tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post8216570257457869700..comments2024-03-05T21:05:36.848-05:00Comments on CommentaramaFilms: Monsterpiece Theater: The Count Goes Just Plain WeirdAndrewPricehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-41446291457263971472016-11-03T23:19:30.285-04:002016-11-03T23:19:30.285-04:00Thanks, Daniel! Now I can finally get caught up. I...Thanks, Daniel! Now I can finally get caught up. I'll be sure to take those other Fandom wikias with a grain of salt.Rustbelthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12190297078043033514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-21661248775091659672016-11-03T23:18:05.548-04:002016-11-03T23:18:05.548-04:00Pikebishop, glad you enjoyed it! I'll take a l...Pikebishop, glad you enjoyed it! I'll take a look at King's work and see what he has to say. <br />Sometimes authors intend meaning, such as when R.L. Stevenson wrote "Jekyll and Hyde" to be a commentary on Victorian hypocrisy. <br />Oh the other hand, writers just write stories and people slap meaning on them. Harold Ramis once said he was sent a graduate thesis on how 'Ghostbusters' was all about the need to regulate the nuclear industry with 'crossing the streams' clearly representing a meltdown. Ramis laughed at it. He said nuclear generators were the only things that could generate the power needed by the proton packs. Plus, 'crossing the streams' was nothing more than a plot device- something you shouldn't do, but do anyway to beat the bad guy. He said any interpretation was strictly in the minds of the interpreter.<br />So, to all their own, I suppose.Rustbelthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12190297078043033514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-85884781792302113102016-11-03T15:05:51.712-04:002016-11-03T15:05:51.712-04:00Rustbelt, the best overall resource I can give you...Rustbelt, the best overall resource I can give you is the <a href="http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Castlevania_Wiki" rel="nofollow">Castlevania Wikia</a>. It's pretty well-maintained and has a lot of information about the games, characters, and pretty much anything else you can think of. Fandom Wikias are good for information in general, though not all of them are well-maintained. If the series is big enough (like Final Fantasy or Mass Effect) then there are a lot of people working at keeping it quality, and same for smaller series with dedicated fanbases (like Shin Megami Tensei and Shadow Hearts). If not then all you'll find is useless stubs, unfortunately. Castlevania has a good one, thankfully!<br /><br /> - DanielArgentGalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01173296751792700318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-63458751445498092852016-11-03T00:05:28.668-04:002016-11-03T00:05:28.668-04:00Rustbelt: Thanks for a lively and engaging series...Rustbelt: Thanks for a lively and engaging series of articles. Well-written, well researched and very lively. As far as your not seeing where all the sexual interpretations of the story come from, may I once again, as I did earlier in this series, strongly recommend Stephen King's "Danse Macabre" and his take on the vampire mythos and it's erotic elements and subtext. PikeBishophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05761380937971970762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-60365693785022954622016-11-02T23:37:04.060-04:002016-11-02T23:37:04.060-04:00Daniel, hey yo!
I definitely prefer to think that...Daniel, hey yo!<br /><br />I definitely prefer to think that Stoker was simply using his imagination to write a good horror story. Some of the interpretations these people come up with drive me crazy. Like you, I prefer to think of it as just good, scary fun!<br /><br />OH, WHAT A TERRIBLE NIGHT FOR A CURSE...<br /><br />Unfortunately, my gaming days really stopped with Super Nintendo. (I was a D-Pad addict who never fully adjusted to thumb joysticks. That, and I found the early 3-D graphics of the fifth generation consoles a little off-putting.)And SCIV was the first of the series that I played. That game was just lightning in a bottle- the gameplay, control, graphics, atmosphere, and MUSIC! After that, the NES games just couldn't compare. I've been catching up on the series courtesy of Youtube review videos and articles. It seems the battle for top spot inevitably centers on SCIV and SotN. <br /><br />Now, if I were to get back into the series just through walkthroughs (gotta start somewhere), what games would you recommend I check out? From any point in the series. I really need to catch up. Rustbelthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12190297078043033514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-37333388103084736502016-11-02T16:10:47.270-04:002016-11-02T16:10:47.270-04:00Literary analysis comes up with some really weird ...Literary analysis comes up with some really weird stuff, doesn't it? A lot of times it seems like these academics take what was just meant to be a good story and attach their own bizarre interpretations to it for whatever reasons - to make themselves feel superior and, in the case of literature professors in particular, to show their commitment to the leftist cause of the day I suppose. After reading your series I'm going to go with Stoker being a creative type in a set of very unusual circumstances that led to him writing a one of a kind horror novel instead of the themes that sex-obsessed (sexual dysfunction again?) analysts think is there myself, and if you're not down with that I've got two words for ya!<br /><br />Come to think of it, since you mentioned it I never did pick up my part of the Castlevania discussion, did I? The games I finished were Simon's Quest on the NES, Symphony of the Night on PS1 (of course), and Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness on PS2, though I've got ROMs and ISOs of a lot of the other games on my computer waiting for me to put them on an emulator. I know it's predictable but SotN was my favorite of the group. The RPG elements were what sealed it for me, not to mention sometimes plowing through monsters with someone as insanely powerful as Alucard is a great way to blow off steam! I almost didn't give LoI a chance but a friend talked me into it and I'm glad I did since it was pretty enjoyable, especially playing through with one of the bonus characters. CoD was a lot of fun, too, again thanks to the RPG element and both the item and Innocent Devil creation (not to mention Hector was just an all around badass). I haven't heard anything of note about any new Castlevanias lately, likely in no small part due to Konami getting rid of a lot of their gaming division and doing it in such a way that it pisses off a lot of their creative talent, but I hope Koji Igarashi's indie project, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, goes better for him than Mighty No. 9 did for Keiji Inafune!<br /><br /> - DanielArgentGalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01173296751792700318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-83017959141078264472016-11-01T23:33:32.305-04:002016-11-01T23:33:32.305-04:00Mike K, I aim to please!
Oldman is a fantastic a...Mike K, I aim to please! <br /><br />Oldman is a fantastic actor and he really did what he could within the confines of the script, costumes, and direction here. He just becomes any type of character seamlessly and blends in.<br /><br />I'll definitely look into that podcast. It sounds good.<br /><br />Glad you enjoyed the series so much. You're welcome!Rustbelthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12190297078043033514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-20694819619119593522016-11-01T23:29:57.716-04:002016-11-01T23:29:57.716-04:00You're welcome, too Andrew! Thanks for letting...You're welcome, too Andrew! Thanks for letting me contribute!<br /><br />On the Oldman version, yeah, it's just crazy. I think Coppola thought he was being edgy by throwing every artsy motif he could into the fray. But unlike Herzog's 'Nosferatu,' where the art is used to advance and compliment the story, the art here is just thrown in for the heck of it.<br /><br />Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. One more thing: the novel never states that Dracula is Vlad the Impaler. This was the first movie to directly state a connection. And if I remember correctly, Coppola and Columbia (the distributor) got sued for defamation of character by Vlad's descendants (22nd generation). I remember an interview where one of them demanded that Coppola show where in the book the connection was. I think the suit was filed in the UK (where such laws are much stronger), and I'm not sure how it turned out.Rustbelthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12190297078043033514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-53580793679935332582016-11-01T23:24:26.299-04:002016-11-01T23:24:26.299-04:00GypsyTyger, you're welcome.
I'm so glad I...GypsyTyger, you're welcome.<br /><br />I'm so glad I didn't do this book as a one-week article as part of last year's series. There was just so much I found out that I wanted to share with everyone. <br />Hopefully, everyone got to learn more about why this story is great and has such staying power. <br />And as long as people enjoy it, I say it's always worth the extra effort!Rustbelthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12190297078043033514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-23055319243034038192016-11-01T23:20:18.948-04:002016-11-01T23:20:18.948-04:00Glad you liked it, Daniel!
I'm at a loss as t...Glad you liked it, Daniel!<br /><br />I'm at a loss as to how so many people see sex in this story, too. In the Sparknotes take, whoever wrote it basically claimed that every scene is sexual. When the men kill vampire Lucy in her grave, for instance, it's supposed to be gang rape with the stake as a phallic symbol! (Never mind this is how vampires had been killed for years in eastern Europe.) Interestingly, I read an article about a graphic novel version that was under way at the time- designed by proteges of Alan Moore, no less- who saw no sex at all. They claimed it was about the fear of feminism. Go figure. <br /><br />Yeah, this film is really out there. No middle ground. People either love it or hate it. And that's the bottom line 'cause R-Belt said so!Rustbelthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12190297078043033514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-51304349780656369682016-11-01T20:44:16.516-04:002016-11-01T20:44:16.516-04:00Excellent series of posts!
I can't see why Ga...Excellent series of posts!<br /><br />I can't see why Gary Oldman shouldn't be in every movie. Although for all I know he is, because I usually don't recognize him. <br /><br />If anyone would like to dig into the novel, there's a podcast called Mythgard Academy that covered Dracula along with a few of the films a little while back--around a dozen two-hour episodes so it's a time investment, but well worth it. <br /><br />Thanks for putting this all together, Rustbelt. I've enjoyed the heck out of it. Mike K.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17216987126441598720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-15003638295871578722016-11-01T20:11:32.214-04:002016-11-01T20:11:32.214-04:00Rusbelt, Thanks for an excellent series. I've...Rusbelt, Thanks for an excellent series. I've enjoyed it a lot.<br /><br />On these in particular, I've never seen the Oldman version of <i>Dracula</i> either because, as Daniel says, it seemed like a WTF?? kind of film.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-7954428059828714412016-11-01T19:14:04.447-04:002016-11-01T19:14:04.447-04:00Dawn always comes and October always ends but this...Dawn always comes and October always ends but this was a great way to spend it. Thanks so much for the effort that you put into this. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I learned alot. This was a great discussion on film.<br />GypsyTygerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7059293386881623259.post-74187267648445520922016-11-01T16:28:38.929-04:002016-11-01T16:28:38.929-04:00References to 90s pro wrestling and Castlevania, h...References to 90s pro wrestling and Castlevania, huh? Now that's stuff I can get! I was wondering if you'd review this one, Rustbelt. I never saw it myself but the consensus even back then seemed to be "WTF?" Doesn't look like I really missed anything, either, though your story on how the script came to be reminds me of something. I was browsing the local Barnes and Noble or maybe Goodwill (can't remember which, but I think it was Goodwill) one day and saw <i>Dracula</i>. The back cover described it more or less the way you described this movie, interpreting the book as a criticism of Victorian sexual mores and making the Count sound like some kind of bisexual liberator (saying things like Dracula feeds on "strong men and beautiful women"). I'd say I don't know where they came up with that, especially in light of your background information on what actually gave Stoker the idea, but I've seen enough loopy college literature professor babble to recognize it. either way it sounds like you found some real messes for this article. I've enjoyed the series regardless, though!<br /><br /> - DanielArgentGalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01173296751792700318noreply@blogger.com