So after reading articles and a lot of comments on this today I have a question for anyone who knows or lives in Washington Heights. Within the Heights, is there any kind of "separation", so to speak, between lighter color Latino residents and darker color residents? I have read here and elsewhere that there is a very large amount darker skin Afro Latinos who reside there. Is there an area where you find mostly lighter skinned Latinos and that is the area represented here? Or did the film just ignore people who are in every part of the community? I have never been to the Heights so this is why I ask. Seeing that Lin wrote the show and had a hand in the movie, does it represent the part of the community he knows or associates with or, again, were people found in the entire community poorly represented?
I live in Washington Heights, and have for years. My grandmother lived in my neighborhood in the 30s... I hope I can provide some context. I'm white, but white, mostly German-Jewish people have lived in the neighborhood since the 30s. Before them it was mostly Irish. The Dominicans came in the late 70s and, while people think of the heights as primarily Dominican, it's still about 40% white. However, the Heights encompasses a huuuuge part of Manhattan - 155th up to Inwood, and between about 175 - Ft. Tryon Park at 190, there is a huge divide when you cross Broadway. East of Broadway is heavily Dominican (though there are other Latinx people who live in the neighborhood other than Dominican). West is primarily white and pretty Jewish.
I watched the movie, and I don't *care* because it's not my story, but you'd never know that white people live in the Heights (and not just because of gentrification - again, a lot of people and their families have been here since forever). I don't know, when it comes to the Latinx community, if there are ethnicity concentrations in different parts of neighborhood, but if there are, I would chalk that up to people probably living close to their families. Washington Heights is actually pretty diverse, and you see people all ALL different colors and ethnicities walking around (except maybe Asian people, generally).
I think it really depends where you are in the Heights. I kind of find it hard to believe since Lin-Manuel Miranda lived in Inwood, but he said when he wrote in the heights he had no idea Jewish people lived there (they literally fled Europe and the rise of Hitler and settled there). I think the original location for the show was 181/Ft.Washington, but that really isn't a Dominican area of the Heights in comparison, so they moved the Bodega and most of their residences east of Broadway for the movie and did most of their shooting (save J. Hood Wright Park and Nina's fire escape) away from Hudson Heights, which is the whiter sub neighborhood of Washington Heights. To simplify things even more, and probably too much, more white people live off the A/C line and more Dominicans live off the 1 Train.
All of that said, I'm happy to see a movie where there aren't really white people - it's totally fine, haha. We get enough air time. BUT, there definitely are both darker people AND whiter people in the Heights than the movie would lead you to believe if you're not familiar with the Heights. THAT said, I wouldn't say, from my personal observation, that there is a larger population of dark skinned people vs. light skinned Latinx, but there are more than shown in the movie. Apologies if I'm wrong.
I am mostly disappointed about the cutting of Benny's storyline, and knowing some afro-Dominican people, they also seem to be most disappointed in the omission of that important conversation. But there are definitely more shades of brown up here than what you saw in the movie.
Updated On: 6/15/21 at 01:48 PM
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