What are you reading right now?

The Batlord · 07-22-2017, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

I don't know how much the book and the Francis Ford Coppola movie are alike, plot wise, but in the movie, Dracula comes to London because he wants to find Mina, who he believes to be a reincarnation of his dead lover from centuries past.
It's entirely possible that the whole love story angle was something a script writer came up with, but I think it works really well.

It was. There was always a sexual subtext, but he was very much the enemy of all good Christian women, and all those boorish men from the movie were the height of woman-saving Christian men. They were still idiots though.

**Janszoon** · 07-22-2017, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Re-reading Dracula, basically after reading a Sherlock Holmes/Dracula crossover that was quite good, but did point out a huge number of flaws in Stoker's plot. First of all, why was Dracula coming to England? What brought him there? Haven't seen any explanation yet... Enjoying it on one level though for sure.

He was offered a professorship at King's College.

Moss · 07-23-2017, 02:04 PM

Kind of obsessed with Scottish history right now.

Trollheart · 07-23-2017, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deenosaur

I thought it was to expand his power? Like to create more vampires in a powerful society? It's been a long time since I've read Dracula and I remember it being a less than an enjoyable read, unfortunately.

I'm currently reading Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. I am always unsure whether or not I enjoy his style of writing.

Well maybe, but he made no attempt to, unless you include Lucy. And it certainly was not mentioned. Dracula just says I want to move to London, and that's it. No explanation. And as for you, Batty...

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Seriously? You make me sad. Dracula just wanted to see the world basically. It wasn't any massive thing, Dracula was just tired of being stuck in the ass end of Europe.

Weak weak weak premise. I'm bored so I'll go to London? As if.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Dracula is xenophobic as ****.

Bram Stoker: So this guy he sucks blood and he's like muahahaha
Crowd: *blank stare*
Bram: And he's from Transylvania!
Crowd: *shrieks* Not a foreigner!

Not to mention misogynistic. Five women in total, three are vampires, one becomes a vampire and the other is basically window dressing. No character development or independent interaction at all for the ladies. Course, he was gay, so I guess, but still...

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

I don't know how much the book and the Francis Ford Coppola movie are alike, plot wise, but in the movie, Dracula comes to London because he wants to find Mina, who he believes to be a reincarnation of his dead lover from centuries past.
It's entirely possible that the whole love story angle was something a script writer came up with, but I think it works really well.

That was bull****. All made up. Dracula saw a picture of Mina and lusted after her, sure, but there was never any intimation that she was a reincarnation of anyone. They just turned the movie into a love story. Puke.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

He was offered a professorship at King's College.

Giving night classes only, presumably?

**Janszoon** · 07-23-2017, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Giving night classes only, presumably?

Of course!

The Batlord · 07-23-2017, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Well maybe, but he made no attempt to, unless you include Lucy. And it certainly was not mentioned. Dracula just says I want to move to London, and that's it. No explanation. And as for you, Batty...

Weak weak weak premise. I'm bored so I'll go to London? As if.

Not to mention misogynistic. Five women in total, three are vampires, one becomes a vampire and the other is basically window dressing. No character development or independent interaction at all for the ladies. Course, he was gay, so I guess, but still...

That was bull****. All made up. Dracula saw a picture of Mina and lusted after her, sure, but there was never any intimation that she was a reincarnation of anyone. They just turned the movie into a love story. Puke.

Giving night classes only, presumably?

Dracula was an old world monster in a place where peasants were still peasants, lords were still lords, and science was something that happened to other people. It's kind of natural that anyone would at least want to explore some brave new world with electricity and steam engines. If it seems like a weak premise then it's probably cause any ol' person deciding to leave their hometown is not interesting, but when it's a being who can only sleep in a coffin filled with soil from their native land then it becomes something of an interesting logistics problem (and Stoker loved him some tedious logistics).

But the old world vs. new world theme was pretty evident in the book (even aside from the racist, anti-Eastern European aspect). The people fighting Dracula were involved in, at the time, new technology and practices such as psychology, blood transfusions, that recording thing they used for a diary in the last half of the book. All going up against Satan and peasant superstitions basically.

I'm not going to pretend like Dracula was a brilliantly written book or anything, but the premise of a vampire wanting to leave his backwoods obscurity for a land far advanced is perfectly reasonable (real people do it all the time), and even interesting, as it paints him as something other than just a blood fiend. Now he's curious. It doesn't have to be about some plot using phlebotinum to turn all the world into daywalkers to be good.

Moss · 07-23-2017, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moss

Kind of obsessed with Scottish history right now.

Picture was supposed to be a book about the Jacobites, 1745. Screw it.

Trollheart · 07-23-2017, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Dracula was an old world monster in a place where peasants were still peasants, lords were still lords, and science was something that happened to other people. It's kind of natural that anyone would at least want to explore some brave new world with electricity and steam engines. If it seems like a weak premise then it's probably cause any ol' person deciding to leave their hometown is not interesting, but when it's a being who can only sleep in a coffin filled with soil from their native land then it becomes something of an interesting logistics problem (and Stoker loved him some tedious logistics).

But the old world vs. new world theme was pretty evident in the book (even aside from the racist, anti-Eastern European aspect). The people fighting Dracula were involved in, at the time, new technology and practices such as psychology, blood transfusions, that recording thing they used for a diary in the last half of the book. All going up against Satan and peasant superstitions basically.

I'm not going to pretend like Dracula was a brilliantly written book or anything, but the premise of a vampire wanting to leave his backwoods obscurity for a land far advanced is perfectly reasonable (real people do it all the time), and even interesting, as it paints him as something other than just a blood fiend. Now he's curious. It doesn't have to be about some plot using phlebotinum to turn all the world into daywalkers to be good.

Yeah, I take your point, but you really should read that Sherlock Holmes novel I was talking about. The author really gets into the huge plot holes in the novel, and while his resolution is a little out there, he makes some good points which shows that Dracula was, really, pretty poorly thrown together.

Mind you, I'm still re-reading Dracula and it's been a while, so I probably shouldn't talk too much about that until I have finished it. Again.

The Batlord · 07-23-2017, 03:56 PM

I've never read any of Stoker's other books, but I've not heard good things. I don't have any illusions about Stoker's skill as a writer or Dracula's technical quality. It's a book that had to have been written by a hack, cause who else was gonna do it? But Stoker was still pretty good as far as hacks go. It's not about the wonky structure of the book, or the awkward shifts in tone, it's about that atmosphere of dread that's pretty constant throughout the book. And Dracula also has some of the most memorable scenes ever, so it's got that going for it I guess.

**Frownland** · 07-23-2017, 04:01 PM

The wonky structure is what brings me back to the book tbh.

07-23-2017, 04:01 PM	#5850 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,548	The wonky structure is what brings me back to the book tbh. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

07-23-2017, 02:04 PM	#5843 (permalink)
Moss Scuttle Buttin' Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Boulder Colorado Posts: 972	Kind of obsessed with Scottish history right now.