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Sofia Carson defends Netflix hit Purple Hearts over racist language

Purple Hearts has been doing well on Netflix, but it hasn't been without some backlash.

The film focuses on a liberal musician who lives with Type-1 Diabetes, who decides to marry a strongly conservative Marine in order to get health insurance. One scene that has garnered criticism in particular is where a fellow Marine makes a toast to, in his words, "hunting down some God damn Arabs".

While the Marine in question is called out for his language during that scene, there are plenty of people who found it unnecessary to include in the first place.

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

Related: Purple Hearts true story: Sofia Carson's Netflix hit has a real-life inspiration

Speaking to Variety, director Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum and star Sofia Carson have argued that they wanted to show just how different people on the left and right sides of the political spectrum are, and how that's a hurdle our main characters need to overcome.

"Why I fell in love with the movie is that it's a love story," Carson said. "But it's so much more than that. 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. We wanted to represent both sides as accurately as possible. 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. That has been so beautifully overwhelming and so many people have felt seen or are comforted by this movie. That's all we could want filmmakers and as artists."

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix

Related: Sofia Carson explains "particularly emotional" Purple Hearts song

Meanwhile Rosenbaum added in response to the criticism: "I hope that people understand that in order for characters to grow, they need to be flawed in the beginning. So we very much intentionally created two characters that had been bred to hate each other.

"They are flawed at the beginning and that was intentional. 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."

Purple Hearts is available to stream on Netflix now.

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