tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23449634.post6088235980592152234..comments2024-03-07T23:09:10.207-08:00Comments on Taliesin meets the vampires: Dracula – season 1 – reviewTaliesin_ttlghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10105263634442191232noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23449634.post-48099372498613206432020-01-31T09:53:27.302-08:002020-01-31T09:53:27.302-08:00One media studies theory is that any reading by th...One media studies theory is that any reading by the audience is correct 😉...<br /><br />However. I very much doubt there was any attempt to put Stoker's alleged homophobia into the series. I say alleged as I would be loath to accuse a man who I understand kept contact with Oscar Wilde, after the 'troubles', as homophobic. Stoker may well have been firmly in a closet, depending on your reading of Stoker's orientation, but I don't think he 'feared' homosexuality as such - certainly I don't read that in the novel.<br /><br />For historic background, the homosexuality you have looked at is lesbianism - the position of Victorian Britain was that it simply didn't exist. Whereas there were stringent laws against gays, the legislation was silent on lesbianism as Queen Victoria could not conceive of such a thing.<br /><br />So my reading of the series and the Lucy/Mina situation was that it was less homophobia and more Machiavellian on the part of Lady Jane. The reaction of the mother was probably historically accurate. The reaction of Dracula I read was to her being a monster by actively wrecking lives... but I will add that it is six years since I watched it and the series was pretty boring so I may just have ignored/forgotten nuance.Taliesin_ttlghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10105263634442191232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23449634.post-83708408157892781382020-01-31T09:18:48.855-08:002020-01-31T09:18:48.855-08:00Andy, I quite liked the series. I watched it, as p...Andy, I quite liked the series. I watched it, as previously I had watched WACO, because of my crush on a particular actress (Melissa Benoist in WACO, Katie McGrath here) who turns out to be rather marginal to an otherwise absorbing show. The added bonus was the excellent Nonso Anozie whom I had liked in ZOO.<br />My question is: did the writer(s) incorporate Stoker's homophobia? Admittedly, the treatment of the gay couple in the Order of the Dragon seems sympathetic. It seems we are meant to feel the agony of the younger of the two (son of Davenport?) who commits suicide. In the novel, clearly Dracula's first intended victim is Harker, but, once in England, the vampire decorously vamps only women, and that bit is emphasized in this serial through the series of women Dracula feeds on.<br />When it comes to Lucy's sexual attraction to Mina, both Mina and Lucy's mother are revolted when Lucy comes out with it. Also, it is Lady Jane, who, jealous of Grayson-Dracula's obvious attraction to Mina, seductively provokes Lucy to come out to Mina and, when Mina rejects Lucy, incites the latter to seduce Harker by making Lucy suggest to him that Mina is cheating on him with Grayson-Dracula. The matter comes to its homophobic climax with Dracula vamping Lucy, saying, "If you want to behave like a monster, I will make you one!"<br /><br />Am I right or am I reading it wrong?Prodoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11069109104283830317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23449634.post-62939571168362417622014-06-01T23:03:53.253-07:002014-06-01T23:03:53.253-07:00Hi Scott, Thanks for the comment and you make a go...Hi Scott, Thanks for the comment and you make a good point re the huntsmen and their relative strengthsTaliesin_ttlghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10105263634442191232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23449634.post-83286685233238015822014-06-01T12:10:50.225-07:002014-06-01T12:10:50.225-07:00I found the series quite boring. Some of the lore ...I found the series quite boring. Some of the lore was odd, like you mentioned, with the Order of the Dragon creating/cursing Dracula. Also, it was never explained how Lady Jayne was able to physically best vampires in a fight. Were the huntsman magically strengthened somehow by the Order? Or were the vampires other than Dracula just plain weak. Very disappointing show.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09184687411249257031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23449634.post-59004939395826129812014-06-01T00:53:02.871-07:002014-06-01T00:53:02.871-07:00cheers for the comment - I think you are right, it...cheers for the comment - I think you are right, it was about episode 5 that the show lost my attentionTaliesin_ttlghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10105263634442191232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23449634.post-48463628616580087802014-05-31T18:15:51.073-07:002014-05-31T18:15:51.073-07:00I agree whole-heartedly with your assessment of th...I agree whole-heartedly with your assessment of the series. Despite the (to me) over-used trope of reincarnated love, the characters were drawn with enough clarity to attract your attention, yet enough unseen to allow for development as the series progressed. Kudos to the cast, who did much with what they had.<br />It started to feel as though the original narrative was abandoned around episode 5 or 6, and the story sped up, as if the creators were hurrying to get as many of the familiar elements in before the season ended.<br />The settings were a wee bit too sterile in some respects; even the London portrayed in the 1940's Sherlock Holmes movies seemed closer to the truth. Overall, a great start inexplicably wasted, as if midway through the series they lost their train of thought. Maybe next time.Octobercynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05907962351434985107noreply@blogger.com