"I vant to suck your blood."
How different was the portrayal of Dracula in the novel from your idea of the cinematic Dracula? Do you think that Dracula is anti-feminine, or does it simply return to stereotypical feminine behaviors and expectations in terms of the role of women and their sexuality?
Sorry for forgetting to post this last week. Oh well. Just try to get the two posts in this week. I will post this Friday as well to finish off, although I will only require you to respond once next week.
Sorry for forgetting to post this last week. Oh well. Just try to get the two posts in this week. I will post this Friday as well to finish off, although I will only require you to respond once next week.
posted by Dr. Battles at 5:13 PM
5 Comments:
Because of this class, we are bound to look at the story differently. I think that the women were charmed by him and fooled by his looks and such, which would be expected. The role of women from a man's point of view is one of little brains and common sense therefore easily charmed and fooled. Stoker makes women out to be stereotypical in behavior and in their sexuality.
Early vampire movies, like Nosferatu are probably more accurate to the description of Dracula in the novel, but more modern versions of Dracula, and other vampires, show them as suave, handsome men who seduce their victims.
I think Dracula concentrates on the sexuality and naivety of both men and women, though the women’s sexuality is more apparent. The only character in the novel who can resist the vampires’ seductions is Van Helsing, which shows that the men in the novel are just as susceptible to sexual overtures.
I think the novel isn’t really anti-feminine because Mina comes across as an independent female who can hold her own in most scenarios. It does return to stereotypical opinions about women, especially when Van Helsing refers to Mina’s “man brain” because the statement alludes to the idea that women cannot be intelligent creatures.
Shelley,
I agree with what you said about the women are charmed by Dracula, but I don’t think it’s his looks that fool them. The Dracula in modern vampire tales is handsome and could charm with his looks, but Stoker does not portray Dracula as such; he has more sinister features and looks much more like a monster than the modern version.
I do think Mina would have been able to resist just a handsome man, but one thing we need to remember is that Dracula has thrall, a mystical ability that allows them to control their victims, so Mina was not given a fair chance to defend herself. We see this happen again when Arthur feels himself being pulled irresistibly to Lucy even though he knows she’s a monster and when Jonathan can’t help but allow the female vampires to come upon him in Dracula’s castle.
the novel was definetly different than the idea of dracula that i had in my head. although i have never seen a version of dracula, there were certain things about him that i would not expected such as him only going after women and dragging out his kill. I think that this book just again portrays women as sexually and nothing else. yes mina has a job and it was the beginning of women working i still think that she as well as the other women are only associated with their sexuality. Dracula only uses them for that as well as the other men always needing to be around to protect the females, not to mention the underlying sexual acts that are committed to the women. So yeah i guess that this novel returns to the sterotypical feminine behaviors. also i agree with brittany on the idea about women not being fooled by his looks. there is something mystical about him, i mean after all he tells mina this isn't your first time. And certainly two beautiful women wouldn't be attracted to such a hideous creepy guy.
I never sat through the movie of Dracula because I am not a fan of horror movies. However, it wasn't until this class and we began disecting the book than I began to understand the sexual connotations of the book. Now that I have been exposed to the novel in a way other than for entertainment value, I think that women certainly are portrayed according to stereotypes.
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