#Dracula august 15

[winged-paki]

Since my previous analysis wasn’t enough to satisfy my burnt-out lit student heart, have some more prattling about death and narrative horror devices in the DracuDaily!

August 15th’s update is distressing as fuck. We’re given Lucy’s mother’s death sentence here - a fright will kill her for sure, and with all the terrifying stuff Lucy is doing, being subjected to by Dracula, and will theoretically start doing in a completely new way as the vampirism sets in… yeah, RIP old girl, I’d die too if my daughter fell prey to horrors beyond our comprehension. So here’s what I’m seeing today:

First, a critical horror mechanism in this novel is that Dracula doesn’t only affect those he is preying on. Death/vampirism isn’t the only awful thing he inflicts. He has long-ranging ripple effects on the loved ones of those he hunts - Lucy’s mom will die from it, Mina is growing deeply worried from it, and Lucy’s husband and other suitors will inevitably be affected by it too. The fact that you don’t need to be targeted by Dracula to still have your life upended by him is blood-curdling. And it harkens back to when Jonathan first met all those concerned Romanian villagers, who wept and offered him protection - they’ve all been harmed by Dracula too, by the horrific ripples his vampirism causes. They live in fear, in grief, on a timer ticking towards zero - and that’s how Mina and all of England will be living soon, too. It’s clearer than ever that Dracula’s hunts have several victims, which makes him even scarier than before.

Second, there are some very interesting implications wrt Lucy’s mother discussing how she’s grieving her daughter. Obviously, the explicit meaning is that in Victorian marriages, the bride left her birth family and effectively became her MIL’s daughter, integrated into the new family, etc. But Stoker emphasized this sentiment for its double meaning: Lucy is bitten. Lucy is a vampire. Lucy is dead, and her mother is grieving the daughter she used to have. And she doesn’t know that’s what she’s grieving. Lucy’s mom doesn’t even know how right she is to grieve, to miss her daughter, to wish for her protection - because her daughter will never be the same again, and all Mina can do is try to keep Lucy safe from further attacks, from even more corruption and pain. She’s grieving only half of what she needs to grieve, and that’s possibly more tragic than having to grieve at all.

And finally, I see a gradual shutting-down of Mina’s immediate allies. Mr. Swales is dead from mysterious circumstances. Lucy’s mom cannot be kept in the know of what is happening to her daughter. Jonathan is mentally unwell. Mina is all alone in her observations of these strange supernatural happenings, just like Jonathan was all alone, just like the First Mate and then the Captain of the Demeter were all alone. And that loneliness? That inability to tell, to strategize with someone else, to seek comfort in a friend? That’s terrifying. That’s what drove Jonathan mad. That’s what drowned the First Mate and bound the Captain’s corpse to his ship. For the fourth time now, someone is experiencing these horrors and they’re all alone.

But Mina won’t be alone for long, I don’t think. Arthur will be back for Lucy shortly, and she might be able to get in touch with the correspondent who detailed the landing of the Demeter, and Lucy’s other suitors might join the party as well. And once Mina has allies, perhaps that’s when the horrors become a little more bearable. A little more beatable.

[another-chaotic-bisexual-vampire]

[thanks-for-the-crabapples]

[picklepie888]

Mina: *under excruciating stress from Jonathan being missing and Lucy getting more I'll without knowing why* Can it get any worse?

Mrs. Westenra: BTW Mina my doctor says I'm dying could you like not tell my daughter k thanks bye~ 😋

Mina:

[actualrachaeltad]

Lucy’s Mom (unaware she is in a horror novel): I sure hope nothing beyond human understanding causes me a sudden and terrible shock!

[eyesfromhell]

There's a crowbar called "Foreshadowing" and Bram Stoker uses it to bash my skull in.

[ashleybenlove]

“She confided to me that she has got her death-warrant.”

Horrified that Lucy’s mom tells Lucy’s friend rather than her DAUGHTER that she’s dying.

[ourgoodfriendjonathan]

Hey at least Dracula passes the bechdel test

[bacchanal333]

Reading Dracula daily makes the tempo of Dracula's attacks very personal. Every morning I'm excited for the new update from the gang, but every evening as I'm going to sleep, it's another night of horrors for Lucy...

[nightmaere-eyes]

I know it's just a time period thing but I couldn't help but laugh at "her doctor told her...she must die" because her heart is weak. Like she needs to get on with it or make an appointment.

[ahumancharacter]

“At any time, even now, a sudden shock would be almost sure to kill her.”

I think I can see where this is going.

[your-friend-bram]

August 15

Lucy mother is going to be in for the shock of her life in the near future...

-Bram

[magical-bees]

Day 3 of catching up on Dracula daily on my lunch break while I sit alone. Sorry for the late update today but I actually sat with people at lunch today, a guy from my D&D group who I didn't know had the same lunch came over and then his friends followed, so that was fun. Anyway this weekend I finished update 3 since my time got cut short by the lockdown last Friday. I love how the final stretch of the journey with the "Mysterious" driver is written, it's great for building tension and creates such a creepy atmosphere. Also it's wild how different the original Dracula looks from the classic movie version. Anyway if I end up sitting with people at lunch I'm still going to update this, just probably will be reading when I'm done with work in class or on my way home.

[janedoeremi]

Tumblr Memes of 2023

January: Polls, Bug Race, Tumblr Sexyman Round 2, No Fly List Leak

February: Vanilla Extract, Tumblr Sexywoman Polls, Homestuck Fandom Commiting Voter Fraud, Miette decimating Todoroki in Blorbo Polls, Just so many polls

March: Dean Winchester and his Time Traveling Impala in The Winchesters, Celebrating Ides of March a week early, March 14th: The Day Krabs Fries, Ides of March, Autism Swag Poll, Ultimate Cat Girl (Gender Neutral) Poll, Putin having a warrent for his arrest, The Bots returned with a vengance

April: April Fools Day, Sonic the Hedgehog died, Trumps arrest, Barbie Arresting Trump, Everyone getting a Barbie description, Poll with Nina Tucker and Alexander needs them to tie to move on together, hyperspecific polls, Misha Collins assigned Bisexual by the WB, Elon Musk being the victim of Murphy's Law, It's gonna be May

May: Dracula Daily cast is stuck in a time loop, Trigun stan causes book: This Is How You Lose the Time War to become a bestseller, whatever the fuck happened with Eurovision, TOTK releases and gave us our feral Link back, Barbie and Ken arrested template.

June: Pride month, Across the Spiderverse... just all of it, trump getting arrested...again, The Great Reddit Migration & r/196, Horse Race, Meows Morales, The week long Titanic Oceangate Iron Lung Clusterfuck, Destial 'i love you' news meme trends at least 4 different times for different reasons, Papyrus says fuck day

July: Twitter post rationing causing Tumblr Migration 2: Electric Boogaloo, ao3 went down for 2 days, ao3 readers debating on going back to wattpad/ff.net, Barbieheimer double feature, Tree Law invoked, Elon renamed Twitter to X

August: Tiktok trying and failing to make their own Goncharov: Zepotha, Destiel confirmed canon again by not-so-rouge translator, Riverdale polycule finale, Trump mugshot, One Piece Live Action Pirate-Clown annoys Tumblr users

September: Mole Interest, Ice King became a Tumblr Sexyman again, 21st of September.

October: Spooky month, Merlin Twitter updates for first time in years to show streaming options confusing fans, The Amazing Digital Circus and Nerdy Prudes Must Die both trend for a week straight, trying to insert Markipler into the FNAF Movie

November: Nov. 5th 3rd year anniversary, Zach and Cody get their dinner reservation after 15 years. Goncharovs 1st 50th anniversary.

December: Gavle Goat being devoured by Jackdaws, Hbomberguy lives up to his name and nukes James Somerton's plagerism ridden channel, Its Dec 10th, We're gonna have to kill this guy template, almost Christmas, one more sleep til Christmas (screams internally), Halloween trends on Christmas Eve

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Link 1, Link 2 :)

Digital Good Omens 2 Sountrack is coming out in 4 days! 🥳 CD version in October! :) ❤ Coming soon on vinyl…

Out to Stream/Download from 25th August. Out on CD 13th October. Coming soon on vinyl…

David Arnold’s ‘end of the world’ complex and multi-genre soundtrack.

From the Award-winning composer of Sherlock and Casino Royale comes a follow up to the hugely successful, Emmy nominated Good Omens soundtrack.

Good Omens series 2 premiered on Prime Video on 28th July. The series follows the odd couple, angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and demon Crowley (David Tennant) in their quest to sabotage the end of the World. The six-episode sequel to the popular adaptation of the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, concerns the Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) arriving without his memories to Aziraphale’s bookshop. Aziraphale and Crowley attempt to find out what happened to Gabriel, whilst hiding him from Heaven and Hell, both eager to find him.

The Soundtrack

David Arnold’s soundtrack to Good Omens was first released in 2019 to favourable reviews, with BBC Music Magazine calling it “a rollicking trip to hell and back”. Blueprint Magazine described it as “a great listen” and Sci Fi Bulletin commented on “plenty of memorable themes” to conclude that “This is another work of art from Arnold”. At times nostalgic and eerie but always varied, beautiful and full of excitement, the Good Omens 2 soundtrack showcases Arnold’s every skill from his composer arsenal. Featured here are orchestral arrangements with sprinkling of Sugar Plum Fairy pizzicato and percussion, jaunty strings and mighty choral sweeps from Crouch End Festival Chorus. Added to the mix are rock guitar riffs, and psychedelic 70s sounds and all together they create a haunting otherworldly feel, complementing the fantasy and the quirky humour of the show. The spirited Waltz of the opening theme is also present in the second series and it wonderfully sets the scene for fantastical mayhem. In series 2, this robust, evocative, and funny music entity, becomes yet again another character in the story. Award-winning composer David Arnold is well known for his blockbuster scores, including Stargate, The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Hot Fuzz, Paul, Independence Day, 2 Fast 2 Furious and Casino Royale as well as for his TV work such as Sherlock and Dracula. Also available: The original soundtrack to the first series of Good Omens >

Tracklist

– Disc 1 – Chapter 1: The Arrival 1. Before the Beginning 2. Good Omens 2 Opening Title 3. Into Soho 4. Something Terrible 5. To The Bookshop 6. Maggie and Nina 7. He’s Smoking 8. Tiny Miracle 9. Heavenly Alarm Bells Chapter 2: The Clue 10. Avaunt! 11. The Song is the Clue 12. It’s What God Wants 13. A Mighty Wind 14. Whales 15. Gabriel Returns 16. His New Children 17. Am I Awful Now? 18. Fallen Angel Chapter 3: I Know Where I’m Going 19. Police Arrive 20. Scotland 21. We’re Going to Hell 22. People Get a Choice 23. My Car is Not Yellow 24. Beelzebub in Hell 25. The Book 26. The Fly 27. Mr. Dalrymple 28. We Need to Cut 29. I’m Going to Save Her 30. Crowley Goes Large 31. Not Kind 32. Beelzebub Isn’t Happy – Disc 2 – Chapter 4: The Hitchhiker 33. Hell-O 34. Nazi Zombies 35. March of the Nazi Zombies 36. Crowley Pep Talk 37. The Magic Shop 38. Catch The Bullet 39. Zombies in the Dressing Room Chapter 5: The Ball 40. I’ll Let You Have It 41. We’re Storming a Book Shop 42. Monsieur Azirophale 43. The Candelabra 44. Here Comes Hell 45. Gabriel Gives Himself Up 46. Shax 47. The Circle Chapter 6: Every Day 48. Bin Through the Window 49. Gabriel Leaving Heaven 50. The Halo 51. Gabriel Revealed 52. Gabriel’s Love Story 53. Leaving The Bookshop 54. Gabriel and Beelzebub 55. Crowley and Muriel 56. I Forgive You 57. Don’t Bother 58. The Biggest Decision 59. The End?

[theabigailthorn]

Have you considered moving to america? you know there are a lot of blond americans in america, and most of them would be absolutely enchanted by a tall lady with a fancy-pants british accent

I've thought about it, for career reasons rather than romance!

It's a difficult question. If I were to move to the US, right now L.A. would be the place to go: I have contacts there and I'm developing projects there. It's likely I'd be able to have a better standard of living out there too. There's also the political angle: if the Conservatives win the next British election there's a nonzero chance I'll have to leave the country because if they pass a national bathroom law and I can't use a women's toilet, I can't go to work on a set or in a theatre! I know the US is worse in a lot of places, but at least over there some politicians are standing up for trans people, some politicians are trans, some cities are refusing to comply with discriminatory laws... There seems to be a better line of defence over there, in some places? The sorts of places I would be going to live anyway. It feels like in the US the extremes are more extreme: some states are worse than Britain, but some are actually better. I think the US entertainment industry is in some ways ahead of the UK on trans issues - I've had British people straight up refuse to work with me cause I'm trans even though that's illegal, and string me along for ages cause they think I'll be a diversity checkbox for them. Whereas in my (admittedly limited) experience American producers are more willing to give me a shot and don't see my transness as an obstacle. The producers of [SUPER REDACTED] are American and they gave me that role even though the character is written as cis and cis women auditioned alongside me! I thanked one of them like, "Hey, this sort of thing has never been done and it's not the sort of thing trans people are usually allowed anywhere near!" and she was like, "Bwuh? You nailed the audition, why wouldn't we give it to you?" I said to her at the wrap party, "The idea that a trans woman could be a [PERFORMER OF THIS TYPE] has not yet entered the minds of anyone outside this room, and when it does it's going to be a gamechanger for all of us." See also Nebula! I pitched Dracula's Ex-Girlfriend to them and they greenlit it 15 days later. Contrastingly, I emailed a pitch deck and pilot episode for a trans-led TV series to a bunch of British production companies back in August and a lot of them haven't even read it yet. I like working for Americans because they just seem to get it on a level that a lot of Brits don't, yet.

On the other hand!

The entire US entertainment industry is about to move to Britain! So, maybe the smart career move is to stay. My family are here, my home is here, and despite everything I do love this country. I would be sad to leave. But we'll see. The next few years are likely to be a little... unusual. My plan right now is to have one foot in both countries, and then perhaps at some point the acting industry will make the decision for me.