In American Civil War history at Dickinson College of course the alma mater of both president buchanan and chief Justice Taney for what thats worth. Matt is the author of a number of books and articles including lincolns sanctuary which is a history of the soldiers home where lincoln would go during the summer and he is the author of a forthcoming book which i think will radically force us to think about lincoln in a new way. Its hard to imagine anything that could force us to think about lincoln in a new way since there is so much on lincoln that what else is there to say . His new book will be called boss lincoln and he is going to look at lincoln as a party and president ial leader. Ill turn the podium over to matt pinsker and also let him talk to us about mr. Spielberg and lincoln goes to hollywood. Well, thank you very much. To paul and don and everyone here, it is an honor to be at a symposium like this and speak about spielbergs lincoln is important for us to do. This is a movie
The u. S. Capital historical society. Its about 45 minutes. Our next speaker is matt pinsker the associate professor of history and holds the chair in American Civil War history at Dickinson College of course the alma mater of both president buchanan and chief Justice Taney for what thats worth. Matt is the author of a number of books and articles including lincolns sanctuary which is a history of the soldiers home where lincoln would go during the summer and he is the author of a forthcoming book which i think will radically force us to think about lincoln in a new way. Its hard to imagine anything that could force us to think about lincoln in a new way since there is so much on lincoln that what else is there to say . His new book will be called boss lincoln and he is going to look at lincoln as a party and president ial leader. Ill turn the podium over to matt pinsker and also let him talk to us about mr. Spielberg and lincoln goes to hollywood. Well, thank you very much. To paul an
Reject the scholar who doesnt give them what they want. It strikes me, in other words they are engaging in some way. Just on their own terms. You know, someone like Steve Mcqueen has an idea and he found this book. He had an idea. His wife found him the book and he put it all together and that is the narrative and the story and he has his ideas and scenes. I was struck powerfully by spielberg having scenes in his mind telling the historians what he saw. Was it possible . Could it be . What was the weather at the gettysburg address . Could the flag have been flying . And the several hundred page screen play gets shrunk down to a few months. So there are ways. Theyre saying can mary lincoln wear this . Can she wear that . Well, she was actually wearing black. She was in mourning. But the larger authenticity of the film was to portray her as a vain shopaholic, someone difficult. So she wasnt accurate. If i had been someone who said, no. She must wear the black, otherwise its inaccurate, y
My sons came up with the idea a few years ago i should take p n plantation mistress to hollywood and say, real housewives of the old south. You should. But the patriot, at the same time, youre sitting there and these little freshmen come in, and why are you here, whats your interest . And they saw the film. Part of it is to get people excited about the past even if its not our past, even if its nobodys past, some fantasy past. Vampire past. And this brings us a question of what constitutes a film about slavery . Would you think of ride with the devil as a film about slavery or Cold Mountain . No. There are slaves in those films, but theyre very marginal and theyre thereubidleh almost to establish Cold Mountain had no slaves, no black voices. You see a black woman being drugged, being carried. R t hahp hc nod. And i think that was a subconscious Cold Mountain view of the world. We know theyre there, but this is our film. You even see Nicole Kidman taking refreshments out to the slaves b
Television because black and white. A con cue period but not modern. Anything even in the 1990s might offend southern advertisers. That was the idea. In some ways i think television is a medium that responds so commercially and waits for, you know, like something happens in film and then five to ten years later it becomes okay. Im thinking of this, ive been oust the country for almost ten years and i notice it in the language on television what is now acceptable. Wait. They can see that on tv . That kind of thing. On the other hand it used to be to get anything made with black characters historically as the prominent characters, the center piece, had to be done on television. Thinking about maia angelos the caged bird singing. Not a feature film. Back in the 80s i guess tv was a backup where you could afford to do things like that. Roots of course. The last, i guess, the last episode of the first series of roots still had more viewership than any other mini series period in u. S. Telev