This book might seem like an odd choice, but I'm writing a paper on YouTube treatments of masculinity, paternity, and the Founding Fathers, so I had to get a good sense of the original biographical lore being parodied. (And after all it is President's Day tomorrow.) The basic thesis of the paper is that mash-ups and parodic treatments of these topics on the intenet can help us to move beyond stale scholarly debates about the Founding, providing an interesting, populist based take on the relationship between masculinity, violence, and the continuing role of the founders in contemporary politics.
Check out this hilarous short videos, which include a mash-up of The Shining that sends-up the way that paternity and violence are frequently camouflaged, in this case through the familiar mechanisms of the movie trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA
For another creative video that takes on the founders, masculinity, and violence more directly, check out: http://bobbyroope1.imeem.com/video/QVxeA6vA/washington/To view this one, you have to get past a 15 second ad before the video starts)
Back to the book: This book is a servicable, basic biography of Washington, condensed into 125 pages, written by a pretty famous public historian. It reflects basic lore about Washington, in remarkably exalting fashion, even for this genre. For example, we learn that “Washington had something uncommonly majestic and commanding in his walk, his address, his figure and his countenance," that "Washington impressed men and women almost equally,” and that his famously large hands allowed him to “hurl a stone a prodigious distance.” This material is parodied in the "Washington" video above.
Check out this hilarous short videos, which include a mash-up of The Shining that sends-up the way that paternity and violence are frequently camouflaged, in this case through the familiar mechanisms of the movie trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA
For another creative video that takes on the founders, masculinity, and violence more directly, check out: http://bobbyroope1.imeem.com/video/QVxeA6vA/washington/To view this one, you have to get past a 15 second ad before the video starts)
Back to the book: This book is a servicable, basic biography of Washington, condensed into 125 pages, written by a pretty famous public historian. It reflects basic lore about Washington, in remarkably exalting fashion, even for this genre. For example, we learn that “Washington had something uncommonly majestic and commanding in his walk, his address, his figure and his countenance," that "Washington impressed men and women almost equally,” and that his famously large hands allowed him to “hurl a stone a prodigious distance.” This material is parodied in the "Washington" video above.
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