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