Why Is Netflix’s ‘Purple Hearts’ Controversial?

Netflix's original movie Purple Hearts is shaping up to be a hit on the streaming service, despite receiving backlash.

The project — which stars Sofia Carson as Cassie Salazar and Nicholas Galitzine as Luke Morrow — tells the story of a struggling musician who falsely marries a marine to get on his health insurance plan. With a 33 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, the rom-com has been slammed online for its controversial plot choices.

***Spoilers below!***

An essay on Teen Vogue notes the plot device of the false marriage is a confusing solution for Cassie, who is diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and struggles to ration her life-saving insulin.

Instead of focusing on that very real difficulty, the film has been criticized for focusing on the confusing enemies-to-lovers romance between the main characters.

"I think [Purple Hearts] perfectly illustrates that liberal women cannot change their conservative husbands,"one person tweeted. "Instead, they get more conservative themselves for their personal benefit, all while maintaining their shallow 'woke' aesthetic."

Jezebel notes the film also contains racist language — specifically a reference to "hunting down some god d--n Arabs" — that also promotes war. In fact, the way the military is presented in general has been called into question. One tweet called out the film for being "[U.S.] military propaganda that uses the invasion & deaths of 1.2 million [Iraqis] as a rom-com."

"Purple Hearts is for the girlies with racist boyfriends," another critic opined on Twitter.

Others compared the idea of marrying a member of the military to obtain health insurance to a trope that belongs in a horror movie rather than a romance.

See more reactions, below:

Despite complaints,Variety reports Purple Hearts has been immensely popular on the streaming service. It amassed more than 100 million hours of viewing within two weeks of release and was the most-viewed film in that time period.

Both Carson and Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum — the film's director — defended Purple Hearts in an interview with Variety.

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

The director added that the film is about allowing two "flawed" characters to mend each other and become more "moderate" in the process.

Carson also emphasized the project is more than a traditional love story. "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 explained.

The actor added that "so many people have felt seen or are comforted by this movie."

Although it has been mired in controversy, Variety also notes Purple Hearts garnered some positive reactions for its depiction of diabetes.