to the Anglo-Saxon standard. His outfit is an aristocratic cape, along with a contemporary black
tuxedo. Dracula’s hypnotic powers are particularly stressed on through his body language and his
eyes, which appear to glow in certain close-ups. Dracula’s sex appeal is also highlighted, so that
the audience can see why Dracula can subjugate women so easily. Lugosi’s performance tries to
reach out to the audience, to let them feel the influence of the Count on them. While it was
difficult to feel attracted by Orlok, Lugosi plays a vampire who is all charm. Browning’s version
of Dracula starts a process of glamorisation of the vampire when he becomes visible. His magic
powers must be conspicuous, thus his looks must be appealing right from the start.
Dracula also acquires a voice, and not only because of sound cinema. While the protagonists are
attending an opera performance, and after the first introduction of the Count to Mina and Lucy,
they talk about Dracula’s castle, which is in a ruinous state. Dracula expresses his longing for
death: “To die, to be really dead, that must be glorious. […] There are far worse things awaiting
man than death.” He misses his lost mortality, and reveals that there is a sliver of humanity left in
him.
Lugosi’s Dracula has become a recognizable icon in its own right; his cape and tuxedo have been
reproduced in many later incarnations of the character, such as Christopher Lee’s performance in
the Hammer films, such as Dracula (1958) or Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966). As
Ballesteros (2000) points out, whereas the literary vampire loses momentum in the middle of the
20th century, he arises as a filmic figure, to the point that he is one of the most recognizable
icons of film history (p. 213). By the 1970s, the constant replaying of the figure has worn out the
filmic vampire. It has been recreated so many times that it has lost its impact. The old-stock
vampire does not scare audiences any more, nor does it have the mesmerizing effect it used to
have; he is now reduced to parodic re-enactments, such as Love at First Bite (1979), the cartoon
Count Duckula (1988-93) or the Count Chocula cereals still sold in North America.
Count Dracula has become a worn-out signifier by having been appealed to too often, becoming
more of a stock character than an archetype. An archetype is “a symbol, theme, setting, or
character-type that recurs in different times and places in myth, literature, folklore, dreams, and
rituals so frequently or prominently as to suggest […] that it embodies some essential element of
‘universal’ human experience.” (Baldick, 1990: 16), that is, the meaning of the character (in this
case) is as important as its representation. Dracula as an icon, however, becomes a dominant
signifier over a weakened signified, a stock character: “a stereotyped character easily recognized
by readers or audiences from recurrent appearances in literary or folk traditions, usually within a
specific genre […].” (211). As a stereotype, he has been simplified, and lost most of his
connotations for general audiences—in short, he is not as scary as he used to be.
Dracula is The Boss
The Satanic Lord, turned into an icon by film, becomes Digital Dracula in the Castlevania series.
Dracula becomes the Boss of the game, that is, the most powerful villain of the game, and the
last one the player must defeat. The character seems inspired by Stoker’s novel and the sources
the author used—he is identified as “Dracula Vlad Tepes” in the manual of Symphony of the
Night; he is dressed like Bela Lugosi, covered in a black cape, wearing his aristocratic medals.