Read the intereview with author Neil Gaiman. Check out some of his books on Amazon - he's definitely out there. And ironically, he doesn't much like vampires.
http://shelf-life.ew.com/2009/07/31/neil-gaiman-why-vampires-should-go-back-underground/
Analyze what Gaiman thinks about Dracula. Do you agree or disagree with them? Why?
What do you think of his statement: "vampirism essentially came out of the closet as a metaphor for the act of love that kills." What dos he mean (go beyond the Aids analogy)? Can you apply this statment to the vampires in Dracula, Twilight??
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I think that he is wrong about Dracula in the sense that it was not just about sexual seduction or rape. If it was it would just be a story from the streets of New York! Dracula used powers unavailable to normal humans, such as entrancing his pray or those around it, and that's what makes it mystical.
ReplyDeleteAs for his quote, it's about the power of love. If two people are truly in love than it is full of more power than most people consider possible. But, if said love was in some way disrupted, such as by death, than the hurt of the other person could be so great that it could actually lead to their death. Thus producing "love that kills". I can't so much picture this theme in Dracula as I can in Twilight. In Dracula it is more or less just a love for blood and a search for people to do Dracula's bidding. In Twilight, Bella's love for Edward, and vise versa, ends in the transformation of Bella from human to vampire. She essentially dies, becoming immortal and part of a mythological world. Their love kills her.
I agree with him in the way that vampires should be outsiders and not be buying nice clothes. Vampires shouldn’t care too much about their appearance, for they can seduce their victims in other ways than just looks. Vampires can control their sleeping victim’s bodies as was the case of Lucy in the book.
ReplyDeleteGaiman means that up to then people thought of Dracula as a book of nothing but seduction and nothing more, but then something new came and opened the world of thought to more than just seduction. It showed that Dracula could be a novel of how a person could kill whomever he/she had to in order to save the person they loved. This statement can be applied to when Van Helsing was caught in the beauty of one of the three sisters. He could not escape quickly from their beauty. If he wouldn’t have heard Mina Harker’s scream he may have died. The statement can also apply to when Lucy was a vampire and having all the children around her in the night.
Do you see Dracula show love?
ReplyDeleteDracula shows love in his own way. Not only is his love for blood, but also for his victims. He anticipates their joining him. Example being Mina. In chapter 21 Dracula calls her a campanion and a helper... not just a side effect of his feasting. Besides, if there was no love for his victims, than he would simply have killed them himself after he was through with their service, rather than being entralled by their companionship.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Gaiman. I think he gets defensive against vampires and thinks of them as humans instead of just characters. They are interesting for people to read about because you have to use your imagination, it's nothing we have ever saw before. Humans read about vampires but there is no way to become one, therefore we are not going to follow the patterns of being a vampire and it is innocent the way authors portray them.
ReplyDeleteI know we are suppose to think beyond the AIDS analogy but I would like to touch on that subject first. People may have AIDS and not know it for many years. Not everyone who has AIDS spreads it to others as a way of legal murder. I think he makes people with AIDS look like the villian instead of the victim.
I can see how they see love as killing in Dracula because it is the girls you see victimised by Dracula. Jonathan Harker's arrival to the castle is the beginning of the book. However, Harker ends up escaping from the castle after being so close to death for so many days. Then Lucy Westernra turns into a vampire by dracula and has to be slayed to save her soul and put her sould to rest. Then Mina Murray is bit also. People who had no contact with Dracula get bit and changed who are both girls but Harker who is male out plays Dracula. Also, the three woman in the castle were more then likely changed by Dracula as well, but you never really hear about Dracula biting and sucking the life of men. Therefore, I believe Dracula is showing his love for these woman the only way he knows how, by making them just like him. So Dracula uses vampirism to prove his act of love does kill.
Good points about Dracula and love. You bring up a crucial point - Dracula is only interested in females. In fact, doesn't Renfield beg him to change him?
ReplyDeleteAids analogy: good points here. But I think he was touching more on the fear that gripped the nation when AIDS came out. It is a disease transmitted through blood and it's lethal. It's interesting that he then makes the connection to vampirism. I'm not sure how the vampires of today fit into this idea.
I agree with Gaiman's views because i do think Dracula is about sexual seduction, rape and sex. The signs are pretty much all there. Dracula draws people in and abducts them like he did with Jonathan Harker, but actually his victims that he bites and changes into vampires are girls. So i can see why Gaiman says its about sexual seduction because he does it out of satisfying himself.
ReplyDeleteLike i said Dracula only bites and changes girls into vampires. Dracula does it to people not really close to him (Example Mina and Lucy). I Agree with Chelsea that he bites girls so that they are just like him and thats showing his affection to these girls.
Aids and Vampirism connect because aids is spread through blood and becoming a vampire also is through blood. So they connect pretty well. It doesnt fit in today but the symbolism of Vampirism and Aids are alike. The symbolic similarity is the two are both deadly and you can not change it,but you can slow down the process. AIds: with medicine and pills, Vampirisim: Page 151 and 152 (They put Garlic necklace on lucy and odorless flowers by her so if Dracula would arrive the Garlic and Flowers would stop him from speeding up the process of her becoming a vampire.
I do not agree with Neil Gaiman about Dracula being about sexual seduction and rape. Dracula may draw in women so he can change them to be one of his own. But he does it out of love.
ReplyDelete"Vampirism essentially came out of the closet as a metaphor for the act of love that kills." Dracula kills women out of love. He does it so he can have someone to be with. He shows his affection by taking away their lives. But also when Lucy is turned into a vampire they kill her so her sould could be at rest. The actions of Dracula shows that the act of love does kill.