School's Out For Movies

    After many recommendations and ardent insisting from many of my closer friends, I broke my boycott on Nicolas Cage movies that I had been carrying since he single-handedly took down a hardcore superhero (Ghostrider) and a classic horror movie (Wicker Man) in less than a two year time frame. I begrudgingly rented a copy of National Treasure 2 from my local Blockbuster, and Ladies and Gentlemen, I can now state that the Nicolas Cage ban is once again in place. A flimsy and cliched action movie plot does one thing to insult my intelligence as a movie-goer, but blatant historical inaccuracy by a character in trust is quite another. Especially when the subject of attack is a topic of my own studious devotion; presidential assassinations. Nicolas Cage goes around spouting out complete misconceptions about the event, and other American historical occurrences in general in his dry and talentless voice. To save you all any unwanted pain, I'll mention just one that particularly irked me. The expression, "His name is mud". You don't hear it that often anymore except from cute old grandmothers or flustered mothers, but it merits addressing anyway. According to Cage's character, Ben, the saying originated after Dr. Samuel Mudd was convicted in the Lincoln assassination plot, thereby wrecking the past and future of his entire clan; and thus whenever a family member did an act to tarnish their relative's good names, their name would also be Mud. Cute, but not accurate. The expression had been in widespread use for a decade or two prior to the Lincoln assassination. What's more, Mudd really wasn't all that bad of a guy. In fact, he was actually pardoned for his involvement in the Lincoln assassination after helping out his fellow prisoners in a yellow fever epidemic. In fact, there isn't any truly solid evidence that Mudd was involved in the conspiracy at all- though every historian does have their favored point of view. 

This little etymological slip is really just a snowflake on the ice-cube that float in Hollywood's thriving tea of historical carelessness. I just thought I would point it out seeing what an interesting character Mudd was behind a faulty saying. Usually, Hollywood chooses to "muddy up" less intriguing subjects, you know, like gladiator fighting in the obviously titled Russell Crowe film, of the greatest playwright of all time in "Shakespeare in Love". Of course, seeing these events in their actual context would be excruciatingly boring, it's just frustrating when a horny teenager comes blubbering up to one thinking that they know all about ancient Spartan warfare, when really all they've seen are some scantily clad men running about yelling loud noises. Really, people. All it takes is a little visit to wikipedia to confirm your facts. Or you know...Encyclopedia Britannica, or something like that...