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From Fluff to Horror

@flowerawry

Book and animation addict. She/her. Humor requires context. Tragedy, please. Aro-ace.
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I always associated the Three Ladies of Castle Dracula in my mind as ‘Brides of Dracula’ because pop-culture osmosis and/or adults around me specifically referencing Hammer Films, even if that isn’t accurate to the text. 

Still, with Dracula being a representation of inversions of the ‘natural order’, we have here a ‘til death do us part’ in which he’s Still Single but he hasn’t let go of his other possessions. He’s a warlord, boyar, master of all, and they’re part of what he owns. He doesn’t just treat employees and guests as property to do with as he wishes, but also the women he apparently once loved. Love and possession are apparently the same thing to him. Messed up.

Given the descriptions of the women, two of them seem to be at least locals, or of the same cultural background as Dracula himself (he did go into great excited detail about his history and his empire before, and the strength of his people, so it wouldn’t be that odd for him to be wife-shopping in the European region he conquered). 

On the other hand, we have a woman described in a more Victorian style of beauty, and Johnathan has a ‘dreamy fear’ that he kind of recognises this third woman, the blonde woman. What if he does recognise her, from posters from music halls or theatres that he would have seen as a child? What if this third bride is a famous Englishwoman? An actress or performer who went missing on some tour decades ago? Hence the odd recognition he can’t place - she was a celebrity, and her pictures were around, but a young Johnathan would have no association with her because she was just before his time.

But Dracula had to get the idea to take over London (and then England) from somewhere. What if his new foreign bride wouldn’t stop talking about The Empire Where The Sun Never Sets, and possessive, obsessive Dracula went ‘I want that, too’?

Also, when the women come across Johnathan sleeping, the agreement of who to kiss him first is very quick. ‘Yours is the right’. What if she gets first dibs not because she’s Dracula’s current favourite or best or strongest wife/consort, but because Johnathan is her fellow Englishman? That she misses home so much, and her homesickness has been tainted by her vampirism that she just needs a little taste of home, no matter what that means? And her ‘sisters’ recognise that, and give her the right to kiss first, before they drain him dry?

Today’s Re: Dracula was spectacular, of course, but I am mostly feeling so grateful to Tal Minear for not including any of the tongue noises Jonathan kept describing

In light of Dracula becoming really popular because of Dracula daily, here’s some really shitty Dracula cursed memes I drew in celebration

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‘your parents just want what’s best for you’ that is objectively not true for a lot of people, sometimes they want what’s best for them or what looks the best to other people, or what they think is best for you is based on outdated, backwards and messed up values & beliefs. even if their intentions aren’t bad doesn’t mean they even remotely know what’s good for you

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the road to hell is paved with "What's best for you"

Updates as of May 16th:

Day 15 of WGA Strike

The strike is costing the studios approximately $30 million a day in lost output. Meaning in the 15 days the WGA has been on strike, they've lost an estimated $450 million dollars aka almost exactly the amount we're asking for in our contract for THREE YEARS. Phillip Iscove on Twitter

As of today, the strike has been more expensive than just giving the writers what they’re asking for.

Although the WGA has not called for any boycotts yet, ie. canceling your Netflix subscription, there are some things you can still do to show your support.

Spread the word! Show support any way you can by sharing posts and articles about the strike, or even fun memes to inform others in a more engaging way. This is the official site for the WGA strike if you want to learn more about what’s going on before diving in! And make sure to stay up-to-date here as things continue to unfold!

Donate! The Entertainment Community Fund is endorsed by the WGA for anyone that wants to support those affected by the strike financially.

Also, if you want to see how much of an impact some Stranger Things fans have had specifically in bringing together donations in real time, consider donating through this link. Money goes directly to the fund, it's simply an organizing page set up by @byleranalysis for Stranger Things fans!

Trend! On social media, use #StrangerFansforWGA to trend or even just to reach other fans also looking to come together to support the strike!

AND! If you happen to have any other initiatives to help bring attention to the strike, personal or otherwise, reblog with the details and I will share to spread the word!

Read more:

Precious man (not in black!) sighted ❤ (x,x)

Neil Gaiman: Hi, I'm Neil Gaiman. I'm wearing the first red T-shirt I've worn since 1987. Because I'm a member of the WGA. I'm on strike. I care so much for the things that I've written but I'm out here right now not working and here until we get a good contract because I care about the future of the WGA, the future of young writers. I want a world in which no AI writes scripts or attempts to. I want a world in which young writers get to learn how to make television. And I want a world in which we are fairly compensated for the things that we put up on streaming.

Jonathan's voice is SO strained and shaky and horrified at the start of today! I do love how you can hear the accuracy of "I turn to my diary for repose. The habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me." -Because while certainly not at all times throughout the entry, it really does seem to help calm him down and order his thoughts.

Love the little rebellion in his voice at: "The Count's warning came into my mind, but I took a pleasure in disobeying it." Good for you, Jonathan! I mean. I mean it doesn't turn out good at all but you know what I mean.

Once again his voice getting all airy and almost sing-song as he talks about the ladies in his imagination, it's so sweet - but this time the music is a kind of creepy tinging lullaby like in a horror movie, making that same sweetness feel almost sickly ominous. And the little laughs and sounds of the ladies moving around were SO DAMN CREEPY, I absolutely loved it. Sent shivers up my spine, only increasing as the music got louder/we got further into the scene. I cannot recommend enough listening on headphones to get the full surround-sound, because them giggling and circling around me was SO spooky and SO good.

I love everything to do with the ladies. The way their voices are a little bit extra echoey and almost sound a little layered and unreal.... The sound of her breath. I can't describe the laughs enough. All of it. I could feel the exact same horrible yet pleasurable building anticipation as Jonathan throughout that whole passage, it's so so well done.

Contrast how deep and powerful the music gets when Dracula arrive. It at some moments reminds me of a beating heart, getting faster. And their lighter more tinkling music is almost immediately driven out by the power of his entrance. When they laugh at him it comes back, but only for a moment. The way Dracula says, "I too can love." The whisper of his voice on his promise to share Jonathan later. GOD, it's all so good.

Not to mention the fuckin BABY SOUNDS, absolutely horrifying.

...but despite all the horror, Jonathan does sound so much steadier at the end than at the start. Again, I love so much the way that you can hear the process of writing this out steadying him. It's vitally important not only for gathering evidence to confirm his sanity, but also to in-the-moment calm him down at least a little.

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I thought at the time that I must be dreaming when I saw them, they threw no shadow on the floor. They came close to me, and looked at me for some time, and then whispered together. Two were dark, and had high aquiline noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes, that seemed to be almost red when contrasted with the pale yellow moon. The other was fair,as fair as can be, with great masses of golden hair and eyes like pale sapphires. I seemed somehow to know her face, and to know it in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the moment how or where. All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something about them that made me uneasy,some longing and at the same time some deadly fear.

- Bram Stokers Dracula

I took a few artistic liberties with this one I won’t lie. But, oh my GOD @re-dracula just released their audio version of this entry and the SOUND DESIGN IS INCREDIBLE? So good please listen!!

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i know everyone is saying this every day but ben galpin really knocked it out of the park today. the grit in his teeth when he said he took pleasure in disobeying dracula was just chef's kiss