The Representation of The American Dream as a Theme in "Hamilton: An American Musical"

Oleh :
Valentina Saraswati - B0317048 - Fak. Ilmu Budaya

This research aims to describe how Lin-Manuel Miranda portrays the ideas of The American Dreams in "Hamilton: An American Musical (2016)". The drama musical is about Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of America during the early time of America. This research analyzed how "Hamilton: An American Musical (2016)" portrayed the theme of The American Dream, including how each character perceive and achieve the ideas of The American Dream. The research employs the theory of semiotics by Roland Barthes to analyze the myth of The American Dream presented in the musical. This research is a descriptive qualitative, the discussion and result are done by analyzing and describing the performance shown in the recording from Disney+ (2020) and the lyrics collected. The data are taken from the record of the musical on Disney+ (2020), lyrics on the official YouTube channel of Hamilton: An American Musical, and cast recording of the musical. The data collected comes from viewing, reading, documenting, and analyzing the performance alongside the lyrics. The result are: "Hamilton: An American Musical (2016)" portraying the theme of The American Dream through characters story, theatrical aspects and plot, however the ideas of The American Dreams mostly act as a loose theme added into characters trait with limited association. The characters perceive The American dream differently according to their need, upbringing, experience, and relation with others. Lastly, the degree of achievements varies from characters to characters depends on the need of particular character in the plot.