RSS FeedHumorous Assassinations?
“Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the show?”
Mrs. Columbo & I recently took family visiting from out of town to see The Complete History of America (Abridged), and the first half of the show ended with what was intended to be a humorous dramatization of the Lincoln assassination. When I realized what we were to see, I turned to look at Mrs. Columbo knowing that she would not be pleased. In the show a man dressed in a over-sized coat (pulled up to cover his head) a balloon in place of his head with face drawn on in marker, is shot/popped by a Snidely Whiplash looking Booth.
Had we seen this show a year ago, we’d have laughed with the rest of crowd. But at the National Book Festival 2007 we were camped out at the History & Biography tent listening to the various authors speak. That was when we first heard of James Swanson & his book Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase For Lincoln’s Killer.
Rather than reading from his book, Swanson spent most of his time discussing how history has turned Lincoln’s assassination into a joke, calling Ford’s Theatre a monument to the killer & his work, not president Lincoln. In what was a revelation to the Columbos, Swanson asked the audience to try to imagine people laughing & joking about the events in Memphis on April 4th, 1968, the way they do Lincoln’s murder. I think we can all agree that it’s inconceivable that the actors we saw would have done that. But Lincoln’s murder? Funny stuff for any show, based on the laughter in the theater that evening.
This is no condemnation of the show or the audience, but after having my eyes opened to the lack of respect for Lincoln & his death, it’s hard to find jokes like that funny anymore.
“Other than that Mrs. Columbo, how was the show?”
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Comments
Lincoln violated every civil liberty imaginable against his people in the north (not to mention the south) and waged a total war against half of the country’s civilians. How in the world can you compare him to a peace loving MLK who gave his life defending the same liberties Lincoln pushed aside for his own political gain?
As it happens Mr Swanson is doing a free program at 7 pm tonight at the National Portrait Gallery. It’s part of series on Lincoln done in conjunction with Ford’s Theatre. Check NPG’s website for information about making a reservation. The last Linciln program there was totally packed.
Thanks #3! I may check that out, I’ve only seen/heard Swanson that one time at the Book Festival. Will try to check that out.
There’s an old saying: Tragedy + Time = Comedy.
I can’t speak to the funniness of the show you saw, but people have been making comedy out of murder, war, assassination and genocide for a very long time from Monty Python (Life of Brian) to Mel Brooks (History of the World Part 1) to Eddie Izzard (Cake or Death?)Some comedy is more insightful than others, granted, but it has always been done and always will be to varying degrees of success.
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The trivializing of the Lincoln assasination has much to do with its location in DC and the pro confederate sympathies of area residents in the decades after the civil war. The Lincoln assasination is too often taken in history to be an isolated incident and not the debilitating final terrorist strike of a defeated fascist state (the CSA).