When I was a child, one day I happened to read Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”. Unlike other novels, it consists of mysterious diaries, letters, and news reports. Its unique form quickly triggered my interest. I can’t help but read through it without a break. I’ve been fascinated with the legend of the vampire ever since.
The vampire is the ghost believed by some to leave its grave at night and suck the blood of living people. The folklore of the vampire had been widely spread in central Europe. However, not until Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, which combined a Romanian tyrant’s tale with the vampire, does the legend become worldwide known. Although Dracula was defeated in the ending, the vampire remains taking an important role in literature and filmdom. In Romania, the vampire is called Nosferatu. Nosferatu is also the name of the first vampire film, directed by F.W.Murnau in 1922, which has been considered as a classic of German Expressionism.
My favorite vampire film is “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, directed by F.Coppola, the incredible director famous for his epic Godfather trilogy. I like this movie not only for the stars’ wonderful performance but also for its gorgeous style. As its tagline “Love never dies.” Indicates, the film adapts the original into a romantic tragedy. Mina Harker isn’t Dracula’s victim anymore. Instead, she was Dracula’s beloved wife in previous life, who committed suicide. In order to meet her again hundreds of years later, Dracula chose to become an immortal vampire. Such everlasting love moved me to tears.
To be honest, I’m both timid and rational. I don’t like most ghost stories. It’s the poetry and complexity that make the legend of the vampire an exception. It mixes up the following elements: literature, religion, history, and our desire for eternity. Jean Marigny, a vampire researcher, once said, “What made the vampire horrible wasn’t its real existence, but our own anxiety and fear for blood, dark nights, and death.” As time goes by, the legend of the vampire will go on and on.
(2003.11.26.)
