“Dracula” the Movie (1991), Starring Gary Oldman (Dracula), Keannu Reaves (Jonathan Harker), Winona Ryder (Mina Murray Harker), and Anthony Hopkins (Van Helsing).
The movie changed the order of many of the scenes, and even changed the plot line a bit, From Bram Stoker’s book. While I understand that these techniques are used regularly in the film industry to make it easier to tell the stories using a visual medium, in this case it changed the story line, but not as much as the Bela Lugosi Dracula films. This movie was a lot closer to the original story than the earlier versions I have seen, and doesn’t drastically change the true significance of the character’s actions or their motivations, except for Mina's motivations which only constituted a minor change. In fact it follows the book almost exactly in the beginning, diverging a bit in the middle, then coming back to a close version of the book’s story ending. This movie stays true the dark nature of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
The Book
Bram Stoker weaves a marvelous tale in Dracula. He tells the story from multiple angles, basically in first person, but changing the person telling the story, letting each character reveal what he or she knows and witnesses. Stoker makes use of newspaper articles as well as the letters and personal journals of the main characters – all except Dracula and Renfield - to develop the plot and characters. Throughout the story, it is evident that the characters telling the story are gaining bits and pieces of the developing intrigue, but none of them has the whole story until about two-thirds of the way through the book, when they all come together to compare notes. It’s an interesting method of storytelling, in that it truly lets the reader gain a perspective on each character’s motivation and thought process.
Jonathan Harker, a London lawyer, begins the story of Dracula as he travels to Romania to have the Count sign legal documents permitting him to take custody of a piece of property just outside of London. As it turns out, the property is neighbor’s with an asylum. The asylum plays home to two more of the characters, Renfield (who used to work for Jonathan Harker’s law firm until he went mad) and his psychiatrist, Dr. Seward. Once in England, Dracula first begins controlling Renfield’s mind, making him appear even more wildly insane.
Unbeknownst to the main characters, Dracula has bought other properties in London, which will allow him to move around freely, and feed off the city’s large population virtually unnoticed. While in London, he begins feeding off Lucy Westenra, and controlling her mind whenever he’s in the vicinity. Lucy is best friends with Wilomena (nicknamed Mina) Murray, who is engaged to Jonathan Harker. Lucy’s fiancee is friends with Dr. Seward (the psychiatrist) who, in turn, is acquainted with Dr. Van Helsing. Van Helsing is called in to help discover the cause of Lucy’s strange and sudden malady, which is weakening her daily and bringing her to the brink of death.
Van Helsink suspect’s what is going on, but needs to gather the evidence that will prove his suspicions. Drucula’s nightly visits to Lucy’s bedchamber eventually kills Lucy, an event that brings all the main characters together. From here on, they begin to see a pattern to the Count’s movements and soon figure out who he is – or rather what he is. They develop a plan as to how they will rid London, and the world, of Dracula and his brand of evil.
I found that this book started out a little slow for me, but soon picked up speed as the story progressed. Bram Stoker really draws the readers in to the story, though, hooking them early enough to make them want to keep reading. He doesn’t reveal Dracula’s true identity too early, only alludes to who he is and what he’s all about. If I had never read a vampire story or ever heard of vampires and Dracula, I would have really been wondering what the heck was going on and wanting to read more. It is definitely still a great read.
No comments:
Post a Comment