thing that made me draw the connection between these two things was that they both mention a "shot". Though in "My Shot" literal shots are mentioned throughout the "shot" they are both talking about not throwing away is the chance you have at achieving your goals; it is what drives you everyday and gets you out of bed in the morning. 

In the context of Hamilton, Hamilton speaks of not throwing away his shot at greatness in a political career and on the battlefield. All these opportunities come to him and he reminds himself not to throw it away and to make full use of it. Hamilton has the odds against him because of his lower social standing, but interestingly enough so does Eminem in his song "Lose Yourself"

In "Lose Yourself", Eminem talks of not blowing his opportunity in rap industry. He grew up in a trailer park and was not very well off, meaning he had everything to prove. Like Hamilton, he strove to improve his standing in the world and can't take his opportunities for granted because they may not show up again.

 

I believe we all need to learn something from this. To be honest this is something I struggle with from time to time. I struggle finding what I am truly passionate for, and I'm not quite sure if I had my "shot" if I would capitalize on it.