MovieChat Forums > Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) Discussion > Does the idea of Dracula being a romanti...

Does the idea of Dracula being a romantic hero bother anyone else?

posted 9 years ago by MartenBroadcloak
27 replies | jump to latest

Right off the bat in the original book the scene where Dracula makes Mina drink his blood is representative of, if not actually, sexual assault (which was probably intended by Stoker given the sexual imagery going on with vampires).

"His right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man’s bare breast which was shown by his torn-open dress. The attitude of the two had a terrible resemblance to a child forcing a kitten’s nose into a saucer of milk to compel it to drink.”

He's pinning her against his chest as she's struggling against him in an attempt not to drink it. Afterwards much is made of how she feels 'unclean' and 'soiled' as to what has happened to her.

So the whole idea of making Dracula in love with Mina and she in return has always bothered me. We actually have the aforementioned scene in this film except it's depicted as erotic and consensual as opposed to him violating her.

Obviously this is intended to be a different interpretation of an old story but at the end of the day it's basically turning a rape scene into a love one.

[–] Lord Rake (4454) a year ago

I commented on this before somewhere on these boards but after a laughing Dracula feeds a baby to his evil witches I don't think making him a tragic romantic is sensical.

Frankenstein's monster and the wolf man are tragic/sympathetic characters, Dracula is not.

[–] Melton (4439) a year ago

I’m no Dracula purist and I don’t mind the idea of Drac’s fall from grace being motivated by a broken heart, but the Mina-Drac scenes do slow down the film somewhat. Perhaps that is because it’s difficult to sympathise with a guy who snacks on newborns, and has murdered the best friend and incarcerated the fiancée of the woman he’s seducing.

I love the film but it does have pacing issues and I suspect that’s because it doesn’t have a clear protagonist. It sort of tries to make Drac the protag but that doesn’t work when he’s killing and raping people, no matter how good Oldman’s performance is.

[–] [deleted] a year ago

Vampires and lust tend to be a overplayed in movies. This wasn't terrible. It is a big change from the novel.

[–] Stratego (30498) 3 months ago

I don't see him being in love with Mina (or rather Elisabeta) as a problem, as it gives him a bit more personality and a motivation as to why he goes to England and after Mina. But Mina responding to him with more than just repressed lust is just creepy and, more importantly, their love scenes are just melodramatic and slow.