The award-winning musical Hamilton is releasing on Disney+ this summer, and censoring it would be a mistake. Originally set to debut in theaters next year, Disney chose to change the release date and format due to several states and countries being on lockdown around the world – and this isn’t the first time they’ve made that decision, as other films have debuted on the service earlier than expected. Despite the excitement over the film, fans are concerned that Disney may censor the musical, as it has done with several others properties.
Created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton follows Alexander Hamilton as he transforms from an unknown immigrant in New York City to one of the framers of the United States Constitution and treasury. The musical gained notoriety when it debuted in 2015, with its modern music set to an old storyline, which continues to excite fans. The film coming to Disney+ isn’t an adaptation but a performance that was filmed live at the Rogers Theater in 2016. For those that missed it on Broadway, viewers will see Miranda play Alexander Hamilton, along with the rest of the original cast.
Miranda noted in an interview with NY Times that he would be fine with censoring. Despite Disney+ branding itself as a “family-friendly” platform, changing any of the established lines would be a mistake and unfair to the original musical its promoting. Hamilton has a few F-bombs throughout and includes the terms bastard and whore. If Hamilton does stream without any censorship, it would be a first for the platform to allow such curse words. Disney+ has made changes to a multitude of works from Toy Story 2 to Splash, with it often unclear as to why the changes were made.
Disney+ has rightfully caused a stir about its changes in the past, in part because there’s no telling what Disney will change about a work they deem inappropriate. If Hamilton had run in theaters as originally planned, Disney may not have censored the lyrics, so it’s nonsensical for the language to be removed in streaming. The curse words account for less than 100 words out of the entire three-hour musical, which is more than 20,000 words and likely won’t hurt any viewers. Alexander Hamilton was a brash figure who had illicit affairs, which is something that could also be argued should be excluded. Disney+ has already removed racial innuendos, flashes of skin, and a scene about the “casting couch” – all scenarios which could be argued are less adult than the plotlines explored in Hamilton. Disney+ should instead have a warning on Hamilton that the language is sometimes explicit and includes some adult themes, so their customers can make decisions for themselves.
With Disney owning both Disney+ and Hulu, it could just as easily stream Hamilton on Hulu without a censorship question. For Disney+ to make decisions that impact the art they’re streaming undermines the creator’s work and ability to know what is best. It also opens the door for more potentially destructive censorship by other platforms down the line. To what end would this go on? The industry needs to have guidelines they all follow or give creators more say with what happens to their content when it’s licensed. As streaming platforms bring on old movies and new releases alike, the question of censorship will continue to come up. Bottom line is, if a platform like Disney+ chooses to make a video available on its platform, then it should be viewed as-is. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote Hamilton and fans should have the opportunity to view it as it was intended, F-bombs and all.
