History or Fiction? Have you seen Hamilton?

While the founding fathers may not have been musically inclined to rap, there’s no doubt that the founding fathers would have agreed that fictionalizing history is effective at getting the message across.

There are times when I wonder if history is completely accurate. Or if human history should be completely factual and all truth. Sometimes, a little elaboration and imagination makes what could be sleep-inducing information into sometime that is remembered forever.





In class this quarter, I have been learning about history, memory, and story. To explore this topic, our class watched La Historia Official (1985), which is translated as “The Official Story. The Official Story is a film set in Buenos Aires and is about the missing sons and daughters in Argentina.

Argentina in the late 1960s was in a period of political upheaval, with military groups with ties to the government killing people and opposition groups openly challenging the government. The disappeared people of Argentina were people who had been taken into state custody and were never again seen by relatives.


Testimonio, or testimonial fiction is a genre of fiction based on actual events sometimes told by a witness. There is a dialogue of realistic voices which reorders historical events in narrative form. Testimonio is effective because it transforms atrocity into a narrative that people can revisit. Stories are much easier to hear and be passed down.

To bring the history of actual events to the public, films or productions will need to recreate the events that actually happened. Sometimes, this involves fictionalizing. Currently, modern theatre has employed fiction to tell history with great results.

The hit Broadway musical, “Hamilton” is a musical inspired by the biography of Alexander Hamilton written by noted historian Ron Chernow.

Hamilton has been able to bring the history of the founding fathers to modern viewers. The Broadway musical seeks to inform and acquire people today with famous leaders such as George Washington, John Adams, and of course, Alexander Hamilton. Such history is often neglected  by the modern-day person because it is so far from the understanding of the ordinary person.

Hamilton does not follow history exactly however. Rather portray every detail about the old-fashioned world of the founding fathers of our nation, this musical reinvents notable events with a modern day twist. People of this era are finally able to understand what the forefathers meant through the play's dramatized events and modern slang. This musical includes salsa and merengue with rap and hip-hop, stylistic influences which would not have been available during the colonial times. Nevertheless, such fictionalization works in the play because it makes history relatable and understandable in modern terms.