Sofia Carson Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock
Silence of critics. Despite viewers’ backlash against several allegedly problematic themes Purple HeartsStar Sofia CarsonThe project has been a great success.
“Why I fell in love with the movie is that it’s a love story but it’s so much more than that,” the Descendants star, 29. Variety Interview published Thursday, August 12. “It’s two hearts, one red, one blue, two worlds apart, who are really raised to hate each other. Through the power of love, they learn to lead with empathy and compassion and love each other and turn into this beautiful shade of purple.”
The Netflix film stars Carson as Cassie Salazar. It premiered on Netflix last month. The image shows the Pretty Little Liars – The Perfectionists alum plays an aspiring musician who has struggled to afford her Type 1 diabetes medication. Cassie marries a Marine to help pay insulin costs.Nicholas Galitzine) for his health insurance plan and military spouse monetary stipend.
While Purple Hearts Although it was initially intended to portray a romance between a more liberal female and a conservative male trapped in a fake relationship scheme, critics soon took offense. Several viewers were concerned about the movie’s misogynistic and racist undertones. (At one time, one of the 27 year-olds was interviewed. Cinderella actor’s fellow soldiers even shouts, “This one is to life, love and hunting down some goddamn Arabs, baby!”)
“The way Purple Hearts isn’t even sublte [sic] but blatantly anti arab anti hispanic racist misogynistic AND pro military propaganda but ppl are frothing at the mouth bc enemies to lovers,” one social media user tweeted earlier this month, criticizing its plot. “YEAH THEY’RE ENEMIES BCS HE’S A PRO GUN CONSERVATIVE SOLDIER AND SHE’S A LATINA LIBERAL.”
Another Twitter user added: “Purple Hearts is not a romance it is a horror film because I literally cannot think of anything more terrifying than having to marry a military dude to afford my insulin.”
Sofia Carson as Cassie and Nicholas Galitzine as Luke in ‘Purple Hearts.’ Mark Fellman/Netflix
Despite some disappointment in the film Purple Hearts has remained in Netflix’s Top 10 programs since its premiere. Carson, for her part has swiftly defended Carson’s production amid the criticism.
“We wanted to represent both sides as accurately as possible,” the Feel the beat Star, who also served on the executive producer team for the film, spoke out to the outlet. “What I think I’ve learned to do as an artist is separate myself from all of that and just listen to what the world is feeling and reacting to with the film. This movie has brought comfort to so many people. That’s all we could want [as] filmmakers and as artists.”
Purple Hearts’ director, Elizabeth Allen RosenbaumThis also stopped the backlash.
“They are flawed at the beginning and that was intentional,” the New York native told Variety August. “In order for the red heart and the blue heart to kind of turn purple, you have to have them be kind of extreme. Some of the people that they’re surrounded with are even more flawed than they are. They both have been neglected by the system; he’s hurt in a war that doesn’t seem to be ending and she’s slipping through the cracks of the healthcare system.”
Nicholas Galitzine as Luke and Sofia Carson as Cassie in ‘Purple Hearts.’ Mark Fellman/Netflix
She added: “I do hope that anyone who’s in any way insulted by it understands that our intentions are very pure, and it’s because we feel like people need to grow and need to start to become more moderate.”
The film was praised for its accurate portrayal of Type 1 Diabetes. “As we were learning more and more about type 1 diabetes and developing Cassie, we learned that it’s, frankly, highly underrepresented in film and TV and in media,” Carson told The Hollywood Reporter Friday, August 13th. “An issue that needs to be spoken of is the insulin crisis in this country and the health care crisis in this country, how there are countless girls and men and women like Cassie who literally can’t afford the insulin that they need to survive.”
The actress noted: “I learned a lot about what it means to be a type 1 diabetic, what my daily life would look like. We had a doctor on set as well who taught me about the insulin pump, the injections and how I should be acting when I had a low-blood-sugar attack.”
Purple Hearts is currently streaming on Netflix.
