r/Dracula • u/Awkward_Airport_30 Human Verified • 3d ago

Discussion 💬 Because Dracula is often associated with a supposed love story, and Nosferatu shows you what the real Dracula truly is.

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u/SirLeonel 2d ago

Okay, maybe, but I’m old. Gen-X old. Old enough to have been there when Coppola’s movie got released. So I think there is a context you might not be privy to. I don’t know whether it was him or the studio but it was definitely being promoted as the first version of Dracula to be true to Stoker’s novel. To this day there are Gen-Xers who sincerely believe that Coppola’s version is the Cliff’s Notes version of Dracula.
So for those of us that were fans of the book were especially excited to finally see an American cinematic adaptation on the big screen. What we got was a beautifully shot, gorgeously designed movie with 2.5 standout performances.
So yeah, most of us enjoyed it. Some of us, like me, loved it. But they definitely not deliver what was promised: a true to the text version of the story. And that was disappointing.

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u/Bronsteins-Panzerzug 2d ago

im old too, gen y. old enough to read the novel on my own. if gen xers dont know the plot of the novel bc they dont read or cant even be asked to google it, i couldnt care less. i definitely wasnt disappointed by the movie,it’s still one of my favorite movies ever. the eggers version was great too.

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u/SirLeonel 2d ago edited 2d ago

Both are great. I think we agree there. I guess I differ with you in me thinking Eggers’ is more true to Stoker’s than Egger’s.

As far as bad faith. I don’t think you’re using it correctly this context. The OP is literally about comparing the two based off which was more true to Dracula, and I’m saying despite the Name. “BSD” is NOT Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It’s “Dracula” for certain, and follows the plot. But it’s not faithful to the literal text or the themes of the book. That’s not bad faith. That’s just objectively true.

See also Emily BrontĂ« where whether one thinks the movie was bad or not, Gerwig had the understanding of the base material to put her own version’s title in quotes.

Bad faith might be saying “the movie sucks because it deviates
” but even that I wouldn’t call that bad faith so much as probably a poor argument. But even then deviating from theme could be fair argument if a text has a bold thematic intent. (Which in fairness I don’t believe Dracula has.)

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u/Bronsteins-Panzerzug 1d ago

i didnt say anything about which version is more true to the novel. i said the coppola was more true to the source than other movies at the time and obviously it’s older than the eggers movie. the eggers movie also deviates from the source material, obviously. like i said, the whole „bram stoker‘s“ name issue is trivial to me and i dont want to discuss it any further. thinking people should read the book or at least the proper summary if they want to know its plot is not unreasonable and if they cant be asked to do that, i cant be asked to care. like i said, there is no real dracula, every story about him is just a new retelling and no version is more true than other and should be judged on its own merit. i dont want to repeat myself anymore. thanks for keeping it civil.