Dracula's influence on popular culture is immense.
In this new episode of the Europe 1 Studio podcast "At the heart of History", Jean des Cars tells you how the figure of the vampire democratized by Bram Stoker's novel has inspired creators, in particular filmmakers, through the centuries.
From the first silent films to the teen sagas of the 2000s, the figure of the vampire democratized by Bram Stoker is omnipresent in popular culture. In this new episode of the Europe 1 Studio podcast "At the heart of history", Jean des Cars tells you how Dracula and his ilk infiltrated the collective imagination.
We had left Dracula when he landed in England, with his coffins and land from Transylvania (essential!).
Installed in his property, the monster begins by attacking Lucy, blonde and frivolous aristocrat, the best friend of Mina, the wife of Jonathan.
She becomes a horrible woman vampire and ends very badly.
Then, it's Mina's turn to be spellbound by the count.
The faithful wife resists, she does not completely succumb to the charm of the vampire.
He kidnaps her to bring her back to his castle.
So the team made up of Jonathan, the faithful doctor Seward, Morris, Lucy's ex-flirt, and the vampire hunter Van Helsing, pursue him to the depths of the Carpathians.
Good triumphs over Evil in a terrifying scene.
Dracula will be turned to dust and Mina, freed from his grip, finds her Jonathan, exhausted but alive.
Phew!
Dracula resurrects in the cinema
From its beginnings, the cinema was interested in vampires.
A few silent British films are inspired by it, such as "The vampires of the coast" in 1909, "The vampire" in 1911, "The vampires of the night" in 1914 or "The vampire village" in 1916. But these are only short films.
The first great cinematographic shock caused by a vampire is Murnau's "Nosferatu", shot in Germany in 1922. A masterpiece of German expressionism, it is a piracy, an illegal transposition of Dracula because the heirs of Bram Stoker refused to adapt the book to the screen.
This silent film provokes the spectators' terror.
From the first scene, diving into a Gothic belfry, we shudder.
The vampire brilliantly begins his film career.
The new incarnation of Dracula, this time in a film about Tod Browning in 1931, will be provided by Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi.
The film is aesthetically very beautiful, and very theatrical because it is adapted from a play.
This suits Lugosi, a comedian who played Dracula for a long time on stage where he uttered this liberating phrase: "To die, to be really dead, that must be wonderful".
In the 1950s, the film company Hammer Films presided over the great years of English terror.
She gives Dracula his dignity, thanks to the imposing stature and the real seduction of actor Christopher Lee.
This actor will play the role of Dracula several times, in a black coat and cape, and whose canines only grow when absolutely necessary, transforming him into a totally terrifying creature!
Director Terence Fisher chose to accentuate the character's eroticism, which his predecessors had not dared to do.
Christopher Lee manages to make Bela Lugosi forget.
In the midst of actresses often in light outfits, Dracula stands out as a don Juan, sensual and brutal.
He's a kind of monster, but not devoid of charm.
He also embodies the evolution of manners at the turn of the sixties.
From "Dracula's Nightmare" in 1956 to "Dracula Prince of Darkness" in 1966, Lee will build a Dracula much more British than Transylvanian, to the delight of lovers of strong emotions.
But it was not until 1992 for a real return to the roots of Bram Stoker's book, with the magnificent film by Francis Ford Coppola.
It is totally faithful to the novel, with an addition that the author would certainly not have disowned.
Indeed, the first scene of the film shows us Dracula's wife throwing herself into the void because she thinks that her husband was killed while fighting the Ottomans.
To the despair of Vlad the Impaler who loses his adored wife, is added that of not being able to offer him a Christian funeral.
She committed suicide, which is prohibited by the Church.
It is his revolt against God that will make Dracula a bloodthirsty vampire, as cruel to his victims as to the Ottomans whom he impaled by the thousands ...
Coppola's second trick is to make Nina the double of the suicide wife, his exact image.
Therefore, Dracula will aim to seduce her before vampirizing her so that she is by his side for eternity: the film's subtitle is "Love never dies", "love never dies".
We know that vampires also have the power to change their appearance.
Count Dracula, who welcomes Jonathan Harker to his castle, is a strange, disturbing old man, dressed in huge capes that resemble paintings by the painter Gustav Klimt.
Her nails are hooked, her voice is soft but relentless.
It is obvious that in order to seduce Mina, Dracula must be rejuvenated.
He will turn into a sort of fin de siècle dandy, with a mustache and small round blue glasses.
This does not prevent him, when he attacks the beautiful Lucy at night, from turning into a sort of monstrous beast that the young woman's close guard pursues through the garden, without ever succeeding in catching her.
The monster moves incredibly fast, it seems invulnerable.
Still, Coppola gives a kind of humanity to his Dracula.
His passion for Mina is touching when he takes her to a film session, then stammering, then to a trendy restaurant.
The reconstruction of London at the end of the 19th century is masterful, as is the extraordinary and fantastic Dracula's Castle, from the drawbridge to the grand staircase, from the walls overlooking the river to Jonathan's little bedroom and toilet where, in a particularly terrifying scene, he receives a visit from Dracula while he is shaving.
"But at the same time, I noticed that my chin was bleeding a little. I half turned my head to look for a piece of cotton. When the Earl saw my face, his eyes sparkled with a sort of evil fury. and suddenly he grabbed me by the throat: "Beware," he said, "beware when you hurt yourself.
In this country, it is more dangerous than you think "… Lifting the mirror from the Spanish, he continued:" And if you are injured, it is because of this object of misfortune!
It does nothing but flatter the vanity of Men.
Better to get rid of it. "He opened the heavy window with a single gesture of his terrible hand, and threw the mirror which was going to shatter into a thousand pieces on the paving of the courtyard. Then he left the room, without more. say a word. "
This scene, full of innuendo, is reproduced identically in Coppola's film.
Two years later, in 1994, vampires reappeared with a film based on a book, "Interviews with a vampire".
The vampires, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, are very attractive.
The film is very successful, but it's not about Dracula at all.
It doesn't seem to me that there have been any other attempts to revive Dracula in the cinema.
Perhaps the perfection of Coppola's film discourages his potential successors?
Has Dracula lost his aura?
Not really !
It has become a tourist attraction for anyone visiting Romania ...
Tourists in Dracula's Footsteps
Already under the Ceausescu regime, in the sixties, vampire-loving tourists came to visit the country where Bram Stoker had set his novel.
They obviously wanted to find the places where the real Vlad the Impaler had lived.
It should be remembered that at this time, Romania was the only country in the Eastern bloc open to Westerners.
Ceausescu makes believe that he does not depend on Moscow and that he kindly rules his prosperous country.
The reality was very different, but the tourists did not know.
But little by little, the authorities take a dim view of the confusion between their national hero, champion of the fight against the Ottomans, and Bram Stoker's bloodthirsty Dracula.
The Ministry of Tourism then decides to divert visitors from sites where the historic Dracula had lived to create them from scratch.
Thus, in Bistrita, we built an ultra-modern Golden Crown Hotel, which obviously had nothing to do with the medieval inn where Stoker slept his hero.
As a reminder, this is how Jonathan describes it: "Count Dracula pointed out to me the Golden Crown Hotel. I was delighted to see that it was a very old house because, naturally, I wanted to know as much as possible. the customs of the country. "
Likewise, at the top of Borgo Pass, where Dracula's Castle is located in the novel, a hotel pompously named "Dracula Castle" was built, which could not in any way satisfy Bram Stoker's readers!
This somewhat ridiculous policy obviously ends with the fall of the dictator.
In 2001, another disaster: the Ministry of Tourism decides to build a theme park dedicated to Dracula and vampires, in Sighisoara, Vlad's hometown, in Transylvania.
However, the city has been classified as World Historical Heritage by Unesco.
Shields were immediately raised against the project.
The son of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles himself, owner of a residence in this beautiful region, stepped in, telling the British daily Guardian "that a large-scale development project would be totally moved inside this perimeter and would destroy everything that makes up its character ".
Fortunately, therefore, there was no Dracula Park!
Today there are still tourists in Romania looking for traces of Dracula and what they are offered to visit is quite authentic.
Sighisoara, Targoviste with its ruined palace and especially Bran Castle.
If it's not really Dracula's castle, he's been there several times.
This beautiful medieval building, perched on a hill at the foot of the Carpathians, was restored in the time of King Ferdinand and Queen Mary of Romania.
The latter, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, had developed a passion for the history, customs and traditions of her country.
It was she who wanted the first restoration of Bran Castle.
There is a very beautiful photo of the sovereign, in traditional Romanian costume on the ramparts, others with family, inside the castle.
Now restored again in the meantime, it has been transformed into a museum dedicated to the legend and history of Dracula.
But it's not just in Romania that Dracula still has followers.
In England, in Yorkshire, the small seaside resort of Whitby also wanted to celebrate the memory of the most famous of vampires.
We know that it is in Whitby that Bram Stoker disembarks Dracula and his coffins from the cargo ship Demeter.
The city offers a guided tour on the theme of vampires, "The Dracula Experience", an educational and historical journey, punctuated by ten sound scenes with special effects featuring models and actors.
We can even admire the cape worn by Christopher Lee in the second Dracula.
But to live the real "Dracula Experience", it is probably better to immerse yourself in the novel by Bram Stoker, always reissued worldwide since its publication, and guaranteed without any risk of disappointment!
Bibliographic resources:
Bram Stoker,
Dracula
, Translation by Jacques Finné (Le Livre de Poche, 1979)
Céline du Chéné & Jean Marigny,
Dracula, prince of darkness
(Larousse, 2009)
Dorica Lucaci,
Dracula, the unloved one of History
(Editions de l'Opportun, 2019)
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"At the heart of History" is a Europe 1 Studio podcast
Author and presentation: Jean des Cars
Production, distribution and editing: Timothée Magot
Director: Jean-François Bussière
Graphics: Karelle Villais