Long before there was the play Hamilton, there was the movie 1776. I was around eight years old when I saw it for the first time and it completely captivated me.
I didn’t know exactly what to make of the oft-repeated phrase set to song lyrics about “sexual combustibility”, but I knew that it was funny to hear Benjamin Franklin singing about it. The actor that portrayed Franklin nailed that role as did all the other actors – one of which (Thomas Jefferson) you may know from watching the television series The White Shadow.
I had read about slavery in history books, but it had been impossible for me to imagine. As I watched 1776, I shuddered with horror during the scene when the lights dimmed and the song describing the auction blocks and the slave ships brought home the reality of such an atrocity.
The character that really drew me in was that of John Adams, played brilliantly by William Daniels (also in St. Elsewhere among other roles). There’s a song in the movie that describes Adams as “obnoxious and disliked” but that’s not how I saw him. As young as I was, I understood and empathized with his determination, passion, and frustration.
Decades later, I read the biography of John Adams by the wonderful historian David McCullough. I would rush home from work to devour a few more chapters and I took a lot of satisfaction in learning that Adams was everything I had always believed him to be, determined, passionate, empathetic, principled, and honest.
It’s been a source of frustration to me that Adams has never received the credit he deserves but that’s often the case with good people who spend their lives trying to do the right thing.
Good people don’t usually make headlines and too often they don’t make it into history books, at least not to the extent that they should.
The headlines these days are often unbearable. I’ve cut back on how much news I read, and I took a break from social media because the constant barrage of bad news has had such a negative impact on my emotional, mental, and even physical wellbeing. Several friends have told me that they too have cut back or abandoned it all together for the same reason. But I try to persevere and focus on stories that highlight the good people out there.
I had planned to spend this 4th of July in Canada at a concert. I wanted to get away from the stomach-churning images of our flag being waved around by people who reject the ideas and principles our constitution was based on and who treat people of color, trans people, gay people, etc., as somehow less human than themselves and deny them their basic political and civil rights. Instead, I’m spending the holiday weekend packing and preparing to move.
But I will take a break and watch 1776. I will celebrate the lofty ideals the United States was founded on, I will acknowledge the shortcomings and failures but also celebrate the successes (at least until recently). I will remind myself of the good people who devoted (and sometimes sacrificed) their lives to those ideals. I will take comfort in knowing that millions of Americans are still standing up and fighting for those principles.
I will watch that movie and I will laugh and cry and do my best to hope and believe that good will prevail and move us forward.
If you’re looking for a hopeful way to commemorate July 4th this year, I recommend you watch 1776 (we watched it together with our kids for many years). And read David McCullough’s biography of Adams.
Stay strong and thanks for reading.
Eileen Blake
