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Netflix’s recently released romantic Purple Heart is in the news for all the wrong reasons. Directed by Elizabeth Ellen Rosenbaum and starring Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galizin, the film has more than 100 million hours watched on the platform and is on track to be among the most-watched content on Netflix.
However, one has to wonder if this is because of the story or the controversy surrounding it.
The Purple Hearts have been criticized for spreading disturbing racist and misogynistic stereotypes. A redeeming quality of the film? It reflects the angry, divided reality of America, and its treatment of non-white, non-men, more accurately than the filmmakers might have wanted.
Set in Oceanside, California, the story revolves around Cassie (Carson), an aspiring diabetic singer who can’t pay for her insulin, and Luke (Galizin), a man about to be deployed to Iraq for the first time. Young Marines. The two are as different as chalk and cheese.Casey’s heart is blue, touting liberalism and opposing Misogyny and Racismwhile Luke is a red, conservative, typical “white patriot” ready to fight in the Middle East.
The first time the two met, they despised and disliked each other, and the situation did not improve, but they still agreed to deceive the army by marrying for the benefit of marriage. It secured Cassie’s comprehensive medical coverage, including insulin, and provided Luke with extra cash so he could pay off debts to drug dealers.
Rosenbaum claims that Purple Hearts are about promoting moderation or centrism. Two polarized people can come together in love, listen and absorb each other’s perspectives. When red and blue are mixed, they turn purple, which is the name of the film. However, the only perspective change we’ve seen happens on Cassie’s side.
Case in point: A group of young marines go to a bar, thinking they can get star treatment as soldiers. They see Casey who is not interested in dating soldiers. A Marine asks her, “So we’re good enough to fight your ass, but not enough to touch it?” His friend (Luke) decides to try to win her over with charm (but no apology).
When Cassie responded grumpily, Luke took to Twitter to teach her how to fight for the rights of the people while soldiers like him went to war. As if misogyny wasn’t enough, there’s been a ton of shocking racist remarks. One Marine said, “It’s for life, love, and hunting down some damn Arabs, baby!” Oh, and by the way, he mispronounced “Arabs.”
Rosenbaum defended the storyline, arguing in the interview that “for characters to grow, they need to be flawed from the start”. However, the only character who seems to “grow up” is Cassie.
The couple didn’t have any meaningful conversations about why they believed what they believed, so no stage was set for moderate views. However, Cassie suddenly changed her mind, showing that she had an American banner on her balcony next to Pride, black lives matter logo. (This in itself is a subliminal display of the state of America today—the concept of America separate from LGBTQI and racial identity and rights.)
Also, while Cassie is a victim of America’s problematic healthcare system, Luke isn’t ignored. If anything, his white conservative identity allowed him, a former crime dealer addict, to join the Marines without asking any questions. He was eager to fight, and when he was wounded, he came home with first-rate treatment and a Purple Heart!
Different political ideologies are not character flaws. Millions of people coexist with moderate or vehement political views, many in family settings. On US TV, we saw Diane Lockhart and Kurt McVeigh marry without compromising democratic and Republican ideals in the Emmy-winning The Good Fight, discussing them at length the rules. Their portrayal is a modest lesson, as is the content of Lady Secretary. In “Purple Heart,” by contrast, the frequent evocations of dangerously sexist and racist stereotypes don’t address them at all, almost like propaganda.
Worse? This comes after the U.S. military apparently sanitized content to better showcase the Marines. Given how creepy much of the film is, one has to question where the U.S. military has drawn moral and ethical lines in its recruits.
There’s a lot to criticize about this movie. It started making political statements and it went horribly wrong. It doesn’t address any of the complex socio-political issues it raises through its characters; it just leaves viewers with disturbing remarks that seem like a reckless tactic to stir up controversy rather than foster dialogue.
But what made the Purple Hearts astonishingly successful was that it unwittingly became a mirror of today’s America, reflecting its Rampant and disturbing prejudice. For that reason alone, it’s worth paying attention to.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial position.
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