mikubinderfanatic

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Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?: Queer Representation in Popular Culture, Fanfictions, and Hamilton AUs

Queer fanworks offer a unique lens through which to examine the limitations of LGBTQ+ representation in popular culture. While mainstream media often sidelines or subtextually hints at queerness without explicit acknowledgement, fan communities actively reclaim and reimagine narratives to center LGBTQ+ identities. God Save Our Foolish Sons by TheInevitableSense, a fanfiction based on Hamilton, and the Thomas Jefferson character sheet fanart affectionately dubbed Miku Binder Thomas Jefferson by the internet, created by Tumblr artist ask-crammaster-ham aka Umbrony, both show this phenomenon by queering historical figures and reshaping them through a contemporary lens. 

Hamilton: An American Musical, created by Lin Manuel Miranda, became a cultural phenomenon due to its innovative blend of hip-hop, R&B, and traditional Broadway music and its diverse casting of historically white figures. Premiering in 2015, the show reimagines the life of Alexander Hamilton and the founding of America through what Miranda describes as “America then, told by America now.” Hamilton was an immediate success, winning several awards and redefining historical storytelling for contemporary audiences. However, while it offers a modernized and racially inclusive interpretation of history, the musical largely avoids explicit queer representation, leaving fan communities to fill in the gaps. 

God Save Our Foolish Sons by TheInevitableSense is an Alternate Universe (AU) Hamilton fanfiction that reimagines the American Revolution within the framework of modern gang warfare. The story is set in NYC, where two rival factions, the Redcoats led by the ruthless leader George King (a stand-in for King George III), and the Sons of Liberty, led by George Washington, are locked in an escalating conflict. The NYPD, unable to control the violence, enlists the help of the FBI. FBI Agents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are sent to investigate and put an end to the war. However, their mission gets complicated when Jefferson begins to form a connection with Alexander Hamilton, a fiery young member of the Sons of Liberty. What follows is a complex enemies to lovers slow burn romance between Jefferson and Hamilton, set against a backdrop of political maneuvering, gang violence, and personal struggles with identity and morality. The fic explores queerness, internalized homophobia and a liberal interpretation of history, featuring a large cast of Hamilton characters adapted to a gritty, contemporary setting. 

The Miku Binder Thomas Jefferson art originates from a character sheet created by the Tumblr askblog ask-crammaster-ham in September 2017. Run by fan artist Umbrony, the blog reimagined characters from the Hamilton musical in a modern college setting. The depiction of Thomas Jefferson, styled after Daveed Diggs’ portrayal in the musical, presented him as a transgender, bisexual art major obsessed with anime, taking Japanese lessons, and wearing a chest binder adorned with Hatsune Miku. The character sheet also included headcanons such as being a former drug dealer to John Laurens, and having a past cocaine addiction. Jefferson’s shirt, reading, “I met God. She’s Black.” was another focal point to the piece. This portrayal gained significant attention, sparking controversy that led to the blog being promptly shut down less than a month after its creation. 

Fanworks like God Save Our Foolish Sons and the Miku Binder Thomas Jefferson art show how queer communties reclaim and reinterpret mainstream narratives to create space for LGBTQ+ identities. As Jeremy Brett argues in “I Put Myself Back in the Narrative, " Hamilton itself functions as a form of fanfiction, reshaping history through a contemporary lens to center marginalized voices. However, despite its casting and musical stylization, Hamilton largely avoids explicit queerness, leaving gaps that fan creators eagerly fill. God Save Our Foolish Sons builds on this foundation, transforming the Founding Fathers into characters within a modern gang narrative where queerness is not just implied but explicitly explored. This shows the broader function of queer fanfiction, which serves as both a critique of and an expansion on mainstream media, providing representation where it is otherwise lacking. Similarly, Miku Binder Thomas Jefferson operates as a radical reimagining of history. Christopher Michael Roman’s analysis of queer representation in Wolverine in Comics and Fanfiction shows how fanworks transform subtext into explicit queerness, allowing audiences to see themselves reflected in beloved characters. Umbrony echoes a similar response when she was criticized, stating in an Instagram post that, “Lin himself has said that Hamilton is a retelling of ‘America THEN’ by ‘America NOW’, so it’s only right we get representation for everyone. There’s literally TONS of trans versions of Alexander Hamilton and they get little to no hate.” This attitude displays a broader trend within the fandom where artists and writers often separate Hamilton’s characters from their historical counterparts entirely, a creative decision that remains the subject of debate. Both God Save Our Foolish Sons and Miku Binder Thomas Jefferson demonstrate how fan communities engage with queerness in ways that mainstream media, even progressive works like Hamilton, often fail to do. Ultimately, Hamilton fanworks reflect a broader desire for personal identification with media, particularly among queer people who often lack representation in mainstream media. The musical provided a progressive foundation, but fan creators have expanded upon it to explore identities and narratives left unaddressed in the original work, whether the internet agrees with it or not.