A Whole New Meaning to “Dracula”

So, while caught in the depths of youtube– you know, those places where you have no idea how you got there because you started off listening to August Burns Red and then you’re suddenly watching a compilation of cats saying “no”– I happened upon a new popular artist that sings a song called “Dracula.” Considering the talk that we had in class today about the classic vampire trope and the popular media’s quasi-occult obsession with vampires, I thought this music video was both relevant and comical. Spoiler alert: this young artist seems to conveniently forget much of Dracula’s characterization (i.e. his harems, his homicidal hunger for blood, his frequent metamorphosis into a bat, etc.)

Regardless of how ridiculous this music video is, I think it’s really interesting to look at the romanticized perception of vampires in today’s society– especially with today’s youth. In juxtaposition with Butler’s presentation of the vampire/Ina world especially, our culture seems to “cherry pick” certain traits of the vampire species to portray them as “tragically beautiful,” “hot and hazardous” and “dark and dangerous.” It’s sort of like Dr. McCoy’s imagery of “re-arranging the deck chairs.” There are a slew of dilemmas inherent, of course hypothetically, with being a vampire or being associated with a vampire that society seems to ignore and deny for entertainment’s sake.

Dracula- Bea Miller

Though lacking in academic rigor, perhaps this video will aide others in making academic claims and comparisons in their blog posts.

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