As long as people who love Western horror literature and movies will certainly not be unfamiliar with the name "Dracula". The vampire earl, who combined brutality and elegance, cunning and charm, was born in 1897 by the Irish writer Abraham Bram Stoker. Over the next hundred years, Dracula conquered the hearts of countless people and eventually became the standard image of a vampire, whose story was repeatedly rewritten and remade.
At the beginning of this year, the British BBC television station brought a TV series with Dracula as the theme to the audience. This drama is innovative with previous vampire episodes, and instead of focusing on the vampire's strength and viciousness, he focuses on dissecting why vampires are afraid of the sun, why they are afraid of crosses, and why vampires cannot enter the circle.
Dracula poster
First sunshine
Vampires are afraid of sunlight and, once exposed to sunlight, are immediately reduced to ashes, which is a well-known thing. In fact, vampires are not the only monsters that are afraid of sunlight, most demons and ghosts have the same fear of sunlight. The reason for this is not difficult to understand.
Dracula is reflected by sunlight
In primitive times, humans inhabited the wild and were vulnerable to wild beasts at night, so humans developed a fear of night. Demons, on the other hand, are also largely projections of fear within human beings. And because humans are always accustomed to classifying similar things as the same, demons and ghosts are gradually classified as creatures of the dark world, and only a few of them can move under the sun. For those youkai who inhabit the darkness, sunlight is their natural enemy, weakening their mana and even killing them.
Second stakes and fire
Vampires originally originated from ghouls. Many peoples in ancient times believed that the souls of those who died or had unfulfilled wishes could not be rested, and they would turn into ghouls and crawl out of their graves at night, endangering the living. The ancients came up with many ways to prevent the dead from coming back to life, one of which was to make them die again, most commonly by piercing the heart of the body with a sharp stake or burning them to ashes with fire. Later, these two methods were passed down and became the conventional method of killing vampires. There is also a legend that Dracula was pierced by a stake during his lifetime, so that he could kill him after he turned into a vampire.
Fire is a dangerous thing, and dangerous things are often thought to have the power to scare away demons. For example, in the old days Chinese after encountering abrasion, they would hold a ceremony of crossing the brazier, that is, using fire to remove the evil qi stuck to the body.
Third Cross
The principle of the cross exorcism is the simplest. In medieval Europe, most people believed in Christianity, in Which God was omnipotent, and it was natural to destroy monsters. The cross, the Bible, holy water and other artifacts are all Christian holy relics, and in people's imagination, nature is contaminated with some of God's mana, so it has an exorcism effect. Ancient Chinese mainly believed in Buddhism and Taoism, so the holy relics used in ancient Chinese were mainly Buddhist and Taoist idols, scriptures, and ritual instruments...
Cross picture
Fourth house and circle boundary
There are also two rules repeatedly mentioned in Dracula: vampires cannot enter human homes without invitation; vampires cannot enter the circle without permission.
Stills from Dracula The Circle Boundary resists Dracula
Pliny the Elder preached in Natural History that lions would show mercy to the supplicants, that they would not harm those who knelt before them. Most of the time, lions will only attack men, and will never attack women and children unless they are extremely hungry. Here we see that Pliny Sr.'s lion has completely inherited the moral concept unique to human beings. Humans themselves believe that the strong should not hurt the weak, and naively believe that the strong in animals will follow the same law. This is true for real animals, and for fictional demons, it is naturally easier for humans to give their ideas to them. As a result, ideas such as "vampires cannot enter human homes without invitation" have emerged.
As for "the vampire cannot step into the circle without permission", the circle here is a fictitious dwelling, but how can it be said not to be real to a vampire who is also fictional?
Remember the scene in "Journey to the West" where Sun Wukong uses a golden hoop stick to draw a circle to protect the three masters and apprentices?
In Dracula, Mother Agatha twice drew circles using Christian sacraments and the Bible, incorporating the principle of exorcism from the holy relics mentioned earlier. But the focus of this spell is on the painting itself, which has little to do with the material. As long as it is a closed figure, it can be used as a barrier against demons and ghosts.
The third episode of the film reveals to us what Dracula fears most. The video commentary I have put on for everyone, click to see it.