#i mean gosh the only media i’m Like That about is like. yknow. i AM ideologically opposed to it?

[landscaping-your-mind]

[ID: Tags from yaluzaishin reading: “#it’s covered in the fucking ooze. y’know” /End ID]

"i'm not triggered or upset by or even ideologically opposed to it, i just associate it with something so bad that i can't enjoy it anymore" is such a frustrating relationship to have with a piece of media

[serialreblogger]

Hey! I'm thinking of reading Dracula, and knowing that's your eternal hyperfixation, I wanted to ask your thoughts, if you had any comments, suggestions, ect.

HEY WHY DIDN’T I SEE THIS SOONER I’M SO SORRY FRIEND

okay okay okay okay (...several people are typing...) SO

the first thing you should be aware of when reading Dracula is that it’s quite Victorian, so you might find it easier, especially on a first read, to get an annotated version (the Norton Critical Edition version is quite good) that puts footnotes in to explain all the outdated references to like, London penny-meat merchants and stuff. I would say it’s significantly easier to read than Lord of the Rings, but because it was written 200 years ago the difference in language means it’s not a simple read. (However, if you have absolutely any attraction to the Gothic aesthetic, Dracula is so very much worth the brainpower to slog through the rougher sentences. Like. “...the courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit sky.” The whole book is like that. A bit stilted to contemporary readers, but also breathtakingly spot-on in its Spooky Factor.)

the second thing you should be aware of is that Dracula is extremely gay, but in a Tormented Victorian Closeted way. There’s a part where Jonathan climbs out a window that just. It’s uh. The descriptions are very,, metaphorical-sounding. Again, the whole book is like that, and sometimes it’s very fun and sometimes (lookin at Lucy’s whole thing) it’s significantly more unsettling if you pay attention to the weirdly sexy descriptions of how the protagonists interact with the vampires, but I think that’s part of what I find so fascinating about Dracula--it’s unsettling and strange and the pieces don’t fit together clearly, and I still don’t know quite what to make of it, but all the same the feeling of what Stoker’s saying comes through quite clearly. There’s a reason why so many Dracula adaptations have this narrative of a protagonist falling in forbidden love with the tormented Vampyre, yknow? There’s something so unmistakeably sympathetic about the character of Dracula, even when the narrative of the story goes out of its way to establish that he has no redeeming qualities or even proper personhood, that he’s just a monster. Because there’s something about the story (even without getting into the whole “Mina and Jon murked their boss” thing) that makes a reader wonder if that’s really the whole truth. If there isn’t something tragic about Dracula. If there isn’t something in him, if not of goodness, then at least of sorrow, instead of only fear.

Anyway I digress but I think we all knew that was gonna happen; point is: Jonathan and Dracula definitely had sex, Mina and Lucy were definitely in love, Seward’s got something weird goin on with the old professor (and also he’s just very weird, full stop. sir. sir please stop experimenting on your asylum inmates. sir i know this is victorian england but please Do Not), and Quincey, well, Quincey is an American cowboy with a bowie knife, and I think that’s all we really need to know.

ok and! the third thing you should be aware of is The Racism. Imperialist Britain, yo. Bram Stoker was Irish so like, it isn’t half as bad as some other authors of his time period (Rudyard Kipling anyone), but the racism is real and I don’t wanna gloss over that. The g**sy slur is used with abandon for a huge assortment of people groups, there’s a tacit as well as overt acceptance of the idea that West is superior to East, and because the educational system where I grew up is a joke and I can only learn things if I accidentally fall down the wikipedia hole of researching the insect genus hemiptera, i genuinely still don’t know how accurate the extensive history of Romania recounted in the first third of the book actually is. Oh also casual and blatant anti-blackness is verbalized by a character at least once. I’m pretty sure the racism has a metaphorical place in the framework of Dracula’s storytelling, but I couldn’t tell you what it is because I am not going to bother putting myself in the mindset of a racist white Victorian man. This is the mindset I am trying to unlearn. So: read with caution, critical thinking, and the double knowledge that even as the narrators are meant to be unreliable, so too is the author himself.

Finally, regarding interpretation: so personally I’m running with the opinion that Dracula is, at least partly, a metaphor for Stoker’s own queerness and internal conflict re: being queer, being closeted, and watching the torture his friend Wilde went through when the wealthy father of Wilde’s lover set out to ruin his life for daring to love his son. Whether this is true or not (I think it’s true, but hey, that’s analysis, baby), you can’t understand Dracula without knowing the social context for it (as with all literature--the author isn’t dead, not if you want to know what they were saying), and the social context for it is:

- Stoker was friends with Wilde, growing only closer after Wilde was outed

- Wilde was outed, as I said, because the father of his lover was wealthy and powerful and full of the most virulent kind of hatred. This is especially interesting because of how many rich, powerful parents just straight up die in Dracula and leave the main characters with no legal issues and a ridiculous amount of money, which is the diametrical opposite of what happened to Wilde

- Stoker idolized his mentor Henry Irving. Irving was a paradigm of unconventional relationships and self-built family, in a world where divorcees and children born out of wedlock were things to be whispered about in scandalized tones, not people to love and embrace. Irving was also famous for thriving off of manipulating those close to him and pitting friends against each other. Given the painstakingly vivid description Stoker provides for his titular vampire and how closely it matches Irving’s own appearance and demeanor, Irving was widely understood even at the time of writing to be the chief inspiration for the character of Dracula

- the book is dedicated to Stoker’s close friend, Hall Caine, a fellow writer whose stories centered around love triangles and accumulation of sins which threaten to ruin everything, only to be redeemed by the simple act of human goodness

- Stoker was Irish, but not Catholic (he was a Protestant of the Church of Ireland, a division of the Anglican Church). This may come as a surprise when you read the book and see All The Catholicism, Just Everywhere. Religion is actually a key theme in Dracula--most of the main characters start out your typical Good Victorian Anglican Skeptics, and need to learn through a trial-by-fire to trust in the rituals and relics of the Catholic Church to save them from Dracula’s evilness. Which is interesting. Because not only do these characters start off as dismissive towards these “superstitions” (in the same way they dismiss the “superstitions” of the peasant class on the outskirts of Dracula’s domain), but the narrative telling us “these superstitions are actually true!” cannot be trusted, when you know the author’s own beliefs.

(Bram Stoker is not saying what his characters are saying. This is the first and most important rule to remember, if you want to figure out Dracula.)

- The second-most famous character in the novel, after Dracula himself, is Van Helsing, whose first name is Abraham. Note that “Bram” is a declension of Abraham. What does this mean? I legitimately have no idea. But it’d be a weird coincidence, right? Like what even is the thought process there? “Oh, yeah, what should I name this character that comes in, makes overtly homoerotic statements willy nilly, and encourages everyone to throw rationality out the window and stake some vampires using the Eucharist? hmmmm how about ‘Me’”

ok wait FINAL final note: you legitimately do not have to care about any of this. I love Dracula because it has gay vibes and I love trying to figure it out, like an archaeologist sifting through sentence structure to find fragments that match the patterns I already know from historical research; but that’s not why you should love Dracula. The book itself is just straight up fun to read. Like I said, Stoker absolutely nails the exact vibe of spookiness that I love, the eerieness and elegance and vague but vivid fear of a full moon crossed by clouds at midnight. The characters are intriguing, especially Quincey gosh I love Quincey Morris but they’re very,, sweet? if i can say that about people i, personally, suspect of murder? They come together and protect each other against the terrible threat that is Dracula, and you don’t get that half as often as I’d like in horror media. I don’t even know if Dracula could qualify as “horror” proper, because it’s not about the squeamish creeping discomfort that “horror” is meant to evoke, it’s not the appeal of staring at a train wreck--it’s not horrifying. It’s eerie. It’s Gothic. It has spires and vampires and found family and cowboys, and to be honest, I don’t know what could be better than that.

[smolbeanlovemachine]

About me 2,electric boogaloo

  tagged by @loutatouille!! tyvm

LAST… [1] drink: besides water, some orange soda thingy majiggy [2] phone call: mum  [3] text message: “sry” [4] song you listened to:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoT-5nO4JJY :> im a huge w e e b im sry  [5] time you cried: yesterday lmao

HAVE YOU EVER… [6] dated someone twice: i haven’t even dated once  [7] been cheated on: nah [8] kissed someone and regretted it: not even a first kiss yet [9] lost someone special: not that i remember, but probably [10] been depressed: honey i probably am today [11] gotten drunk and thrown up: i never drank, ,, yet

LIST 3 FAVOURITE COLOURS: [12] red! [13] green!! [14] purple!!!

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU… [15] made new friends: yis [16] fallen out of love: tbh im conflicted with my emotions so idek but i mean i guess [17] laughed until you cried: haha yea and it doesnt even take long [18] found out someone was talking about you: not that i know of *squint* [19] met someone who changed you: yis yis yis defs and i luv them [20] found out who your true friends are: ya, my man [21] kissed someone on your facebook list: nah my dude, i dont even use it anymore 

GENERAL… [22] how many of your tumblr friends do you know in real life: three! [23] do you have any pets: not at the moment, but i did have 2 cats overall and a small ham boy who sadly got old n died :( [24] do you want to change your name: not rly no [25] what did you do for your last birthday: went to arden!! i got very much many merch i cried [26] what time did you wake up: at like 5 but fell asleep at like 10 but i still felt exhausted hhh [27] what were you doing at midnight last night: not last night, but another night was mmm watching a lot of videos! [28] name something you cannot wait for: part-time job, get my own money, finish school, move out with buddies, uni, become as nurse, etc [29] when was the last time you saw your mother: she’s right here w/ me [30] what is one thing you wish you could change about your life: maybe, i couldve become more confident :(  [31] what are you listening to right now: the link from before lmfao it makes me saaaad [32] have you ever talked to a person named tom: yes but sadly he became an asshole rip  [33] something that is getting on your nerves: myself and noise,, nOISE and also a sibling’s constant bs >:( [35] elementary: take me back i wasnt so sad that time pls [36] high school: stress  [37] college: i wanna skip and go straight to uni :> [38] hair colour: someone described it as caramel so i mean [39] long or short hair: short!   [40] do you have a crush on someone: maaaan idek my emotions are so conflicted i dont trust ‘em [41] what do you like about yourself?: hhhahahahahahah i guess my young appearance [42] piercings: soon [43] blood type: ive had my blood taken so many times and i still dont know [44] nickname: im usually called ‘turtle’ and i like it and am used to it pls [45] relationship status: i am single and 2 shy [46] zodiac sign: taurus!  [47] pronouns: female, yis [48] fav tv show: currently x-files but also attack on titan i know thats an anime but sh its been 4 years its coming back to me  [49] tattoos: i want one, like, bad 
[50] right or left handed: right!

FIRST… [51] surgery: i guess like on the scalp a lil, but that was YEARS ago [52] piercing: not yet! but soon [53] best friend: i dont wanna give names but im comfy with them and i luv ‘em  [54] sport: hockey! [55] vacation: snow! [56] pair of trainers: i dont like shoes 

RIGHT NOW… [57] eating: i ate a piece of chicken [58] drinking: water, this mouth is d r y [59] i’m about to: stay here lol [60] listening to: a 70s remix of Redbone [61] waiting for: the week to end to get the first job bois [62] want: t o  d i e  i just wanna sorta sleep yknow  [63] get married: im not sure quite yet tbh  [64] career: i just doodle i dont got much to do 

WHICH IS BETTER… [65] hugs or kisses: both! i crave affection tbh but space is important ofc [66] lips or eyes: eyes!! sign me th- [67] shorter or taller: tall!! carry me, luv [68] older or younger: older a lil! but 1 or 2 years younger i wouldnt mind [69] romantic or spontaneous: both!!! [70] nice arms or nice stomach: does it matter?

[71] sensitive or loud: well, we can be both at times ourselves so idc [72] hook up or relationship: relationship!! pls, i want something real [73] troublemaker or hesitant: i, i dont know! 

HAVE YOU EVER… [74] kissed a stranger? nope [75] drank hard liquor? not yet [76] lost glasses/contact lenses? honey you have no idea its been sucked into someone’s arse at times i swear [77] turned someone down: yeah, but i dont regret it they deserved it for the trash they are as a person :)  [78] sex on first date? no no i want some connection at first pls [79] broken someone’s heart? not that i know of but i hope not :(  [80] had your own heart broken? honey [81] been arrested? nope [82] cried when someone died? ya but like once, but mostly in media lmao [83] fallen for a friend: ya!! 3 times gosh but at least those are the only crushes i have had

DO YOU BELIEVE IN… [84] yourself? i could if i tried :) [85] miracles? miracles are just big coincidences  [86] love at first sight? N O  [87] santa claus? nah [88] kiss on the first date? im not sure about that idea no :( [89] angels? idk, maybe 

OTHER… [90] current best friend’s name: hnn its 3 ppl [91] eye colour: like, darker green in dimmer places, but a v light color in sunlight?? [92] favorite movie: aaa dont make me decide