Sofia Carson Defends ‘Purple Hearts’ After Critics Blast Movie for Racism, Military Propaganda

Sofia Carson is standing by her new Netflix film Purple Hearts after the romantic drama was bashed by online critics. Carson, who is an executive producer in the film and stars alongside Nicholas Galitzine, shared a statement with Variety addressing the backlash against Purple Hearts, which has been attacked for its plot, characters and themes.

Purple Hearts follows the relationship between a progressive musician named Cassie Salazar (Carson) and a conservative Marine named Luke (Galitzine) who have contrasting political views but get married so she can benefit from his health insurance.

The movie has proved to be a smash hit at Netflix, where it landed in the streamer’s Top 10 list, but it’s earned plenty of detractors too, who have slammed it as “pro military propaganda” and called out characters’ racism. At one point, a character talks about “hunting down some goddamn Arabs.”

Carson recently spoke up in defense of the film, which she said was created to show that people who are entirely different can still learn to love and accept one another.

“Why I fell in love with the movie is that it’s a love story but it’s so much more than that,” Carson told Variety Aug. 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.”

She continued, “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.”

Director Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum also defended Purple Hearts to Variety, telling the outlet that her film intentionally portrays “flawed” characters that she admits are “kind of extreme.”

“Some of the people that they’re surrounded with are even more flawed than they are,” she said of Cassie and Luke. “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. So they’re both neglected by the system, and then they live under one roof, and in these extreme circumstances, they learn to become more moderate and to listen to each other and to love.”

Purple Hearts is now streaming on Netflix.