Admittedly, some parodies are stranger than others.
And some of the really strange ones are some of the best ones.
In my opinion, anyway.
I always sort of knew Dracula was a horror story, but somehow it never quite clicked until now. Reading through it and seeing some of the gruesome descriptions, all the death, and the supernatural weirdness just sort of made me realize, 'Oh yeah, this is totally a horror novel.' However, I'd have to say the horror itself hasn't really aged well- nothing has actually creeped me out or frightened me in the story so far. In fact, as horror goes, I find it to be rather light. I suspect this has something to do with the period it was written in, with horror still being a relatively new genre and peoples sensibilities being a tad more delicate, or something like that.
I also found myself amused when Dracula said some of his infamous lines, most notably the 'Children of the Night' thing. I think that line manages to worm its way into like, every Dracula adaptation/parody ever.
Much to my disappointment, a Google Image search for 'children of the night'
just brings up like a ton of My Little Pony images. Sigh.
Anyhow, I am definitely intrigued by the story, and am learning a lot of things I never knew were part of the original; like, I never knew the plot was about Dracula leaving Transylvania and making his way to London. I was always under the impression that it took place like, at least mostly in said country, but apparently not. Maybe we'll find out why that part of the story didn't really make it into any of the versions I've seen (or maybe not, since I think most of my experience with Dracula came from episodes of cartoons or children's movies.)
Couldn't think of a way to work this one in, but I couldn't not include it.
Yeah, the creepy ass details they give in the story definitely give it an eery vibe, and it is kinda light, but you shouldn't sell the book so short yet. It is just the beginning after all. Also, I can appreciate the pictures of the adaptations of Dracula. Nostalgic. I was never really a dracula fan as he's not really that popular in modern media. Most depictions of him in modern media are in cartoons (as you've shown), so it's nice to finally read where it is this character comes from.
ReplyDeleteHorror rarely ages well (see: 80s horror/thriller movies that are now also labeled "comedies" because of how poorly the effects have held up), but I still think that Dracula had been really good so far, especially since it's so "dated" by our standards. I've been reading while listening to an audiobook, and I think that's gone a long way towards building suspense and preserving the original creepy vibe of the novel.
ReplyDeleteI've become so used to seeing Dracula or Dracula-inspired characters as cartoons or for comedic effect (he is public domain, so if your narrative DOESN'T have him in it, then what's the point tbh??) that I didn't really understand how scary he's supposed to be, and I'm really enjoying reading something that's inspired so much in our culture.
Now that you mention it, this novel really was light in the horror aspect, but as you said, it's probably because horror was a new genre, but strangely enough, terrifying creatures aren't new, nor were they new back then. Just take a look at some mythological creatures. The Kumiho (Korean equivalent of the Kitsune), for example, seduces young men and eats their liver or heart. The Jiangshi, or Chinese Hopping Zombie, has been around for a while as well, then there's also all of the pictures that accompany all the mythological creatures (the pictures of kappas are especially creepy). So maybe it's just that it was writing about it in a novel form that many people might possibly read that made it light horror?
ReplyDeleteAlso, dying at the My Little Pony.
Also also, that's a great question, why is it that when we think of Dracula, we instantly associate him with the country rather than the city where most of this novel takes place and his horror comes to life?