*Spoiler Alert*
As the old saying goes, bad things happen to sluts in horror movies.
First I have to apologize, twice. There’s no such ridiculous old saying. I just made it up. And I apologize for using the word “slut”, which is definitely insulting and uncomfortable. However, it is also the case in the movie Dracula, and in a majority of horror movies nowadays. What’s more, the character Lucy in the movie, meets exactly all the stereotypical standards and the negative aspects that a “slut” will be in a gendered society. To put it simple, Lucy deserves whatever happens to her because she, as a woman, loves sex.
It’s understandable, not preferable, that Dracula depicts all female characters in a traditional and conservative way based on the social gender norms due to the whole setting of that era. However, even though the movie is about some imaginary creatures that don’t even exist in any place in the world, the power hierarchy in the monster society is still typically patriarchal. Dracula is the most powerful creature in the movie, controlling several female monsters and apparently representing the upper-class image. Van Helsing, the mystic who represents the most erudite authority in the area of mysteries, may be the only one who can fight against Dracula by his own ability. The leaders from either the good side or the bad side appear to be male. And women are only nuns, well-educated ladies, maids, and monsters sexually seducing men and begging for some mercy from Dracula. In other words, they are either powerless or dependent on men.
Furthermore, Mina and Lucy are the two sides of the same coin, the coin of sexism. Mina is the innocent virgin who is interested in sex but resists it due to the social requirement of women. She will say “Disgusting” when she accidentally sees a drawing of two people having sex. On the other hand, Lucy never hides her curiosity and her eagerness to sex. She flirts with every man she meets, chooses from several candidates, and openly talks about and shows her interest in sex. What’s more, when she is seduced by Dracula, Van Helsing claims that she’s willing to be recruited and an honest follower to Dracula. Van Helsing also refers Lucy as “a bitch of devil” and “a whore of darkness” in the movie.
Wait. Isn’t Lucy a victim of rape? Apparently she’s not voluntary to have sex with a werewolf, but under the effect of Dracula’s power. She’s more like intoxicated when all of these happen. What Van Helsing claims is a classical victim-blaming in most rapes. She’s a slut so that is not rape; she wants it so that is not rape; she deserves it so that is not rape. All based on some stupid assumptions made by some privileged men without asking what she really thinks. Unsurprisingly, the so-called “whore” and “bitch” eventually turns into another monster and gets killed by the patriarchal representative Van Helsing.
I actually kind of like this post and how it calls out an outdated, but still prevalent idea in our culture. I briefly mentioned "slut-shaming" as a practice brought upon by an older culture of binary and punitive moral sensibilities that may be starting to see its decline. While we might condescend people from other time periods for representing racial minorities and other groups that are now accepted in our culture as simplistic monsters, we still use fiction to help stigmatize groups of people who are not seen as normal.
ReplyDeleteI have hypothesized that the origin of this stigma originates from insecure, powerful men, as stigmatizing women's sexual behavior often appears in societies that originate from dynasties, such as Europe and Asia. This stigma doesn't seem to have the same prevalence in societies with chieftains, often island societies, and even the groups of Native Americans that our class discussed in earlier readings. Kings and noblemen in dominant European and Asian cultures often married for economic reasons and required their genes to be passed on for their power and legacy to be passed on. Women often married men who may not have been their favorite (or even their type) and may have been more likely to stray and threaten a man's power. This dynamic heightens already existing insecurities that are natural to human beings and other species. Women who were sexless, obedient and reliant were less likely to threaten a nobleman, or king's power. Because these are the people who established social rules, this became firmly imprinted into the culture we live in today.
The underlying reason Lucy is considered evil, even if the director doesn't directly acknowledge it, is because she transgresses a power structure that has been so prevalent, we don't even think about and still enforce it without realizing what's being enforced. Lucy strays from what she's suppose to be, she chooses her partners and she flirts rather than waiting to be flirted with, leaving it up to the men to decide possible relationships.
I certainly agree with your interpretation of how the movie treats Lucy and Mina as victims, and I think that in the repressed society that Stoker wrote the novel in, this sort of sexist balance of power speaks a lot to the repressed ideas and desires that were so pervasive.
ReplyDeleteWhat I can't seem to understand is why Coppola decided to leave this out of date ideology untouched for the film. He billed it as an accurate adaption of the novel, but we know that's simply not true for a few reasons. Quite a bit is changed, omitted, or added from more contemporary Dracula stories in the film, from Dracula's appearance to Harker's connection with Renfield and more. But while Coppola had no problem reworking the narrative, the overtones and ideology remains intact.
The truth is that the film plays out as a sort of operatic melodrama, a visual orgy that's more obsessed with a mood and a picture than it is with portraying the story. In order to achieve this mood, Lucy and Mina act as stand-ins for the audience--as does Jonathan for the first part of the movie.
Coppola says they choose to be victims. They give in to temptation. They want to give in to depravity, even though their stance in society tells them to do otherwise. Harker can't stay with Dracula's brides, but he certainly laid down on that bed out of his own volition. Lucy was called by a power into the garden, where she was victimized. Mina keeps seeing the prince, even though he victimizes her.
In no way am I justifying how these situations are portrayed in the movie. I agree that the end result of these situations is problematic and disturbing in the way victims are treated with no sympathy. But the characters are stand-ins for us, and the many facets of who we all are, and how we react to temptation, fear, and repression. We need to escape the world perversion in order to get to our wives and husbands, but something draws us back. We need to control temptation and drive a stake through its heart, but we can't help but find ourselves in its embrace.
The movie makes sex and temptation synonymous, and for that it is flawed. Lucy cannot be sexual without being considered weak, dangerous or threatening. This is not the way we see our world working anymore, and for that, the movie can be considered sexist.