{"464541":{"#nid":"464541","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Why Dracula Still Matters in 2015","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022intro-text\u0022\u003EBram Stoker was arguably a minor novelist when he wrote Dracula in 1897. His book has never been out of print and has piqued the interest of both the general public and \u2014 more recently \u2014 of scholars from a variety of critical methodologies: Marxist, psychoanalytic, feminist, cultural studies. One of them is \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/senf\u0022\u003ECarol Senf\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the \u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Literature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStoker\u2019s novel addresses the xenophobia of the times (with\u0026nbsp;immigrants arriving in England from various corners of the Empire); concern over the fact that women were demanding equal rights in the professions, the universities, the streets, and the bedrooms; and the fear that this creature from the medieval past can dominate a scientific, technological, and progressive present. Seduced by Dracula, they will become \u2014\u0026nbsp;in Dr. Van Helsing\u2019s words \u2014 \u201cfoul things of the night like him, without heart or conscience, preying on the bodies and the souls of those we love best.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe fear of becoming like him is one of the reasons that various adaptations have emphasized slightly different aspects of Dracula. The 1931 adaptation that established Bela Lugosi as the iconic face of Dracula continues to emphasize his foreignness and his aristocracy. More recent adaptations featuring Christopher Lee, Frank Langella, Jack Palance, or Gary Oldman feature his sexual charisma and the possibility that we ordinary mortals might be seduced into becoming like the monster that retains elements of his essential humanity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat humanness is largely missing today, as the still human vampire has been replaced by hoards of marauding zombies driven only by a mindless desire to feed. Since monsters reflect the deepest fears of the times in which they are created, there\u2019s a reason that humans encounter zombies not as an individualized seductive threat but as an impersonalized herd, identified only by inarticulate, animalized grunts and shambling movements. While I understand the fear of that threat, I miss Dracula, the seductive monster whose touch could bring immortality as well as death. Like many others, I await his resurrection.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/leading-edge.iac.gatech.edu\/humanistic-perspectives\/why-we-need-the-gothic-in-a-technological-world\/\u0022\u003ERead why Senf says the Gothic is essential in the modern technological world.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EOriginally featured in the Georgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/features\/frightful-and-insightful\u0022\u003ENews Center\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMore than 118 years\u0026nbsp;after it was written, \u003Cem\u003EDracula\u003C\/em\u003E still commands our interest.\u0026nbsp;Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/senf\u0022\u003ECarol Senf\u003C\/a\u003E explains why \u2014 and why she\u0027s eagerly awaiting the monster\u0027s resurrection.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"More than 118 years after it was written, Dracula still commands our interest. Professor Carol Senf explains why \u2014 and why she\u0027s eagerly awaiting the monster\u0027s resurrection."}],"uid":"27498","created_gmt":"2015-10-30 10:20:15","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:51","author":"Rachel Miles","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-10-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-10-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"464531":{"id":"464531","type":"image","title":"(Left to right): Edward Van Sloan as Professor Abraham Van Helsing, and Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula, in the 1931 horror film Dracula, directed by Tod Browning for Universal Pictures.","body":null,"created":"1449256395","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 19:13:15","changed":"1475895211","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:53:31","alt":"(Left to right): Edward Van Sloan as Professor Abraham Van Helsing, and Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula, in the 1931 horror film Dracula, directed by Tod Browning for Universal Pictures.","file":{"fid":"205676","name":"bela_dracula.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bela_dracula.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bela_dracula.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":63809,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bela_dracula.jpg?itok=NWC1IU0_"}},"405891":{"id":"405891","type":"image","title":"Carol A. Senf","body":null,"created":"1449254153","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:35:53","changed":"1475895129","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:09","alt":"Carol A. Senf","file":{"fid":"76114","name":"carolsenfweb.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/carolsenfweb.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/carolsenfweb.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":64837,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/carolsenfweb.jpg?itok=am3hrZor"}}},"media_ids":["464531","405891"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"106961","name":"Dracula"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERebecca Keane\u003Cbr \/\u003EDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Erebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}