Having written 1,828 words yesterday, having finished Chapter One of Fay Grimmer yesterday, and having written all of that chapter in only four days, today I decided would be a movie day. So, we went to Attelboro, Mass. where it's not too hard to find 3-D films on good 2-D screens. We saw both Timur Bekmambetov Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, and Steve Purcell's Brave. All I'm going to say about the movies right now – as far as whether or not the were good movies – is that I liked both a great deal. Perfect, fun summer movies. I recommend both.
As the credits for ALVH were rolling, I turned to Kathryn and said, "The Professional Outrage crowd is probably gonna make a fuss about this film because, you know, the whole Abraham Lincoln working to abolish slavery thing must be racist." Now, I was joking. JOKING, as in making with the funny ha ha. But she said, "Oh, it's already started. People are screaming it's just more 'Mighty Whitey.'" My expression was likely what is meant by gobsmacked.
Did I miss something? Yeah, okay. The American Civil War is – like all wars — a complicated matter. Saying that it was a war over slavery is, indeed, a simplification. Just like saying World War II was all about Hitler's murderous anti-semitism is a simplification. And, yet, Hitler was a murderous anti-semite, and Abraham Lincoln did champion the cause of abolishing slavery. History, people? You've heard of that, right?*
For the hellish sake of fuck all. Near as I can tell, being a moron who maintains a constant level of outrage – even when they're so demonstrably wrong it's just funny – has become hip. Or the new pink. Or whatever.
Or maybe it's just the internet's official sporting event.
And never mind the way they band together into electromagnetic self-perpetuating bully clumps (EMSPBCs; pronounced emspecks). Disagree with these clumps, you're instantly branded One of the Bad Guys. The same way McCarthyism worked. Oh, wait. More history.
Hating on the Morons,
Aunt Beast
* Also, vampires are just pretend.
As the credits for ALVH were rolling, I turned to Kathryn and said, "The Professional Outrage crowd is probably gonna make a fuss about this film because, you know, the whole Abraham Lincoln working to abolish slavery thing must be racist." Now, I was joking. JOKING, as in making with the funny ha ha. But she said, "Oh, it's already started. People are screaming it's just more 'Mighty Whitey.'" My expression was likely what is meant by gobsmacked.
Did I miss something? Yeah, okay. The American Civil War is – like all wars — a complicated matter. Saying that it was a war over slavery is, indeed, a simplification. Just like saying World War II was all about Hitler's murderous anti-semitism is a simplification. And, yet, Hitler was a murderous anti-semite, and Abraham Lincoln did champion the cause of abolishing slavery. History, people? You've heard of that, right?*
For the hellish sake of fuck all. Near as I can tell, being a moron who maintains a constant level of outrage – even when they're so demonstrably wrong it's just funny – has become hip. Or the new pink. Or whatever.
Or maybe it's just the internet's official sporting event.
And never mind the way they band together into electromagnetic self-perpetuating bully clumps (EMSPBCs; pronounced emspecks). Disagree with these clumps, you're instantly branded One of the Bad Guys. The same way McCarthyism worked. Oh, wait. More history.
Hating on the Morons,
Aunt Beast
* Also, vampires are just pretend.
- Current Mood:
gobsmacked - Current Music:Nirvana, "Rape Me"
Comments
i'm going to see Brave this weekend. it looks lovely.
You can't argue with stupid.
Not productively.
And you are absolutely right: little understanding of history other than (maybe) a few sound bite-sized chunks, and no perspective. Which makes me nervously remember the old saw about the doom of those who do not learn from history.
Scratch that, it's been done; The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. Sort of. Very sort of. John Emdall was kind enough to bring that to my attention. Thank you John Emdall. By the way she says hi to everyone, and apologizes that the sequel morphed into Big Trouble in Little China; it wasn't her fault, or so she claims.
Edited at 2012-06-28 12:37 am (UTC)
Whenever someone starts griping about historical accuracy or race politics in ALVH I
take the safety off of my Browningfeel compelled to point out: Abraham Lincoln! Vampires! Horse-Fu! Mary Todd Lincoln with a rifle! Rufus Sewell in a summer blockbuster for the first time twenty freaking years!This movie was written by the guy who did the Dark Shadows screenplay, and filmed by the guy who did Wanted (you know, the movie where bullets turn corners, Morgan Freeman calls someone a motherfucker, and Angelina Jolie drives a car into a train). We are not talking about deep, debate-worthy material here...