THE RIDICULOUS PREMISE Público Deposited
NATIONAL TREASURE
The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 46, November 14, 2004, Article 15
NATIONAL TREASURE: THE RIDICULOUS PREMISE
Regarding last week's item about the upcoming film
"National Treasure," Dave Lange writes: "I suppose
there's nothing profound in noting that the entire
premise of this movie is ridiculous. Anyone who has
done some reading about the Founding Fathers' struggle
to finance the revolution, repay America's resulting
debts and establish the nation's credit will laugh
at the notion that this wealth would have been
squirreled away. Any such treasure would have been
drawn upon immediately."[I am shocked, SHOCKED! to learn that a Hollywood
film plays loosely with historical facts. One can
only cringe at the forthcoming garbled explanations
of the symbolism on our currency in the name of
entertainment. Still, any publicity to the general
public that makes more people actually LOOK at their
money is probably a good thing. Thursday evening I
learned another plot detail from a television promo -
that the time shown on the clock atop Philadelphia's
Independence Hall is significant. So, can any of our
sharp-eyed readers tell us the time" More importantly,
has the time changed as the design evolved over the
years" One of the numerous holes in the film's plot
is undoubtedly the fact that many subtle changes are
made over the years to the engraved images on our
currency, such as the "disappearing fingers" of Andrew
Jackson on the $20 bill. Any clues placed there by
government employees could well be obliterated in the
march of time. "Editor]- 2004-11-14
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