One of my favorite themes is re-imagining history. The stories of history have so many holes of details waiting to be filled and re-envisaged. There is so little we know about most of history, about the people and the details.
It is, after all, a story. We may piece together the best we can using clues, sleuthing like backwards-looking Sherlock Holmes. But the real life of a story is in the details and often times when it comes to the past, the details are mere conjecture. That conjecture is necessary to bring history to life.
Also, history holds great characters. Take Rasputin, for example. Lover of the Russian Queen. A pious figure in Russian history, and also Russia’s greatest love machine, apparently. These characters themselves can make incredible stories, ala Abe Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.
Who are some of your favorite characters in history? How can they be brought to bear on the story telling of today? What kinds of situations would you like to see them in?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvDMlk3kSYg&w=420&h=315]
Also, this song is super dance-able.
You can see me trying my own hand at this prompt here: http://lightningdroplets.wordpress.com/2012/03/08/akhenaten-winter-2012/
Hmmm… hard to say who my favorite characters from history are. Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart. William Herschel, Captain William Turner. All for different reasons, of course. Maybe even Lester Dent and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Oh, and mustn’t forget whoever ghost wrote for Franklin W. Dixon. Geez, I could be here all day at this…
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I love John Hunyadi. He doesn’t get much credit because he’s not part of western European history, but he is one of the main reasons for the rise of power in what is now Hungary, he pushed back the Turks, deposed and reinstated Vlad Dracul (yes, that one) a half dozen times and was a big part of the Renaissance.
It would be fun to imagine him in a different geographic zone – China, butting heads with Ghengis Khan, maybe in late medieval England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hunyadi
[…] Reimagining History: Rasputin […]