Teddy Roosevelt portrayed in the TV-series The Alienist
Not the facts, but our fantasies count most in the future
I was watching a new TV-series called The Alienist. It is set in New York the late 19th century, the era
of the Robber Barons, with J.P. Morgan as their Zeus at the pinnacle. The
Catholic Church is involved intimately. The series offer an excellent
representation of the rich and the poor, the vicious and the righteous. Teddy
Roosevelt is portrayed as the New York commissioner of police, a position he
never held. But he is pictured as a hero of a kind, so the American sentiments
about him are fully satisfied.
There is much to say for history to be explained with fiction. The
TV-series present a very credible view of the world of the late 1890’s in
America. And yes, much government effort went into stemming the tide of
corruption. As a president Teddy Roosevelt in fact succeeded in crushing the
Robber Baron monopolies. It is what the
civilized world has always done, to pass its greatest fiction, myths and
legends, alongside its history, and sometimes intermingled, from generation to
generation.
And then there is fiction elevated to become history. The genesis of
Christianity is the great example. The four Gospels are an effort in
deliberately historicizing fiction that already floated for many decades. Our
era is based on the birth date of someone who never existed. The life of Jesus was created as the people’s most desired fiction of God’s
love and personal sacrifice but also as a mighty vehicle to command the
historical process thereafter. Thus the powerful fantasy of one religion became
the historical backbone of our entire civilization.
In fact, most civilizations have some historicized fantasy at their
heart. Similarly quite a few myths are the heart of national histories. Think
of King Arthur and his Camelot, or Homer’s Odyssey.
Given the vast and detailed historical records of our time, it is far
less likely for our fiction to become historicized in a similar way. Even so, the
day may come when people are led to believe that Superman really existed. Or it
may be the the reverse: history being turned into legend. This may be the case,
for instance, with the story of Anne Frank or the life and times of John F.
Kennedy and his Camelot.
Otherwise, even without becoming historicized much of the fiction of our
generation has the potential to far outlive our history. Think of the many epic
movies we pass on, both of fiction and fictionalized history. Who will know, many
thousands of years from now, which one was true and which one wasn’t? In the
end the truth of it all doesn’t really matter. It is what we wish to believe.
