"Dracula"- Netflix (Season 1, Episode 1)
Dracula
E 01 S01
"The Rules of the Beast"
The first episode of the Netflix mini series, Dracula, starts the same way as the book. We see Johnathan Harker, a very familiar character to the viewer. We get the same story line for the beginning of this episode-- Harker is confronted by a woman telling him he will need a crucifix. We also see the scene where Dracula is driving Harker, however, Harker doesn't know he is the one that drove. We also get to know more about the process of WHY Dracula does what he does, we see that him drinking others' blood, and taking their souls allows him to appear younger.
From the first episode, I did see, the creators did use a lot of Bram Stoker's story outlines, and ideas in this adaptation. He keeps some essential characters, such as, Mina Murray, and Johnathan Harker. But, one new addition the creators did to Stoker's character list, is instead of bringing in Dr. Van Helsing, who as we know from the novel, provided lots of insight and tips to keep a vampire from biting them. In this series, we have a character named, Agatha Van Helsing, who is a nun that also seems to have a very odd obsession with witchcraft and vampires. She takes this obsession, and it becomes an advantage when she is faced in multiple obstacles with Dracula. So we can see a connection with the last name, and the significance of the character to the story line. However, we can look a little closer at this change/adaptation to the story line and ask ourselves, why the creators of this spin off changes "Van Helsing" from a vampire expert, male doctor, to a strong, sassy female nun. The viewer can't help but think, this is an easier twist, and makes for Dracula's "attack" on Van Helsing, Agatha Van Helsing that is, a little easier in that, she's a woman, and her "sisters" are women as well, making Dracula more dominant. In the spin off, Agatha wasn't bitten like everyone else, she was kissed by Dracula which does the same thing, she begins to die in the same was that Harker does.
As we dig further into Agatha Van Helsing character, and relate her character to that of the novel, the reader realizes that Agatha was mentioned in the novel, as a brief character to provide information for the readers. She never has a significant part in the novel. So, the viewers of the 2020 adaptation can ask themselves, is there relevance in the creators decision to make such a small character the one of the shows main characters? The more we look into the latent meanings behind the creators the decision makes sense. As we think on this subject, we can be tempted to think that Agatha's character change can actually be showing us more (assumed-- true or false) information about Dracula's life outside of biting, and outside of life. Of course, as we get further into the 3 part series, we learn more about Dracula and Van Helsing that will tie together a lot of the thoughts and assumptions going through the readers mind while watching the show
E 01 S01
"The Rules of the Beast"
The series, "Dracula", created by Mark Gatiss, and Steven Moffat (2020).
The first episode of the Netflix mini series, Dracula, starts the same way as the book. We see Johnathan Harker, a very familiar character to the viewer. We get the same story line for the beginning of this episode-- Harker is confronted by a woman telling him he will need a crucifix. We also see the scene where Dracula is driving Harker, however, Harker doesn't know he is the one that drove. We also get to know more about the process of WHY Dracula does what he does, we see that him drinking others' blood, and taking their souls allows him to appear younger.
From the first episode, I did see, the creators did use a lot of Bram Stoker's story outlines, and ideas in this adaptation. He keeps some essential characters, such as, Mina Murray, and Johnathan Harker. But, one new addition the creators did to Stoker's character list, is instead of bringing in Dr. Van Helsing, who as we know from the novel, provided lots of insight and tips to keep a vampire from biting them. In this series, we have a character named, Agatha Van Helsing, who is a nun that also seems to have a very odd obsession with witchcraft and vampires. She takes this obsession, and it becomes an advantage when she is faced in multiple obstacles with Dracula. So we can see a connection with the last name, and the significance of the character to the story line. However, we can look a little closer at this change/adaptation to the story line and ask ourselves, why the creators of this spin off changes "Van Helsing" from a vampire expert, male doctor, to a strong, sassy female nun. The viewer can't help but think, this is an easier twist, and makes for Dracula's "attack" on Van Helsing, Agatha Van Helsing that is, a little easier in that, she's a woman, and her "sisters" are women as well, making Dracula more dominant. In the spin off, Agatha wasn't bitten like everyone else, she was kissed by Dracula which does the same thing, she begins to die in the same was that Harker does.
As we dig further into Agatha Van Helsing character, and relate her character to that of the novel, the reader realizes that Agatha was mentioned in the novel, as a brief character to provide information for the readers. She never has a significant part in the novel. So, the viewers of the 2020 adaptation can ask themselves, is there relevance in the creators decision to make such a small character the one of the shows main characters? The more we look into the latent meanings behind the creators the decision makes sense. As we think on this subject, we can be tempted to think that Agatha's character change can actually be showing us more (assumed-- true or false) information about Dracula's life outside of biting, and outside of life. Of course, as we get further into the 3 part series, we learn more about Dracula and Van Helsing that will tie together a lot of the thoughts and assumptions going through the readers mind while watching the show
I really like your commentary on the character of Agatha. I think the gender change for Van Helsing is very important to the new story line and that there is some connection to Dracula's life. I am much more interested in watching this mini series now.
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