Draculas Love Story Essay -- Essays Papers

Dracula's Love Story Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the title of Francis Ford Coppola’s film adaptation of the classic novel Dracula. Coppola signified that the film would stay with the original plot and theme from the novel by putting the author’s name in the title of the film. However, even though he claims that his film is patterned after the novel, Coppola still could not help but put his own twist on the novel by sensualizing the story and adding a love story between Dracula and Mina. By adding a romantic subplot, Coppola makes the viewers feel sympathy for the evil Dracula when he is finally killed at the hand of his loved one. Also, the character of Mina turns from heroine in the novel to victim in the movie by having her fall in love with Dracula. Coppola changes the original story of Dracula in the film adaptation in many ways by the addition of a love story between Dracula and Mina. In the film adaptation of Dracula, the origins of the title character are explained to provide a motive for the love obsession between the title character and his lover. In the film, Dracula is said to be the notorious prince of Romania known as Vlad the Impaler. This idea stems from a theory that Bram Stoker actually patterned the character of Dracula after a real prince of Romania named Voivode. The movie shows that after a very bloody battle in 1463 against the Turks, Prince Vlad came back to his castle in Transylvania to find that his adored Elisabeta (played by Winona Ryder) had committed suicide. Dracula says, â€Å"I, Dracula, Voivode of Transylvania, will arise from my own death to avenge hers with all the powers of darkness!† He condemns God and makes a pact with the devil to become immortal by feeding on other ... ...f Dracula’s birth into the world of the undead lays the foundation for the love affair between Dracula and Mina. However, the love story changes the characters of Dracula and Mina drastically from the novel. In the film, Dracula is a character with whom the viewer sympathizes while in the novel he is feared. Mina’s character is strong willed in the novel while in the film she is weak and pathetic. Coppola’s adaptation destroys the characterization of the novel, taking away from Stoker’s image for the novel. The movie, instead of being titled Bram Stoker’s Dracula, should have been titled "Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula". Works Cited Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, and Sir Anthony Hopkins. Columbia TriStar Home Video, 1992. Stoker, Bram. Dracula. New York: Penguin Books, 1993.