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Before you think it beneath you to even dignify the question in the subject line, hear this: in case you didn't know, there's a new movie coming out later this month which puts Abe Lincoln in an odd, presumably pre-presidential role of “vampire hunter”. “Why?” you may be asking yourself. Well, “why not?!” is a good and appropriate response! Obviously, the history of the man and his times do not meet the expectations that audiences demand nowadays. If you have Obama rubbing elbows with Clooney and giving Situation Room tours to Jay Z, Lincoln's life is going to seem rather “drab” with a few “minor” tweaks. Think about it – the sheer genius of such a storyline makes all presidential bios fertile grounds for similar epics: maybe Andrew Jackson got his resolve after being schooled in warfare in the clone wars near Alpha Centuri, or perhaps Teddy Roosevelt's early years were spent rectifying dilemmas from different ages as he traveled through time. The possibilities are endless! As Chris J the Genius points out, a recent trend in Hollywood is the production of heavily fictionalized movies that are set in the past. Poe, Shakespeare, and now Lincoln have been targets for such historical fictionalization. However, we can't ignore the Da Vinci Code, which may have started all of the recent interest in this kind of thing.Perhaps this is only the beginning.
I didn't realize it but the timespan of the movie continues through Gettysburg. I thought it focused on Abe Lincoln's pre-presidential years.
The climax of the movie comes at the Battle of Gettysburg. In history, the Confederate army invaded northern territory in 1863. In part, the Confederacy hoped that a convincing victory would lead to recognition by European leaders. In the movie, before the battle is fought, the Confederate president Jefferson Davis earns support from the lead vampire, who sends bloodsuckers disguised as grey-clad rebel soldiers to attack the Union positions on the ridges and hills around the south central Pennsylvanian town. In both history and the movie, the Confederates win the first day of the battle. In both history and the movie, Lincoln is deeply concerned with the events in Gettysburg. Though Lincoln’s ordering the requisition of all the silver in the movie is completely unfounded in history, it does illustrate the North’s vastly superior industrial infrastructure. And in could also be construed as emblematic of the 16th President’s unprecedented use of Federal authority.
'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter': Lincoln versus vampires, history versus Hollywood
Politicians in general, and Presidential staffs in particular, have always been highly involved in creating believealbe fictional accounts of history – and current events for that matter… as has Hollywood. Seems like a natural fit to me!
