Dracula, from History to Cinema

  • Abstract:

    The goal of my paper is to present Dracula as the ‘real king’ of the Eastern Europe culture. Vlad of Wallachia was a real character who lived in Transylvania between 1431 and 1476. His nickname “Dracula” comes from Romanian “Dracul” and means “Dragon”. After his death, Vlad earned the surname Tepes (Impaler) because of he was used to impale his enemies. From this character, Bram Stoker derived material to write his masterpiece Dracula (1897). The book is composed by different diaries written by people who faced the monster. This was the beginning of the vampire legend that fascinated a large audience, from children to adults. But the real myth of Dracula comes from movies. Famous ‘vampire’ actors had been Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, but we find good examples also in Coppola’s Dracula, Blade, Underworld and Twilight. Finally, we should remember famous TV series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and True Blood.