Barackula: Our Vampire Killing Candidate

MTV (who apparently has nothing better to do) is reporting that a movie musical called “Barackula” will debut online in the next few weeks. Billed by its director, Mike Lawson, as a “short political horror rock musical about young Barack Obama having to stave off a secret society of vampires at Harvard when he was inducted into presidency at the Harvard Law Review in 1990,” the film…hell, I’m not even going to finish that sentence.

Surprisingly enough, the cast and crew actually appear to have some talent. Lawson reportedly worked with Clint Eastwood on “Letters from Iwo Jima,” and one cast member has acted on “The West Wing.”

All this begs the question of… why? The movie’s site makes it clear that the cast and crew support Obama, but maybe they could’ve donated a few thousand to his campaign instead of making a movie that depicts him as a singing killer of vampires.

On the other hand, I have to admit that this will grab people’s attention more than a drop in Obama’s campaign bucket would. MTV asks the question “Is all publicity really good publicity?” but I don’t think that’s the issue. In fact, I think the real question here is: why does Obama’s persona lend itself so well to multimedia inspirations?

I’m not gonna lie. When I was undecided about whom to vote for in the primaries, Obama Girl and her famous video made me first sit up and actually take notice of the canidate she was singing about. Hey, I can’t help it if the song is catchy! And now that I’ve actually found out more about Obama, I’m a supporter all the way (and I really can’t get the freaking song out of my head).

So, maybe the question about “Barackula” shouldn’t be why, but why not? If it gets a few more voters who have a penchant for vampires, Harvard, coeds, or musicals to give a longer look to Obama and what he stands for, then I’m all for it.