(This is not a museum, but the movie fits
into the larger discussion on Public History and I included a photo of
me at a museum, so there is that.)
One
Christmas my father asked me who my favorite president was. Instead of
answering him I explain that I did not have a favorite president and I
don’t care for choosing favorites, and would rather we all recognize the
presidents’ humanity. (ya, I read Loewen in high school)
Fast
forward to my first year of graduate school. While exploring IMDB.com I
came across the trailer for a film called “Abraham Lincoln Vampire
Hunter.” Oh man, I love Lincoln. Considering that I was born and raised in Illinois I like to think this is a natural reaction.
That
same spring I took a class called “Our Founding Fathers.” Instead of
reading historical monographs about the men, we read about their
creation, (Check out Inventing George Washington by Edward
Lengal) The class discussed the presidential images as cultural
constructions and the power related to these characters. For example, we
looked at what the proliferation of the Cherry Tree myth meant in U.S.
culture.
The stories' validity are debatable, but they become true as the men who we consider our Founding Fathers fade away in place of the character we make them into.
Back
to Lincoln- the movie, and book (which I did read, more on that later)
uses the character President Lincoln to tell a story about the link
between the Civil War and the 18th century vampire eradication in the United States. This movie, and book gives Lincoln a new story which speaks to 21st century culture.
In
“Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter,” the Lincoln image turns into an uber
masculine hunter. The elements previously recognized as “Lincoln”, the
axe, severe depression, honesty, and “freeing” slaves, are reconstructed
in this film/book to support Lincoln’s masculine heroism. Politicians
are not known for action hero type deeds. Lincoln wrote the Emancipation
Proclamation, he did not personally enforce it. Our 21st
century culture places a lot of significance on masculinity- look at our
military, our movies, our toy stores, anything really. Masculinity’s
definition changes throughout time, and “ALVH” allows one of the
nation’s favorite presidents to take part in the newest definition.
Why not give all the presidents a gritty re-boot?
I
happily saw a Funny Or Die clip proposing more presidential gritty
re-boots. Which I support completely. I am not interested in the
validity of the claims made by the Lincoln movie, and the others that
will hopefully follow, but rather the fact that people are using
historical characters to tell new stories. I know some people will worry
about other people thinking stories like “ALVH,” being taken as fact.
That is a certainly a valid worry, but what will that do? Well, it will
support the current definition of masculinity, and maybe make people
think there are vampires. Looking at “ALVH” we see 2012’s cultural- it
is more a story about us than the 19th United States.
The Book
I
really liked the book. I enjoyed seeing the author convince his readers
that he used primary documents. He used footnotes and engaged in a
discussion about the document’s validity. And it was funny, the movie
was funny too. Great stuff.
Lastly-Neat stuff- Fun facts
President Harding first used the phrase “Our Founding Fathers”
Abraham Lincoln is still alive and protects us all from vampires...because he is one!
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