{"id":1651,"date":"2012-07-09T19:08:31","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T23:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=1651"},"modified":"2012-07-12T12:07:16","modified_gmt":"2012-07-12T16:07:16","slug":"monster-movie-month-the-blood-is-the-life-guest-post-by-krista-cox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/monster-movie-month-the-blood-is-the-life-guest-post-by-krista-cox\/","title":{"rendered":"Monster Movie Month: “The Blood is the Life”, Guest Post by Krista Cox"},"content":{"rendered":"

Both movies and books lend themselves to new interpretations of existing works- some that can be taken more seriously than others. Dracula<\/em>, the classic novel by Bram Stoker, is an excellent example of this. In the original novel, and in early movies based on the story such as Nosferatu<\/em> and Universal Studios’\u00a0Dracula <\/em>(reviewed on our Monster Movie Month<\/a> page in the section on\u00a0Vampires<\/a><\/strong>, women are depicted as passive victims, but more recent versions (such as the novel Dracula in Love <\/em>by Karen Essex, reviewed here<\/a>, and Francis Ford Coppola’s movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula<\/em>, ) suggest that they may be more independent both in their thinking and in their sexuality. It’s worthwhile, I think, to consider how the horror in the story, or at least the way it’s perceived, \u00a0has changed with the times. Krista Cox addresses this in a paper published in the journal\u00a0New Views on Gender, <\/em>titled “The Blood is the Life: How Bram Stoker’s Dracula Puts Life Back in Women’s Hands”, and she offered to share her take on the differences between the original novel and the Coppola movie. Agree or disagree, it’s clear that there’s a lot of room for new visions of \u00a0this classic tale in many forms.\u00a0Fair warning: Krista writes pretty explicitly about sex and blood-drinking…. so you might want to make sure you don’t have a nosy kid attempting to look over your shoulder. Or skim down to the bottom for some Dracula-related links. And now, here’s what she has to say.<\/p>\n

The Blood is the Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sexy vampires are \u201cin\u201d these days, but they\u2019re nothing new. The sexual themes in Bram Stoker\u2019sDracula<\/em>are impossible to miss; the novel has several scenes with vivid sexual imagery, fangs are phallic in shape, and the act of vampirism is literally penetration. Joseph Valente writes in his 2003 introduction to the novel that blood in\u00a0Dracula<\/em> is \u201ca metaphor of sexual fluids,\u201d vampirism \u201ca metaphor of sexual appetite,\u201d and vamping \u201ca metaphor of sexual conquest.\u201d If vampirism is an allegory for the surfacing of repressed sexual desires, Valente contends that the efforts of Van Helsing and the four men who love Lucy and Mina to rescue them from Dracula are \u201cthe enforcing of orthodox Victorian constraints on female sexuality.\u201d In short, the women must be saved from becoming sexually-driven beings so that they can remain pure, as expected of them by their men. To show what\u2019s expected of a lady in\u00a0Dracula<\/em>, Stoker completely desexualizes the female characters. Lucy wins the love of\u00a0three <\/em>of the men in the novel. But even in their private journals, the men don\u2019t write a single sexual word about her. Even more dramatically, Mina is completely desexualized and is seen, even by her husband, as an odd combination of mother and child. The women can\u2019t help but welcome Dracula\u2019s vampiric advances, though. After she is bitten, Mina recalls, \u201cI did not want to hinder him.\u201d Lucy actively participates in the vamping, sleepwalking to the most likely location for vampiric intercourse and repeatedly removing the garlic necklace meant to repel Dracula while she slept. Ultimately, Lucy becomes undead herself, and begins not only\u00a0accepting <\/em>vampiric advances, but initiating them herself. Lucy is violently punished for this conversion to undaunted sexuality. The men take savage delight in driving a stake through her heart and decapitating her, and the scene is full of vivid sexual imagery. Lucy\u2019s fianc\u00e9e must thrust the stake again and again, \u201cdeeper and deeper,\u201d as Lucy moans and writhes. When he finishes, he collapses, gasping and sweaty, reminiscent of post-orgasmic relief. Lucy returns, suddenly, to the pristine, virginal creature she was before. The men send a clear message that sexuality is reserved for them, alone by \u201csaving\u201d Lucy from sexuality. It\u2019s not just sexual dominance, though, that the men wish to reestablish. Vampirism is the means by which vampires procreate. The mingling of blood creates a new vampire, blood in the novel is a symbol for sexual fluids, and the mingling of sexual fluids creates a new human. Vampirism and intercourse are both acts of passion and<\/em> procreation. This allegory becomes even more interesting when you consider that blood plays an indispensable role in human procreation. Just as blood is sustenance to the vampires, blood is a life-giving fluid for humans, providing oxygen and nutrients to a fetus in utero. Without the blood of a mother, human procreation is impossible. This gives women a very particular, special role in human procreation. In human women, the blood is the life<\/em>. By controlling female sexuality, the men of Dracula seek not only to control women, but to control the creation of new life. The film Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em>, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, clearly embraces Valente\u2019s theory of vampirism as a symbol of sexuality. In fact, it lifts it out of metaphor and makes vampirism an actual<\/em> act of sex. In the film, every act of vamping is accompanied by an explicit sexual act. Coppola departs from Stoker\u2019s message of male dominance over female sexuality and the creation of life, though. Rather than being desexualized, the women in the film are overtly and independently sexual. They speak freely about the pleasures of sex and openly pursue their suitors. Mina even willingly participates in infidelity with Dracula. By contrast, the men are presented as bumbling, inept fools, rather than the dashing saviors of the novel. When Lucy becomes a vampire in the film, her offing is dramatically different from the novel. In the novel, the undead Lucy is \u201cmore radiantly beautiful than ever,\u201d but the undead Lucy of the film is unattractive and asexual. The destruction of the undead Lucy carries none the sexual undertones of the scene in the novel; she lies perfectly still as the stake is driven into her heart, and her killer does not collapse in post-coital exhaustion after the deed is complete. There is no sense that Lucy is being punished for her sexuality; rather, it would appear she is being punished for her departure<\/em> from it. The power and control of women in Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em> is further reinforced by Mina\u2019s relationship with Dracula. When they first meet, she coldly rejects him. Later, as he confesses that he is soulless, he cowers away from her, weak and filled with shame. In the novel, Dracula forces himself upon Mina, but in the film, Mina consciously chooses to drinks his blood despite his protests. Like Lucy, Mina is in control of her sexuality and in control of the men in her life. While the finale of the novel sees the men gallantly \u201csaving\u201d Mina from the fate of a life of \u201cvoluptuous wantonness\u201d as a vampire, the finale of the film is the ultimate display of feminine mastery of life. When Mina selflessly sacrifices her love, Dracula, she is released from the life of the undead. Further, she releases Dracula from his prison of immortality to join his first love in eternal life. From what was undead, she created life. Dracula<\/em> made heroes of those who pursued Dracula to preserve the paternalistic construct that gave them power over female sexuality and the creation of life. Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula <\/em>rejected that construct, making women the ultimate controllers of both female and male sexuality. It made a hero of the woman who embraced her power and sexuality and allowed no man to claim them \u2013 even Dracula. In Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em>, Mina created life where the men in Dracula<\/em> only destroyed it.<\/p>\n

*******************************<\/p>\n

Are you intrigued enough to try out additional interpretations of\u00a0Dracula<\/em>? Here’s a good\u00a0Dracula filmography<\/a> from PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre. Want to try a book instead? Check out our reviews of adult vampire fiction\u00a0here<\/a>, and our reviews of young adult vampire fiction\u00a0here<\/a> (including Kate Cary’s excellent novel\u00a0Bloodline<\/a><\/em>, loosely based on\u00a0Dracula<\/em>). We have some graphic novel adaptations of\u00a0Dracula<\/em> on ouryoung adult graphic novels page<\/a>, and if that doesn’t satisfy your appetite, you can visit our YA vampire fiction blog\u00a0Reading Bites<\/a>. Be warned, though, when making recommendations, that Dracula doesn’t sparkle. Stoker’s novel, and its children, have sharp teeth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both movies and books lend themselves to new interpretations of existing works- some that can be taken more seriously than others. Dracula, the classic novel by Bram Stoker, is an excellent example of this. In the original novel, and in early movies based on the story such as Nosferatu and Universal Studios’\u00a0Dracula (reviewed on our<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1118,601,1109,599,1116,1115,1110,188,974,1117,1119,1113,13,1005,1111,939,1112,940,1114,644],"class_list":["post-1651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bloodline","tag-bram-stoker","tag-bram-stokers-dracula","tag-dracula","tag-dracula-in-love","tag-filmography","tag-francis-ford-coppola","tag-graphic-novels","tag-horror-classics","tag-karen-essex","tag-kate-cary","tag-krista-cox","tag-media-tie-ins","tag-monster-movie-month","tag-nosferatu","tag-reading-bites","tag-the-blood-is-the-life","tag-vampire-fiction","tag-women-in-horror","tag-young-adult-vampire-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1651"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1710,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651\/revisions\/1710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}