Alexander Hamilton as a cultural icon. Interesting.
I think I'm trying figure out if Hamilton is going to have a noticeable impact on pop culture of today. In 50 years, will this be remembered? When I think about the hype surrounding Rent, for example, I think some of the attention it was getting was simply about the amount of attention it drew. It was at the dawn of the Internet era. This is a musical at the height of the social media age.
What I personally see is for every person going gaga over Hamilton with an Instagram post saying, "OMG, GUYZZZZ! Hamilton! Selfie with Jonathan Groff he's super hot!", I'm seeing a lot of of genuine discussion about what makes the show important and how is the commentary on our collective past, present, and future.
As for Andrew Jackson...well...I teach middle school social studies. I'm expected to teach AJ as both a hero and a villain. BBAJ teaches one side of that story. I've had a few kids bring it up to me about why we can't listen to it to discuss Jacksonian politics and whether he was this huge, moody character.