Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Sings Which Story? Narrative Production and Race in Film Musicals

• In Event: (Un)Making Curriculum: Critiquing Racial Hegemony Through Visual-Textual Analysis

Abstract

Film musicals serve as a tool to infuse historical and cultural content into social studies curricula towards greater student engagement--for example, Lin Manuel-Miranda's Hamilton has become a celebrated classroom piece due to its ability to blend history with hip-hop and pop culture. Yet beyond language and content scans, teachers rarely examine or utilize musicals for how their narratives (mis)represent racial communities. This critical film analysis of three musicals, using the theoretical framework of history production, reveals themes of historical morality, relationship and race, and implicit/explicit racial messaging. Although troubling in their overall contribution to racial projects, film musicals can in fact be an opportune way to engage in the complexities of teaching race and racism in educational spaces.

Authors

• Joanna Batt, University of Houston

• Michael Joseph, University of Texas at Austin