Dracula: Not What I Expected

So this is the first time I'm reading Dracula, and I have to say that it's not really what I was expecting. To be honest, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but narrative through letters definitely was not it. It's interesting though, and the Count, even though he is eloquent and whatnot, just oozes disgusting to the point that his words are tainted as well. That was well done.
The appearance of the Count himself was slightly unexpected as well. When I think "Count Dracula" I think a man in his 30's ish, who is darkly attractive, but instead we get an old man, with a bird-like face, and hairy palms. At least I was right about the strength, shapeshifting, and mirrors bit.

I have to say, I really enjoyed the first chapter, before we even meet the Count. Here we have Jonathan Harker, who's just loving the journey, and then when he gets to the Golden Krone Hotel, things just progressively get darker and creepier and the carriage ride is just all sorts of sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting for something bad to happen. 
I have a couple of questions though. What was up with the attitude of the other passengers in the carriage? They seemed excited to see the Count, but the driven I can't tell. It seemed as if he arrived at the meeting point an hour early (if I'm reading that correctly) to come up with the excuse that the Count's messenger wasn't there. Was this the correct reading? Also, later on, when Lucy starts sleepwalking, why is she sleepwalking? Did I miss something? It seems like it's the Count's influence, but he hadn't arrived in London just yet, so I'm not sure how to interpret that. Do we get answers later or did I read that wrong? Send help.

Dracula

            Like the rest of the topics we’ve read/discussed about—aside from Romeo and Juliet, Dracula is a popular subject with which I’ve never actually read the original story of, so I was excited to read this novel for our class. Naturally, I’d assume we will have all heard about this idea of vampires (much like zombies and werewolves), whether it be portrayed within a movie, TV show, fanfiction, you name it. So when details about Jonathan Harker receiving a garlic charm from one of the locals or not seeing Count Dracula in a mirror was interesting to just have these little, but commonly-known, features about vampires being mentioned.

            I’ll be blunt here by saying that I’m not the most observant person (at least not in terms of reading). There were some things discussed from our previous topics that I thought to myself, “I probably would’ve never seen it that way.” Well, either me being unobservant or just not a big reader to see things from different perspectives. When I was reading Dracula, I picked up on some of the basic plot that was occurring when Harker was staying at Dracula’s prison… But when they were talking about the history of Transylvania, the business side of Harker’s visit, and the questions Dracula had on basic societal notions, I felt a bit lost. Maybe just too much information at one time? But I honestly wasn’t sure if there were subtle cues to pick up on, or I was merely trying to better understand minuscule details irrelevant to the story as a whole.

            Nonetheless, it’s an enjoyable story so far, and I am intrigued to see what others think to possibly better understand the story as a whole. Because with all of the journal entries from different people at different times, I tried going back to understand what happened in their lives in a previous chapter in order to make connections (although I’m still not sure). Also, was there a reason we read Mina’s journal entry for August 1 early? Meaning there were journal entries for July 24 and August 1 in one chapter, then starting from July 26 in another chapter… Maybe I just missed something but that part struck me as a “Wait, what?” moment. As a note, I don’t mean for this blog post to sound like I’m just saying I’m confused about this part, that part, these other parts… That was kind of how I felt afterwards, so I’ll looking forward to our discussions.

Dracula...

So Dracula.
I had never read it before now and didn't quite know what to expect by it. Least to say, I haven't been disappointed per say. It had a slow start, an achingly slow start. But then I started caring about whether Jonathon actually got away, and if he lived. I didn't know quite how to feel about the doctor's passages at first, but upon a second reading, I also found his patient to be quite amusing. The concept of gaining life based on the number of lives he had consumed was so... Dracula.

I also liked reading where Dracula detailed his family history to Jonathon, and reading all of the footnotes along the way. Some of the places where the "slips" were pointed out, I wouldn't have really noticed without the footnotes at first read.

Plus, this book gives us the opportunity to talk about Transylvania, and I love castles.

I remember growing up, the one Dracula I can remember is Count from Sesame street, and an episode of Scooby-Doo with a vampire, but honestly, I can't remember many others until Hotel Transylvania came out not long ago.  I'm looking forward to reading the rest, it should prove to be a really interesting book, and probably the only horror story I really like.

Not So Dreary Dracula?

I like epistolary novels, but they can get very dry after a while, so I got an audiobook to listen along with while I read. And honestly? Nothing about this novel is scary without it. I think that a large chunk of horror as a genre is based on Dracula or delineated from later work inspired by it, so the source material seems generic to us when it might've been groundbreaking (and terrifying) when it was released. Also there is so much more blood and gore and so many more (and much weirder) monsters in horror movies and literature today than in Dracula, so the original novel seems toothless in comparison. But, as I often find, a good narrator can breath life into even the most tired-out stories imaginable, and I have to acknowledge that Dracula in and of itself isn't tired-out. We as a society have just beaten the concept of Dracula to death. Give the Count a break (even if he is.... ya know.... an absolute monster).

All the same, I think it's really cool to read a book that has had such a significant impact on the way we consume horror and thriller literature (whether through film, print, podcasts, etc.) and depict different kinds of monsters. I love horror movies (even if I am a big coward), so I'm very excited to see where this goes!

This is both me watching horror movies and a gif from my favorite 80s horror movie, An American Werewolf in London.

It’s easy to be upset over Jonathan Harker’s stupidity (I know I am), but we as an audience feel similar things towards idiots in horror movies today, and our poor, stupid Jonathan Harker didn’t have over a century of vampire literature and film to put him through his paces and prepare him for unsettlingly religious villagers, howling wolves, spectral fires, creepy counts, the kidnaping and murdering of children, and generally dangerous women. If we can be mad at the dumb blonde that is brutally murdered and still enjoy a horror movie, then I don't see why we can't be mad at our dear idiot Harker and still enjoy the book.

Shout out to Buffy for smashing that dumb blonde in a horror movie trope. That's my girl!!

Lastly, I didn't like the mess with Lucy and her suitors, but can I just say how much I love how ridiculously and stereotypically Texan Quincey Morris is? He's so funny to me. I hope he doesn't drop off the face of the earth. Or get turned into a vampire. I think True Blood gave us all more than enough Southern vampires to last a lifetime (or several lifetimes, as the case may be).

Vampires and stuff

            I’ve always known who Dracula was –the creepy vampire guy- but I never really knew his story and stuff. I always assumed that Dracula was going to be how everyone perceives Dracula. A man who can’t stop drinking the blood of humans and then the townspeople try to kill him. This is my first time reading Dracula. I always imagined it to seem more gruesome and suspenseful, but it’s more mysterious. I did enjoy some parts of it. I like how the book has diary entries, it makes it more entertaining and easier to read.

           

            The part where people are telling Harker not to go to Dracula’s castle and then he ends up feeling like his prisoner kind of reminds me of Beauty and the Beast in way. Belle gets a weird vibe from the beast’s creepy castle, but she goes in anyway and her father is a prisoner, but then she decides to be the beast’s prisoner instead to her father go. Another part that relates to Beauty and the Beast is when Dracula just says that Harker can just leave and he thinks he’s never going to get out of the castle. Belle was always in the room and the beast always got fed up that she would never leave the room he said if she just wants to leave she can. Those parts aren’t exactly the same, but it’s a similar situation. They’re honestly both so stubborn.

                                 This is basically Harker except he really isn’t locked up in a cell.

            In many other TV shows, movies, etc. they make Dracula seem like a good guy at the end, but in the beginning they make him seem like an awful person. He’s like everyone else except he needs blood to survive, which is bad, but people over-exaggerate his character a lot. Honestly, if I ever met Dracula I’d obviously be afraid, but I know that he could potentially end up controlling it. I also believe people imagine him as wearing all black, hair slicked back, fangs, long nails, cape etc. (typical vampire look). In the book I think he just looks like a regular person to everyone else. Until people find out what he’s really like and what he does. Overall, I did enjoy some parts of the book, but I think it would be better as a movie or a TV show that’s just about Dracula because some movies don’t really focus on just Dracula throughout the entire thing.

Not So Scary Dracula

I know Dracula is supposed to be considered horror but I see it as more of a mystery and not scary at all. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen so many other non-scary versions of Dracula that it has tainted my reading of the original story as I found myself laughing more than being scared.

Dracula wants to teach you how to count!

I wonder why Jonathan Harker is so accepting of the things that start to happen around him when he arrives in town. I mean people are making crosses when they see him, begging him not to go meet Dracula, and giving him rosaries and he still doesn’t put two and two together that people are afraid of Dracula for a reason. And all this happens before he even gets to the Dracula’s castle! Then when he does get to the castle, even stranger things happen and he still doesn’t back out. If I was him and all of that stuff happened I would have told Dracula I wasn’t going to be able to make it from the safety of my home.

What Harker should have done

He finally gets some sense into him only after he feels like he’s a prisoner in Dracula’s castle and then later sees Dracula crawling down a wall with wings. I would say it’s a little too late at that point. It did make me think of how much this Mr. Hawkins knew before he sent Harker down to meet with Dracula. Did he know all along that Dracula was a vampire??

Dracula seems normal enough  upon first impression to Harker but he should have known that there must be a reason why all of the town people are afraid of him. All of that changes once Harker notices all of the creepy things about him. When he intercepted Harker’s letters I thought that was going to be it for Harker and that he was going to drink his blood right there but he didn’t which was surprising. Is he just keeping Harker around to torture him longer before he kills him? 

Then just when I think there’s no chance for Harker to get out of the castle, Dracula just says he can leave! I’m not sure whether or not Harker was correct in assuming it was just a trap set by Dracula but one things for certain, he’s definitely trapped in the castle for the foreseeable future. 

So So

After reading the novel, I was skeptical of the Lizzie Bennet diaries. I'll admit that watching the you tube series and reading the novel definitely projects different opinions of some of the characters. I was excited to see how the diaries compared to the novel. The Lizzie Bennet diaries definitely helped me visualize the characters and there personalities. While it took me awhile to understand the characters and their personalities while reading Pride and Prejudice.

After a couple episodes the series just seemed a big gossip blog. Although the series was meant too watch two episodes a week and I watch it all within a couple days. I can definitely see why the diaries could have been such a successful show. The first half of the series was dragged out a bit for my tastes. The second half really started to get interesting. When Lizzie started incorporating different locations and setting it didn't seem as repetitive as the first half which really helped a lot.