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Sep. 23rd, 2022 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
potofsoupI caught up on Dracula Daily last night/this morning (I was 3 weeks behind! When I'd last read, Van Helsing had just shown up, and now we've hit "Finis" on Lucy Westenra)
- Firstly, the "Finis" is super cute, bc obviously Lucy's an undead vampire bride, but I love how Bram Stoker's like "this story is totally finished wink wonk"
- There's something here about the science being blinded to truth which I wish I could articulate better --
---> If Van Helsing actually explained everything Seward, Lucy, and Lucy's mom, *and they believed him*, then most of this could have been avoided, and at least Lucy could have still been alive.
---> Van Helsing doesn't tell anyone that he thinks it's vampires, probably because he has reputation as a "man of science" -- he thinks that if he shows that he believes in superstition, it would erode his standing amongst his peers and with Seward. (Just look at the way both Seward and him explain Van Helsing feeling sad/hysterical after Lucy's death: "that's so inappropro for a RATIONAL, EDUCATED MAN." So he has to do this "trust me" thing with Seward, which requires a different sort of faith from Seward.
---> But of course, *would* any of them have believed him? There's definitely a theme here of "men of reason" over-rationalizing -- Jonathan Harker trying really hard to rationalize all the weird stuff he was seeing in Dracula's castle until it's too late. Seward being like "experimental blood transfusions? sure!" while at the same time being like "what's with all the garlic flowers?"
---> Wasn't Stoker a closeted gay during a period where homosexuality is considered a mental illness? :thinking face:
- Oh wow all of the gender things -- the way Seward's account is like "Lucy is a WOMAN and therefore she is WEAK and I must be GENTLE." And meanwhile Lucy and Mina are like, being quite sensible about everything. (I think if someone bothered to explain to Lucy what's going on, she'd be like "yeah that checks out, now let me go stay with Arthur for a while (teehee more time with Arthur)")
- Also like all the class things? Those horrible accents for anyone who is working class! The implication that lack of wealth = lack of education = simpleton. That *nudgenudgewinkwink* of "you, my dear reader, know what's afoot, whereas these fools don't even know the difference between wolves and dogs." Can't tells if Stoker is doing it on purpose or not, because Quincy Morris (the cowboy) is able to figure out what's going on, has a ridiculous accent, and is clearly outside of the class structure. So it's almost as of Stoker is like "British upper class tend to over-rationalize and the lower class is too brutish, whereas in AMURICA...."
- I don't know why everyone loves Lucy, but holy cow I definitely see the polycule vibes.
- Firstly, the "Finis" is super cute, bc obviously Lucy's an undead vampire bride, but I love how Bram Stoker's like "this story is totally finished wink wonk"
- There's something here about the science being blinded to truth which I wish I could articulate better --
---> If Van Helsing actually explained everything Seward, Lucy, and Lucy's mom, *and they believed him*, then most of this could have been avoided, and at least Lucy could have still been alive.
---> Van Helsing doesn't tell anyone that he thinks it's vampires, probably because he has reputation as a "man of science" -- he thinks that if he shows that he believes in superstition, it would erode his standing amongst his peers and with Seward. (Just look at the way both Seward and him explain Van Helsing feeling sad/hysterical after Lucy's death: "that's so inappropro for a RATIONAL, EDUCATED MAN." So he has to do this "trust me" thing with Seward, which requires a different sort of faith from Seward.
---> But of course, *would* any of them have believed him? There's definitely a theme here of "men of reason" over-rationalizing -- Jonathan Harker trying really hard to rationalize all the weird stuff he was seeing in Dracula's castle until it's too late. Seward being like "experimental blood transfusions? sure!" while at the same time being like "what's with all the garlic flowers?"
---> Wasn't Stoker a closeted gay during a period where homosexuality is considered a mental illness? :thinking face:
- Oh wow all of the gender things -- the way Seward's account is like "Lucy is a WOMAN and therefore she is WEAK and I must be GENTLE." And meanwhile Lucy and Mina are like, being quite sensible about everything. (I think if someone bothered to explain to Lucy what's going on, she'd be like "yeah that checks out, now let me go stay with Arthur for a while (teehee more time with Arthur)")
- Also like all the class things? Those horrible accents for anyone who is working class! The implication that lack of wealth = lack of education = simpleton. That *nudgenudgewinkwink* of "you, my dear reader, know what's afoot, whereas these fools don't even know the difference between wolves and dogs." Can't tells if Stoker is doing it on purpose or not, because Quincy Morris (the cowboy) is able to figure out what's going on, has a ridiculous accent, and is clearly outside of the class structure. So it's almost as of Stoker is like "British upper class tend to over-rationalize and the lower class is too brutish, whereas in AMURICA...."
- I don't know why everyone loves Lucy, but holy cow I definitely see the polycule vibes.
