After years of anticipation, the film adaptation of In The Heights, the beloved Broadway musical penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, finally hit select theaters and HBO Max on June 11 — but its arrival was not without fair criticism.
Upon its premiere, many criticized the film for its lack of Afro-Latinx representation, especially given the area it is set in, which, in turn, opened up a bigger conversation around the colorism rampant in the Latinx community. On June 14, Lin-Manuel Miranda – who wrote the adaptation alongside Quiara Alegría Hudes and also acted as el Piragüero in the film – took to Twitter to address the concerns with an apologetic note.
“I started writing In The Heights because I didn't feel seen. And over the past 20 years all I wanted was for us—ALL of us—to feel seen. I'm seeing the discussion around Afro-Latino representation in our film this weekend and it is clear that many in our dark-skinned Afro-Latino community don't feel sufficiently represented within it, particularly among the leading roles,” his post, which was shared as an image file, reads. “I can hear the hurt and frustration over colorism, of feeling still unseen in the feedback. I hear that without sufficient dark-skinned Afro-Latino representation, the work feels extractive of the community we wanted so much to represent with pride and joy.”
“In trying to paint a mosaic of this community, we fell short. I'm truly sorry. I'm learning from the feedback, I thank you for raising it, and I'm listening,” Lin-Manuel’s statement continues. “I'm trying to hold space for both the incredible pride in the movie we made and be accountable for our shortcomings. Thanks for your honest feedback. I promise to do better in my future projects, and I'm dedicated to the learning and evolving we all have to do to make sure we are honoring our diverse and vibrant community. Siempre [Always], LMM.”
On June 9, The Root published an interview with the cast and crew of the film titled “In the Heights and the Erasure of Dark-Skinned Afro-Latinxs,” which sparked larger conversation around colorism within the Latinx community and, particularly, in big-budget productions. In the four-minute segment – which quickly went viral on Twitter, amassing over two million views at the time of writing – host Felice León asked why the film favored white or white-passing Latinx actors in its leading roles in lieu of dark-skinned Afro-Latinxs when the film set in a predominantly Afro-Dominican neighborhood. (Corey Hawkins, who plays Benny, is the film’s only dark-skinned Black lead and plays a non-Latinx character.)
"discourse" - Google News
June 15, 2021 at 10:31PM
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Lin-Manuel Miranda Responded to "In the Heights" Colorism Discourse - Teen Vogue
"discourse" - Google News
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