#but maybe also. frankenstein didnt rely so hard on victorian norms/historical context of its time

[mejomonster]

I hope the daily dracula thing leads to people writing and/or linking some analysis on the feminist points made or not made, the lucy/mina homoerotic angle that so many later adaptations end up highlighting, and interpretations specifically on mina and Lucy's povs and roles in the story (which again many adaptations seem to dive into)

Because like. When I read dracula first at age 15 sooooo much went over my head. I remember picking up on how sexist and repressed a society it sounded compared to my 2000s life, at the time without much context to even determine if for it's time it was pushing boundaries or trying to enforce them, and I picked up on the anticlimactic ending which reminded me of HG Wells war of the world's ending (but hg wells novel being a sci fi with a science twist ending I tolerated that ending much better lol). And so like SO much literary analysis and themes exploration of dracula went Right over my head at the time. It wasn't until I watched Coppulas dracula with Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder that I got how critical Mina was, got some of the points I never picked up from the book, got how Helsing represents Victorian religion and expectations etc and dracula represents a difference to that and mina and Jon are certainly in the middle of that. And then it wasn't until the Japanese Dracula Musical that I really found hammered home how Much Minas pov and power in the story Affects the interpretation so greatly (and likewise Lucy's pov and power in given adaptations shapes those adaptations impressions). And so like? In retrospect now years later, i realize this novel may have been doing more than "shallow horror about obeying Victorian norms or ur evil stab stab like draculas body" that I assumed was all it was when I first read it lol.

I am very much interested in seeing more involved discussion on the things the book touches on ans delves into and what they might mean in the book and in context of its writing. And if anyone knows of any literary discussions/books that delved into it, I'd be very interested in reading them

#rant #dracula #dracula daily #in defense of my teen self lol 1 i was just learning literary analysis so i wasnt good yet #2 i found Frankenstein much easier to interpret #i think maybe because its themes are just much more spelled out and its messages are often TOLD to you when reading #maybe because mary shelley just writes in a more accessible way to an audience? idk but for me #frankenstein was very easy to grasp the depth of points it was trying to make #but maybe also. frankenstein didnt rely so hard on victorian norms/historical context of its time #frankenstein did To a degree. but also a Lot of its points would equally easily be picked up #if it was set in 2022 on a college campus etc. #a lot of its points are easier i feel to pick up on even if u treat it like a modern piece #i think to a degree it wasnt until i took american womens history in college #that i even grasped the victorian norms for women (being considered the moral center and blamed if men were immortal #immoral. men going to brothels as a norm but women expected to be pillars of virtue. ppl getting outside of home jobs more #like mina and her career. lucy and her intellect even tho she is pursuing love etc. #like because of that u expect their lives to be like modern women. but theyre also being held to expectations we dont feel to the same #degree now. etc. which wete things i had never considered back whrn i originally read