Purple Hearts, produced by Sofia Carson, also a leading actress, was about an aspiring musician and a marine who agrees to marry out of convenience for better health insurance and money. While fans loved the one bed trope and musicality from Sofia Carson, there is one thing that didn’t hit the mark with highlights racists and misogynistic values.
Cassie is an outspoken Latinx woman who has liberal views while Luke has conservative views and is going off to fight in the Middle East. Cassie’s apartment is shown to have flags of LGTBQ+, Black Lives Matter, a Hispanic flag, etc. The film shows real-life scenarios like insulin bills because Cassie is diabetic and debt from Luke’s past he’s trying to erase.
In the beginning, we see her not shy about sharing her opinions on gun reform and continue to put Luke in his place about opposing views. Once they agreed to be married is when fans noticed Cassie was not standing up for her views anymore. In a scene where Cassie expressed how innocent women were dying during the war arguing with Luke’s friend when Luke made her sit down, embarrassing her. He criticizes her for not understanding what the racist friend meant and gaslights her because of her “feminism” views. Characters are supposed to grow throughout this movie, but the only character that “grows” or more like “compresses her opinions” is Cassie.
The romance is there with tender and sweet moments when Luke comes back home after receiving a purple heart. But the political statement the movie was made to make did not do anything but seem like political propaganda. Luke continues to judge Cassie’s life when hearing that her mom is here illegally and criticizes her when she gets a dog for him while he’s injured.
The film didn’t touch on any important topics of why the characters have these views or how they learned to get along besides lust. It only takes a couple skype calls and Cassie making a song for the military for them to fall in love.