Thursday, July 19, 2012
President Vampire Hunter: Possibilities (Part Two)
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| washingtonpost.com |
Seth Grahame-Smith decided Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter needed a framing story. And the framing story is about ALVH, the story.
So many possibilities:
Framing Story
None
Why the fuck-hell do you need a framing story for this?
Throughout, different nineteenth-century activists and/or or modern
historians read this journal in real time:
Maybe ALVH the main story is a frightening post-Civil War
discovery – and by frightening, I mean inflammatory, because it was after the
Civil War. The Confederate interprets it as Union propaganda (understandable,
given Jefferson Davis’s moustache-twirling Captain Planet Snidely Whiplash villain
portrayal), the abolitionist interprets it as anti-Lincoln (or pro-Lincoln) propaganda
of the most absurd sort, and the Frederick-Douglass-style former slave debates
both of them. This creates some ambiguity on how we should interpret this 'Lincoln' journal, including its existence and validity.
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| scoobydoomansion.blogspot.com |
I wonder how the historians would find the journal. Maybe Henry
(Abraham Lincoln’s in-universe Vampire Obi-Wan Kenobi. Yes) would give it to
them. That’d be funny – I bet it would go like this:
“I hear you are fascinated by tales of the Civil War.”
(Seriously, that’s the way he talks. What I like to call Overly Formal
Anachro-speak).
“Well, I am a Civil War historian, sir. Would you like to
schedule an appointment, because it’s really late, and I need to head home.
Also, it would be best if we met at my office, and not in a dark alley.” (Henry, successful shadiness requires subtlety).
Maybe the historians debate the journal’s validity and
politics, but with the perspective we have today. They talk about the
multi-million dollar industry that Lincoln has become, that he’s one of those
historical figures that’s almost become as much a fictionalized,
sensationalized part of our pop culture as Vampires themselves. Hell, Lincoln
has almost as many impersonators as Elvis. He’s already an undead celebrity.
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| dailyyonder.com |
A Confederate-sympathizing historian and a Lincoln fan-boy
debate the level of hero worship that surrounds him. Lincoln’s life is given a
Christian spin in pop culture – the liberator martyred after saving the Union
and freeing the slaves (with over a million total deaths, of course, including civilians) – which oddly
compliments the traditional notion of a valiant hunter destroying the evil
Vampire hell-demons (with a to-be-determined number of deaths).
Maybe the journal is determined to be real, maybe not. Maybe
Vampires are recognized as real in this present – hell, one of the historians
could be Vampiric. The possibilities go on and on.
Historians’ discussions illuminate their own personalities
and provide meta-commentary on the place of a book like ALVH in pop culture.
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| unwinnable.com |
Henry is telling the framing story, and offering his own
retrospective on the event.
You know, because he was actually there. And shaped the
events. And could actually do something about them now, like finish what
Lincoln started and end the cycle of death and destruction his people have
wrought. And he’s had centuries to reflect upon it, and knows what the fuck
he’s talking about.
What actually happened:
It’s about Seth Grahame Smith writing the book! Yes, he
wrote himself into the story. Who
is he, in-universe? A random guy Henry met at a general store that can’t
influence the events at all and knows absolutely nothing about them. Perfect!
It adds so much.
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