Back in the 1890s, the story of Dracula emphasized the animalistic and horrific elements of Dracula, where it transformed Dracula into a mindless plague-carrying monster. Bram Stoker’s novel portrayed Dracula as a bestial creature; his description of words emphasized his cruel-looking mouth with peculiarly sharp white teeth. His description even identified Dracula as having physical characteristics associated with criminals of that time. He is closer to animal than human. The narrative also underlines that a sophisticated, intelligent group of human beings are waging war on a primitive and animalistic beings (here Dracula would be the latter). The human’s victory over the Dracula would suggest the idea of what it was that people in the 19^th century was trying to manifest.

However, in the late 20^th century, vampire fiction has been used to subvert the conventions established by Stoker. Dracula does not merely present that ‘evil’ characteristic in the storyline. Coppola’s Dracula (1992) depicts Dracula as both a villain and victim; some of the good features remain, and thus arouse sympathy from the viewers. This transformation in portraying Dracula as less evil in films and other medias are significantly influential in changing our conception towards certain people. We now learn that holding stereotypical thoughts on particular people just based on their appearance may actually end up victimizing them. It is important that we do not view a person based on our own ideology as one may prove to be more victim than villain.

 

Multiple Witnesses Recall the Horrifying Incident of November 11th of 2013, “The Year of Mystic Woman”

On the morning of November 11^th, the residents of the Drimalegue confessed their experience of supernatural occurrences. Through in-depth investigation, it has been proven that multiple witnesses suspected similar occurrences over the night. A strong suspect, Kate, is known to be one of the wealthiest in Drimalegue, who had magically revitalized the three men from death. The investigation of this widespread mysterious event that took place in November of last year had been closed due to request of Kate and her husband, but there have been numerous people who came to witness Kate’s crime scenes in the past few days. Mary and Peggy of Drimalegue, who claim themselves as ‘mistress’ of Drimalegue County John, have finally confessed their witness on a mysterious night before the death of three men.

During the interview with John’s two mistresses Mary and Peggy, they revealed secret truth of the night, as one of them testified, “We followed after her because we wanted to make sure she brings the real stick that John offered, but what we encountered was Kate ruining the tomb like maniac… She took the dead man over her back, and invaded her current husband’s house, where she draw the three men’s blood.” Kate is still going under inspection by both the police and the psychiatrist to disclose enigma behind her financial status. Due to multiple coinciding eyewitnesses, Kate is believed to be a witch who intentionally kills people and puts them back into life in order to receive compensation in money. Another possibility that is given by the neighbour is that Kate may have threatened County John to death, in order to fully captivate his property.

The police are currently seeking for more witnesses to help on further investigation to determine on Kate’s criminal act. Anyone who has witnessed the incident of the night or seen any other suspicious move of Kate in neighbour, should contact the police as soon as possible. High amount of compensation will be given.

November 12, 2014

Comparing my last week’s analysis on Tomson Highway’s Kiss of the Fur Queen with Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair’s “Dacing in a Mall” from The Winter We Danced, I have come across similarities between these works in their depiction of ‘spaces’. Kiss of the Fur Queen portrays a middle-class and urbanistic structure with its ground on cityscape. The work considers Indigenous cosmopolitanism in urban space and connects it to a postcolonial world and a diasporic experience. In “’Polluting the Body Politic’: Race and Urban Location”, David Theo Goldberg pointed out the issue about the ‘racialized space(s)’ and the idea of ‘spatial vacancy’, as these terms are used to denote the marginalized bodies who are expelled from white, middle-class areas to remain in poorer city spaces. Evelyn J. Peters writes in the article “Subversive spaces: First Nations women and the city”, that “Marginalized groups are likely to be excluded from these areas (ex. suburbs) because their differences are accentuated and seen to be deviant” (Peters, 666).

Interestingly, Highway and Sinclair both reclaim cityscapes for their community and undercut commodification of Indigenous iconography for civilizing purposes in their works. They eventually bring up the idea that cultural and ethnic elements in city planning would help to construct the unique image of a particular city, and their works also reveal how the use of that cultural ethnicity (through identity) create and implement a certain image. From the readings, I realize the utilization of culture for purposes of city marketing and image creation as a significant marketing strategy. In their works, ethnicity is used strategically in urban cultural setting, and this strategy allows for the individuals and group of people to communicate and interact with one another, which in the end help them to position themselves socially and ethnically. In that sense, the space becomes a symbol where the individuals (different ethnicities) are combined to articulate themselves and to implement their identity into social worlds.

References:

Goldberg, David Theo. “‘Polluting the Body Politic’: Race and Urban Location.” Racist Culture: Philosophy and the Politics of Meaning. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1993. Print.

Peters, Evelyn J. “Subversive Spaces: First Nations women and the city.” Society and Space Vol. 16 (1998): 665-685.