Blog #2 Genre - Bram Stoker's Dracula and genres

Bram Stoker’s Dracula And Genres

Hyunkyu Matt Choi

Film genre is a form that is categorized by the theme, characters, situation, lines, language and visual effects of the film. Genres are also “part of the constant category-splitting/category-creating dialectic that constitutes the history of types and terminology.” (Altman) The film contains not only one genre but several elements of many genres.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which main genre is horror, also contains several genres such as romance, drama and thriller. Some filmic elements such as costume, make up, sound effects, camera movement, editing and lighting make the movie that have various genres.

             The final scene of the movie shows that the genre of the movie is romance as well as horror. This scene makes audiences cry. Since Mina(Winona Ryder) loves Dracula(Gary Oldman) very much, she let him find the peace. When he says “Give me peace” she stabbed him with a knife for giving him peace even though she did not want to kill him. Also, Dracula and Mina’s love tells people that love cannot split the death. Despite Dracula’s wife had killed herself and died, he tried to avenge her death by the power of darkness and finally met again his wife. His love did not die but awaited his wife. Moreover, this scene shows why the movie is a horror film. Dracula’s costume, make up and his blood are horrific. Especially, at the end of the scene, Mina cut his head off by knife and it terrifies audiences. Camera shows Dracula’s decapitating moment which is cruel and the sound of chopping is horrific.

             In addition, this movie is a drama movie. The story develops by love stories of Mina & Jonathan(Keanu Reeves) and Mina & Dracula. There are many dramatic moments in the movie and a dramatic meeting between Dracula and Mina is the most dramatic moment. When Dracula detects Mina who had been his wife 400 years ago, his expression implies that he is surprised and his heart is palpitating. He cannot take his eyes off Mina and recalls when he had kissed his wife in the past. Even though the movie ends with a sad story because of Dracula’s death, their love story was dramatic and impressed audiences.

Lastly, one of the genres is thriller. Dracula’s symbol or trademark is his sharp canine teeth. Dracula tries to infect people by biting them. So, whenever Dracula shows his teeth, audiences are thrilled whether they become infected or not. Especially, when Dracula tried to bite Mina, audiences watched the scene with breathless attention. Since Dracula is the symbol of darkness, his unexpected behavior thrills audiences and its irritating sound effect contributes to thriller.

Work Cited

Altman, Rick “Genrification as process”. 62-68.