A Century Of Vampire Evolution
Dracula can’t see his own reflection in the mirror because he is a reflection of the culture around him. Ever since Bram Stoker penned Dracula in 1897, the vampire’s image has been a work in progress.
In the 43 sequels, remakes and adaptations of Stoker’s novel, Transylvania’s most famous son rarely appears the same way twice. He has evolved with the society around him. His physical traits, powers and weaknesses have morphed to suit cultural and political climates from the Victorian era to the Cold War.
The original, real life Dracula was not a vampire, did not drink blood, and didn’t worship the devil, either.
Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia or "Vlad the Impaler" is Count Dracula’s historical namesake. His chosen last name "Dracula" translates to "son of the devil," or "son of the dragon" a reference to a religious order founded by his father (Vlad Dracul).
Today, Dracula often conjures up images of a sexy, mysterious, debonair aristocrat, but Bram Stoker’s 1897 Count Dracula was none of those things. (Stoker once confided in a fan letter that Whitman could be "father, and brother and wife to his soul.")
Stoker writes that Dracula had a thick mustache, a large nose and white hair that "grew scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere." (See how those rumors about Whitman pictured above got started?) He describes the Count’s general look as "one of extraordinary pallor." Dracula had sharp teeth, pointy ears, squat fingers and hair in the palms of his hands. The sexy, debonair vampire was a creation of later generations.
A lot was going on when Stoker was working on Dracula at the turn of the 19th century: Victorian ideals of repressed sexuality and subservient women’s roles were going out of style; Darwinism was just taking hold; and Jack the Ripper was on a murder spree.
Stoker’s villain channeled all that and a lot more into one super bad guy who resonated with readers for decades. Dracula gradually became the most significant work of Gothic horror literature because it was the perfect vessel for the fears and desires of the era.
As an evil intruder who disrupted innocent lives, Dracula personified all that was threatening, powerful, alluring and evil. In the 1920s and ’30s, this translated into an Eastern aristocrat with slicked back hair, a top coat and a medallion a look that became the enduring standard for all vampires to come.
Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi became the quintessential Count Dracula in Tod Browning’s film adaptation of Stoker’s novel. Lugosi refused to wear any makeup that would obscure his face (he declined to play the original Frankenstein for the same reason), and so Lugosi’s version of the Count never had fangs.
Lugosi made less than $3,000 for his work in the role, but nearly 80 years later, he is still considered the definitive Dracula.
During the Cold War era, Count Dracula became superbad. His motives were unimportant he was distilled into a vicious troublemaker with an appetite for destruction. viewed Cold War enemies as purely evil, Dracula became a character with whom it was impossible to empathize.