before we go any further, let's clear something up: you DO know who Dracula is, right?

[Believer]

It is when it applies to a culture such as ours, which grew up in a time when Dracula and Frankenstein were usually on the reading list in high school English class. We also read The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, the works of Shakespeare...

Methinks those books are no longer part of the curriculum in many schools around the world these days.

You might be surprised/pleased to know that in poor, backwards, 3rd world Mississippi English teachers still have the kids read "Frankenstein", "The Scarlett Letter", "The Crucible", and "Romeo and Juliet". No wonder the east and west coasts look down on us.

 

[NeverTooLate]

an interesting thought came up in another thread, in a post by the most excellent Dan R, in a thread about the passing of John Lennon:

"What is a bit surreal is how John only means something to us. Many people under 30 might say, "Whos that?" I get that all the time from young people.. They may not even recognize the names Elvis or Frank Sinatra. Many young people have the attitude that anyone before their time doesn't matter."

i thought i should make a thread instead of hi-jacking that one.

i must tell of a recent experience. i was recently sequestered for several days with about 75 young men at a religious retreat. i'm in my 60's, most of the men i was in the dorm with were around 25-35 years. all of them were intelligent, fine young men. one evening, i popped into a room and observed one guy holding a certain implement in his hand. i said, "Man, that looks like a prop from a Dracula movie." three guys, simultaneously, said, "What's that?"

they were not joking. they didn't know who or what Dracula is. i tried to explain, then one of them asked, "Well, what year was that movie made?"
"1930"
"Well, see?" yeah, i guess i see.
i was utterly shocked. ok, one of the guys was Amish. there really is no reason why an Amishman would know who Dracula is, for real.

movies, books, music, and guitar players have been my life. my head is way in a different zone, i know that...but never heard of Dracula?

my background and these guys' backgrounds are way apart, none of them had been in the military, worked in a prison, been involved in law enforcement or worked in a morgue. several of them said they had never handled a firearm in their lives. well, ok, i get that, so none of my war stories were of any interest, either unbelievable to them or just plain nothing. the only things i heard any of them talk about was their cell phones and Star Wars. they talked about their workouts.

this was bizarre to me. but, i think, i really need to know. You guys DO know who Dracula is, right?

If you study history of Romania and Hungary, maybe, but not necessarily. Otherwise, there is no good reason why people in North America would need to have heard about a minor local lord north of the Danube in the 15th c who merits about 1 sentence in a good summary of Ottoman history.

As for the modern pop culture part of it, eh...

 

[Alamo]

What? Oh, no!

That's my favourite joke. It never gets old, just like Dracula.

"You'll never guess who's dead!
Who?

Bela Lugosi!"

What? He's still dead?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . Have you ever heard of Vlad III?

Hmm. Putin's grandson?

=O.

 

[flathd]

For a minute there, I thought this was a Zombie thread.

 

[maxvintage]

an interesting thought came up in another thread, in a post by the most excellent Dan R, in a thread about the passing of John Lennon:

"What is a bit surreal is how John only means something to us. Many people under 30 might say, "Whos that?" I get that all the time from young people.. They may not even recognize the names Elvis or Frank Sinatra. Many young people have the attitude that anyone before their time doesn't matter."

i thought i should make a thread instead of hi-jacking that one.

i must tell of a recent experience. i was recently sequestered for several days with about 75 young men at a religious retreat. i'm in my 60's, most of the men i was in the dorm with were around 25-35 years. all of them were intelligent, fine young men. one evening, i popped into a room and observed one guy holding a certain implement in his hand. i said, "Man, that looks like a prop from a Dracula movie." three guys, simultaneously, said, "What's that?"

they were not joking. they didn't know who or what Dracula is. i tried to explain, then one of them asked, "Well, what year was that movie made?"
"1930"
"Well, see?" yeah, i guess i see.
i was utterly shocked. ok, one of the guys was Amish. there really is no reason why an Amishman would know who Dracula is, for real.

movies, books, music, and guitar players have been my life. my head is way in a different zone, i know that...but never heard of Dracula?

my background and these guys' backgrounds are way apart, none of them had been in the military, worked in a prison, been involved in law enforcement or worked in a morgue. several of them said they had never handled a firearm in their lives. well, ok, i get that, so none of my war stories were of any interest, either unbelievable to them or just plain nothing. the only things i heard any of them talk about was their cell phones and Star Wars. they talked about their workouts.

this was bizarre to me. but, i think, i really need to know. You guys DO know who Dracula is, right?

Yeah I do, I've read and taught the original Bran Stoker novel too. I'm a historian for a living though. I know all sorts of crap you probably have no idea about and it all seems really important to me.

Cultural signifiers always shift. Women swooned over Rudolf Valentino: nobody today knows who he was. Al Jolson sold more records than any person alive, till the beatles. 18 year olds never heard of him.

It's a constant. Any time someone writes "we will never forget" you can bet the mortgage people will forget, and soon. In ten years or less kids will have zero idea what 9/11 was about--hell I suspect most of them have only a vague idea right now. They were taught about it in elementary of high school and promptly forgot whatever they were taught.

I don't actually rant about this: it's entirely normal. My job this morning is to make a group of undergrads care about Thomas Jefferson's debate with the Comte de Buffon about degeneracy in the new world. You can google it, but I'm guessing nobody here knows about this, even though it was really important to both Indian policy and to racial slavery. So welcome to my world! Nobody cares! Or rather, nobody remembers.

 

[ClashCityTele]

What? He's still dead?

Well, he's Undead!

 

[ClashCityTele]

I pretty much grew up in Whitby, and now still live about 15 minutes away, as the bat flies. I often pop through to see my pals and have a pint at the rowing club ( after sunset, obviously!)

The last time we were in Whitby we stayed at the Royal Hotel just around the corner from where Bram Stoker stayed. Our room was directly opposite St Mary's Church & Whitby Abbey.
I was lying on my bed reading Dracula with the curtains open as it was a full moon. We then discovered that 'Bram Stokers Dracula' was on TV at 9pm. What a great holiday. I'm just an old Goth at heart.

 

[Fiesta Red]

Now, I know I’m a history buff, an old movie buff and generally an “old soul,” but you mean to tell me they never heard of Dracula or Vlad the Impaler or even made the connection between the Sesame Street Count (Count von Count)?

That’s sad.

 

[String Tree]

Dracla?
I remember that as part of a Richard Pryor routine that can not be repeated on this Forum.
NOPE!!!

 

[Alamo]

 

[notmyusualuserid]

If you study history of Romania and Hungary, maybe, but not necessarily. Otherwise, there is no good reason why people in North America would need to have heard about a minor local lord north of the Danube in the 15th c who merits about 1 sentence in a good summary of Ottoman history.

As for the modern pop culture part of it, eh...

I'm not understanding what point you're trying to make.

Dracula is a novel by Bram Stoker. Part of western literature.

Vlad III, called Draculea (dragon's son), was an inspiration for the novel. Apart from that he has nothing to do with the fictional Dracula, and he never visited the UK.

Dracula is a part of 20th century pop culture. There have been hundreds of Dracula movies, from the 1920s to the present day. Every kid has heard of vampires, and I'm sure a lot of them have seen the Hotel Transylvania films, the fourth was only released last year. Why would they need to know of the blood drinking count's quasi-historical origins?

Vlad's a bit of a national hero in Romania, but he probably is just a footnote in Ottoman history. Defeated nations tend not to big up their conquerors.

 

[scottser]

for some reason, this song used to give me the horn when i was a kid:

 

[ClashCityTele]

I find Count Duckula scary enough!