Line #6 Fridge/BramStokersDracula


1	[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]
2	* Count Dracula is depicted with very hairy palms in his first appearance- this is a typical part of the vampire myth, but it's also part of another myth... Now, he has some very attractive wives but he's obviously still very much in love with Elisabeta... Could Dracula have started both classic myths in one fell swoop by being locked away in his castle, with his true love gone forever, for half a millenium? Stories about him would certainly spread in that time.
3	** [[{{Troll}} Then how would you explain the myth about it making you go blind?]]
4	** He's a vampire. His eyes heal.
5	* There's a sequence in the film where Mina chucks pages from her diary overboard into the ocean, with a voice-over reading off text that is not in the novel ("Perhaps, though I try to be good, I am bad," etc). This could be an in-joke/explanation of why the romance story isn't in the book: Mina destroyed all the written evidence!
6	* Count Dracula's bizarre behavior during his time with Jonathan Harker is very likely explainable by the fact he really hasn't dealt with regular humans in centuries (save his Romani mercenaries). Obviously, he has a little time to practice before he starts his seduction of Mina. It's also possible he observed Lucy's suitors, Jonathan, and others for a sense of "okay, how DO people interact nowadays?"
7	* Mina's cheating in this version of the story are more understandable with the fact the movie plays up Mina being sexually frustrated and Jonathan a boring wet blanket.
8	** Also, she appears to really be the reincarnation of Dracula's lost love.
9	* It's very odd that Mina refers to Lucy as a "pure and virtuous girl" the way she is in the books when she is portrayed in the movie as promiscuous and flirty ([[ValuesDissonance which is pretty scandalous for the time period its set]]). Hell, in the very same scene she makes this claim, Lucy is flirting with three men simultaneously. But given how [[SpoiledSweet a very wealthy British lady]] is best friends with a humble school mistress, it's possible that Mina sees Lucy for what [[HiddenDepths she really is underneath]].
10	** And if you note, all Lucy does with each suitor is flirt. And once all three have arrived, she talks to all of them at once. It's only after Dracula starts feeding on her, after which she's now engaged to Arthur, that she begins to actually make passes at the others.
11	*** This makes sense for the time. Until the early 20th century, it was considered improper for a girl to date only one man - it could lead to premarital sex if too strong of a relationship was formed. A girl was to date multiple men until she decided she wanted to marry one of them, and only with engagement would she stop seeing other men. Until the 1920s or even later "going steady" was still seen as something bad girls did.
12	* Jonathan is able to recognize Dracula in his younger form. When he had first visited the castle, he saw a portrait of the younger Dracula and assumed it was an ancestor.
13	* Dracula has his brides feed on Jonathan but not kill him. Technically that means he's cheated on Mina, making the Count feel okay about making a move now.
14	* Mina beheading Dracula at the end is not an act of love, but one of rage and vengeance: she's free from his mental influence at last, and remembers that he raped and murdered her best friend, and permanently traumatized her husband.
15	* Why does Dracula look so old and decrepit when he's in Transylvania? He's blood-starved because the local residents know about vampires and take active measures to protect themselves against him (even his brides complain "Are we to have nothing tonight?" when Dracula stops them from sucking Jonathan Harker dry of blood). The people in London? Not so much.
16	* The fact that Anthony Hopkins played both the priest that condemned Elisabeta's soul and put Dracula on his StartOfDarkness, as well as played Van Helsing who centuries later makes it his mission to destroy Dracula. The movie establishes that reincarnation is real, and that memories of past lives can be remembered, so Van Helsing may well be that same priest reborn. This makes Van Helsing less of a MadScientist and more of TheAtoner on a RedemptionQuest; trying to close loose ends with the past and destroy the evil that his past self inadvertently had a hand in creating. Which would explain why Van Helsing initially appears so delighted at finally finding that Dracula is real and active; he's finally close to reaching his life's purpose. Even Dracula seems to recognize him when they confront each other, and that realization makes him even more enraged.
17	* Before Dracula tries to bite Mina in the cinematogram, she exclaims "I know you" but sounds scared. This is before Dracula hypnotised/reawakened Elisabeta's memories, so where does she remember him from? If not night she saw him feeding on Lucy, then seeing his eyes in the clouds just as it started raining.
18
19	[[AC: FridgeHorror]]
20
21	* Mina's marriage with Jonathan is going to be ''awkward'' given the ending where she professes her love to the Count. And almost having sex with him. And holding a loaded rifle to Jonathan while ''protecting the Count''. And actively aiding the Count's escape. And attempting to seduce Van Helsing. She may have been under his spell, but that's a lot of awkward things to try and sweep under the rug.
22	** All the fallout from death and killing will probably take priority over any attempted sex acts. That's she's clearly under some spell (that Jonathan can relate too) is probably going to smooth over the awkwardness.
23	* That opening scene with Dracula ends before we see what exactly happens to the priests and guards outside the door. Remember that this is Vlad 'The Impaler' Dracula we're talking about here. Try not to think about what he [[CruelAndUnusualDeath most likely did to them right after.]] Especially since, if you look carefully, you can see dessicated impaled corpses down near the chapel centuries later when Jonathan is trying to escape. Yeah...

Context Fridge / BramStokersDracula