Vampire Hunter – Abraham Lincoln?

So it’s time for me to weigh in on the latest commercialization of our revered 16th President – I believe that Seth Grahame-Smith is an absolute …

Genious!

Now don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing ingenious about his novel from the commercial angle. A lot of folks have made more money on novel ideas, or even silly ones. But Grahame-Smith has created a powerful allegory – and you don’t have to be thoughtful or ‘get it’ to be impacted. Of course, there’s always the possibility the he wasn’t even conscious of what he did.

Here’s the deal. I don’t believe Lincoln’s mother was killed by vampires or that he believed she was. I also doubt southern slaveholders were supplying the world vampire poplation with a cheap supply of blood. But they were bloodsucking monsters (IMO) , they were profiting on an evil that was pretty much recognized as such by the civilized world at the time, and Lincoln’s hatred of their inhumanity sprung from his traumatic childhood.

In a generation that is sensitised to the evils of oppression, separated from its reality by time, distance, and personal experience, Grahame-Smith has recast slavery in terms that are more immediate. He retellls the horror in the framework of a current obsession with vampires.

Even if you don’t see the connection, you experience the reality that Lincoln stood against a horrible injustice, one that triggered memories of his painful youth.

Now what do you think of Abraham Lincoln – Vampire Hunter?