#and i will continue to have the most obscure internal dialogue processing these interactions until i get railed into realization

[slytherin-trash]

love shang qinghua’s internal dialogue in any and all situations

love shang qinghua’s internal dialogue in any and all moshang situations

love shang qinghua’s internal dialogue specifically in fanfic moshang situations

[anncanta]

The imagery of BBC ‘Dracula’: mythology, alchemy, literature. Part 3

Part 1.

Part 2.

Alchemy

Consideration and analysis of alchemical images in any modern text always encounter the same problem: unlike mythological or literary images and symbols, alchemical ones do not have their own ‘vocabulary’ which authority the researcher can rely on. Simply because the meaning and significance of alchemical texts were deliberately obscured by their authors in order to make complex and potentially dangerous knowledge inaccessible to the layman. However, some key elements of alchemical philosophy and theory – thanks to C.G. Jung and his school – can still be tried to be seen and analyzed. According to the Jungian theory, alchemy is primarily about transformation, change, as well as the connection between the external and the internal, the spiritual and the physical, the ordinary and the magical.

Based on these ideas, I chose among the many alchemical images used in Dracula, those that I want to talk about in this article.

It is color, blood, and metamorphosis.

Color

The symbolism of color in alchemy is complex and diverse, but the most important for it is the visual ‘orchestration’ of the main alchemical process – the creation of the philosopher's stone, or the Great Work.

Based on the logic of the study of Jungian philosophers and psychologists, I propose to consider it here as a metaphor for the development of the spiritual principle and the passage of a person on the path of self-improvement.

Black

The first color that we encounter in the story of Dracula is not red, as one might expect. Anyway, that's how it happens in the BBC film. In the same Bram Stoker's Dracula by F.F. Coppola, the Count initially appears before us in the first scene in red, not to mention the red skies and the spill of scarlet blood in the prologue. In BBC Dracula, at the beginning of the first episode, there is practically no red. But quite a lot of black.

In the alchemical tradition, the black color is associated with the original matter that has not undergone a transformation, the very basic material from which everything comes, a universal dough that can take any form when touched by the spirit. In the alchemical narrative, this is a matter before purification, primitive chaos.

I would say – psychological infancy.

What does Dracula look like appearing on the stairs in front of Jonathan Harker the first time they meet?

This is one of the most interesting things about the BBC film. Contrary to the expectations of the audience, taught by ‘vampire’ stories and tuned in to the perception of a certain aesthetics, Dracula's clothes are not black.

No black cloak, no raised collar, no grim Gothic aristocrat. Before Jonathan appears a nondescript old man in a dress of either gray or brown. Strictly speaking, it is hardly possible to determine the shade of his clothes at all (there is a hint – surprisingly, the printed fabric of Dracula's robe resembles the color and texture of the stone walls of the castle, forcing the viewer to ask himself at the beginning what is hiding behind this hardened shell?). This uncertainty is all the more interesting because the more time passes, the more not only the face and figure of the Count will change, but also the color and style of his clothes.

For the first time, black appears at dinner, during which already pretty shabby and emaciated Jonathan asks Dracula if there are living people in the castle besides them. In this episode, the Count is completely dressed in black – the only bright spot in his suit is a white collar, reminiscent of a colorata. Dracula casts a mocking glance at Johnny and replies, ‘No, Jonathan, there is no living here.’

And this is absolutely true. At the level of the plot, because Dracula is not alive, but at the symbolic level – because he is at the stage of ‘black earth’, completely belonging to mortal matter, not spiritualized and undeveloped. It does not even have a voice yet and it does not realize that it needs transformation.

After several episodes and dramatic moments, in which darkness and blackness from different sides show the nature of what is happening in the castle and with the Count himself, after Harker, exhausted, almost drunk down and destined for destruction, comes to his senses in the basement, finally appears the cloak.

This is a new form of manifestation of black – because it is no longer an amorphous color that appears here and there (among the many moments of black color appearance, the cloak also flickers, but as the robe of a dead man rising from the grave, and neither Jonathan's attention nor the viewer's one lingers on it), but the attribute of the object with which the hero interacts, the object that is this hero`s distinctive feature.

Even more. Pay attention to how Dracula puts on the cloak. In addition to the Count's inherent desire to show off and produce a stunning effect on the trembling victim, in this movement – a cloak thrown over his shoulders, fluttering like wings – there is a hint and a premonition of black not as chaos, but as the beginning and the dark night of the soul.

In the meantime, it is a cloak that covers the secret of something that has already arisen and is slowly ripening inside. This is confirmed by the red joined to the black – the lining of the cloak, symbolizing both blood and the next stage of the Work, called by the alchemists rubedo.

But this is still a long way off.

First, you need to put the original matter in the crucible and let it heat up.

This process has already begun in the castle. The interaction between Dracula and Jonathan, which we considered earlier, can also be considered from the point of view of the alchemical Work – the result will be the same. There is evidence that the combination and mutual influence of these two ‘substances’ have done their job in the color scheme of the same scene on the roof. First, Dracula, putting Jonathan on the sunlit part of the roof, lies down next to Harker, spreading his cloak – with the red lining up, and then, surrounded by golden rays (not yet reaching for Dracula), they engage in a dialogue about the sun, which at this time of year, according to Dracula, sets behind the second highest mountain peak and should be quite red.

Everything is ready for the next stage of transformation, which takes place in the convent.

We will not delve into the symbolism of the monastery, just note that it represents two key things for alchemical metaphor: the hermetic space (crucible) and since in this case, there is a nunnery, the habitat of the anima.

What happens when Dracula appears in the monastery?

According to the alchemical tradition, in order to begin the process of transmutation, it is necessary to put the primordial substance (dark matter) into the fire.

Remember what Dracula does when Agatha invites him to ‘step out of the shadows’?

He knocks over the lamp. After that, a man covered in red appears from the black skin of the wolf.

Red

Since the moment Dracula entered the monastery, a lot of blood appears in the film. For comparison – during the entire stay of Jonathan in the castle, there was almost no blood on the screen. Despite the fact that then the Count was actively feeding on Harker and was clearly experimenting with ‘brides’ in the basement. And only when the story went beyond Dracula's inner world, and (to use the same alchemical terminology) Dracula's ‘shell’ cracked, the streams of blood literally filled the visual plane of the text.

This continues throughout the second episode, and here it is important to pay attention to the fact that in parallel with the ‘blazing’ of red in the guise of Dracula, white begins to appear over and over again (a white shirt in combination with a black vest in interaction with Agatha – by the way, in contrast to a tightly buttoned black cape or a tuxedo in communication with the passengers of Demeter in reality) until it ends with the visual dominance of a white blouse before the hero`s being confined in a sealed box for the further process.

The white color symbolizes the albedo stage – the last before the appearance of the magisterium, the philosopher's stone. We'll come back to white later, but for now, let's continue with red.

After the awakening of Dracula in the twenty-first century, red becomes the main color, and at first glance (as, indeed, in the second episode), it seems that this is due to the desire of the creators to portray the hero as a bloody killer. At a certain level, this is true. At the plot level, red is associated with Dracula's attack on victims and blood. But on a symbolic one, everything is more complicated.

This is best illustrated in the scene at Bob's house. From the point of view of storytelling, it is difficult to imagine an episode in which the inner content would be conveyed so accurately, succinctly, and voluminously using different, complementary tools.

Look. When Dracula enters the house, both the hallway and Kathleen's bedroom are immersed in deep red. At the level of the plot, it, of course, means the predatory nature of Dracula and his desire to devour Kathleen the same way he devoured her husband. At the same time, note that there is a lot of red at the beginning of the scene, but it does not dominate, does not absorb all other colors. There are gold, blue, gray, navy blue mixed with it. A bit black, there is white and others. But as Dracula first conducts a conversation with Kathleen, and then switches to Zoe who came after him, red becomes more and more, and when Zoe enters the house, there are simply no other shades left.

And here is the most interesting thing. Dracula bites Zoe, and she ends up in his head, in his ‘mind palace’. Speaking about this scene, it is usually indicated that the image of Dracula's ‘mind palace’ is presented in a deliberately ‘vampire’ aesthetics, which emphasizes, again, his predatory nature. But if we look at this scene from the point of view of the alchemical metaphor, we see a lot of red and an almost complete absence of black.

Black, chaotic, primitive matter almost receded, practically disappeared, remaining in the background as dark spots and tree trunks – ‘rods’ (the very frame, without which incarnation is generally impossible), and everything else is red. Looking down, Zoe sees a red liquid, and the first thought that arises when we are looking at it: it's blood. Well, it is, indeed. But it is also a visually shown onset of a new stage of the Work, the rubedo stage, at which the old solutions no longer work, and new ones have to be looked for.

Part 4.