Dracula in Our Culture

Dracula in our culture

According to the 1992 movie Dracula by Francis Ford Coppala based on the book by Bram Stoker, vampires are seen as immoral pleasure seekers and lustful creatures who will stop at nothing to get what they want. The 1897 Bram Stoker novel is based on a fifteenth century prince by the name of Vlad Dracula who was also known as “the Impaler.” In order to understand the cultural impact of these three different approaches to vampire we must take a deeper look into them. First we wil look at the history of Vlad Dracula. Secondly we will look at the novel based on Vlad Dracula’s life and thirdly we will look at Francis Ford Coppala’s interpretation of the novel based on his movie. Finally we will look at how this highly influential movie, novel, and account of history gives a particular subcluture the impression of vampires that they have today. The subculture for this research was the female college student. This subculture gives us a womans perspective on vampires in our culture as opposed to a mans perspective which can be drastically different. This subculture is also representative of a younger generation that may know more of a modern Dracula that is seen today.

Vlad III Dracula was born in 1431 in Sighisoura a city inTranslvania, As a child he was taught all the proper skills of battle and was raise to be a noble Christian knight. At this time the Ottoman Turk empire was slowly taking over and soon approaching Transylvania. Because of Dracula’s fathers fight to remain neutral he and his family were forced to flee by the Hungarians who were not in favor with neutrality but returned to have his father reclaim the throne and later be assassinated. His son Dracula claimed the throne from 1456 to 1462. The Turks forced Dracula to flee to Transylvania in 1462 right after his first wife commited suicide by jumping from his tower into the Arges river which can be seen in the movie.