The real Dracula?

by LoveUniHateExams 13 Replies latest social entertainment

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  LoveUniHateExams

  I'm a bit of a horror fan - I love horror movies and the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker is a pretty good read - especially the first four chapters, with Jonathan Harker being in Dracula's castle.

  I've heard before that Stoker based Count Dracula on a 15th century voivod (prince) of Wallachia who went down in history as Vlad the Impaler - apparently, he was extremely barbaric and cruel, as his name suggests.

  Vlad's father was also called Vlad. Daddy Vlad was apparently part of an order of Crusader knights, the Order of the Dragon. This Order was formed to protect Christian Europe against Muslim Ottomans/Turks.

  Daddy Vlad was given the surname Dracul (meaning 'the dragon', because of the religious Order mentioned above.

  His son was given the surname Draculea (meaning 'of the dragon'). He signed his name 'Vladisaus Dragulya'. He later became known as Vlad Tepes, tepes meaning 'impaler' in Romanian, I think.

  Here is the house he was born in nearly 600 years ago. Today it is a café ...

  
  

  I'm reading a historical book ATM that details Vlad Tepes's life.

  What do you know about him?
  
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  caves

  I'm personally obsessed with Romania. 'Dracula' in Romania is just for tourist. The irony is Romanians do not celebrate Halloween. Dracula is such Westernized hype. And old stories made up.

  I do think that Bram Stokers Dracula is one of the best in terms of visuals and story line plus actors that played in it. The kind I movie I wish would be the place where Hollywood stops. I have yet to find a Dracula movie that tops it.

  I don't watch many horror movies anymore. Something I never thought Id grow out of. But I used to a lot.

  As far as knowledge of the real Vlad, a lot of it is made up. There are the Slavic and German recounts that don't match up. Not only the obvious Dracula Vampire stuff but the manner in which he killed the Ottomans and the Transylvanian Saxons.

  In Romania he was and is a hero. He was leader 3 times, known for "getting it done" so to speak. He was authoritarian. He was cruel. (it was the dark ages back then) cruelty was the norm in fighting.

  But he was a strong leader protecting his land from invaders. Romanians view him as doing what was necessary to protect his country from Muslims and Islam who would have completely destroyed Romania if it not were for Vlad.

  From what I can tell or read he really wanted peace and part of his reign was peaceful. Until invaders threatened the country's entire way of life.

  Your going to love that book.
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  Magnum

  I've read a good bit about him over the last few years - a lot about gruesome stuff he supposedly did, like impaling enemies up the back side and missing major internal organs so they wouldn't die quickly. I read that he even impaled babies. I realize that some of the info might be wrong, but there are so many accounts that it seems that they are based on some kind of reality or actual incidents.

  That house photo is interesting. I don't think of people back then as living in houses like that. It looks like a modern house.
  
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  dropoffyourkeylee

  The Dracula/blood connections have come up a few times on this site, and I contributed one thread about it a few years ago, in which some of the literature on the subject equates the use of blood with repressed sexual imagery of the Victorian Era:

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/124690001/connections-between-blood-transfusion-sexual-repression-victorian-age

  I took a literature class in college about the Dracula imagery that sparked my interest in the subject.
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  LoveUniHateExams

  I don't think of people back then as living in houses like that. It looks like a modern house - yeah well spotted. Apparently, the top two floors were added later, in the 18th or 19th century.

  The bottom floor dates back from Vlad Draculea's birth (c. 1430) and was probably fairly new at that time.
  
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  LoveUniHateExams

  I do think that Bram Stokers Dracula is one of the best in terms of visuals and story line plus actors that played in it - for me, it's an entertaining film and I'd recommend it. But I also think it's a mixed bag - it has its good points and bad points.

  The visuals, set designs and costumes are excellent. Gary Oldman's a good actor, and props to him for not only hiring a dialect coach to get the accent acceptable (although there are some inconsistencies there) but he also learnt a few lines of Romanian, which he delivered very well.

  I personally don't like making Dracula a loser in love. I'd much rather Dracula just be a villain through and through.

  Yeah, like I said, Oldman's Romanian accent varies a bit - sometimes he sounds a little Russian, other times he sounds a little Italian. And, inexplicably, when he appears in the wolf bodysuit and the bat body suit, his accent is posh English! <---- what the hell was going on there?
  

  As far as knowledge of the real Vlad, a lot of it is made up - it's almost impossible to verify what happened and what didn't.

  The vampire stuff is obviously nonsense but makes for a good horror story.

  The impaling may very well have happened. Young Vlad grew up in one of the Ottoman Sultan Murad's palaces. Vlad's father, Vlad Dracul, took his young sons (Vlad & Radu) there because Wallachia was a vassel state of the Ottoman Empire. Young Vlad would probably have seen criminals impaled there. The Ottomans used to punish Muslim criminals with beheading but all others - Christians, Druze, Jews - were punished with impaling.
  
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  caves

  The impaling did happen. I was referring to the obvious vampire stuff. I just worded it loosely so I don't spoil the book you said you were reading.

  After all I've read about Vlad, I join the many others that view him as a hero of sorts. But that's my opinion. Just another opinion to be analyzed to death and or dismissed.

  I still think the movie was good. But I'm also probably just old, dried up and out of touch with the way movies are done now.
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  Simon

  Slightly off topic, but we watched a really interesting adaptation of the Dracula story on Netflix.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-b2HXpbg7U
  
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  Wakanda

  All I know is from Drunk History. 🤪
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  LoveUniHateExams

  Hi Simon - is the Dracula adaptation you saw the one that is written by Mark Gatiss and stars Claes Bang?

  Writer Mark Gatiss himself is a big horror fan, and I like some of his Sherlock episodes, too.

  I don't have Netflix or even a TV licence but I've seen this DVD available. At the moment, it's too expensive for me (£13) but I might buy it if it goes down in price.