#modern adaptation
Participating in Dracula Daily has reminded me of how throughout the initial portions of the novel the Count repeatedly makes back-handed references to the fact that he’s a vampire, seemingly for absolutely no reason other than to fuck with Jonathan, and it’s strengthened my conviction that you can’t have a faithful modern adaptation of Stoker’s Dracula unless Dracula is just constantly spouting shitty vampire puns – which everyone around him unaccountably fails to pick up on – like a gaunt, bemoustached Hannibal Lecter.
I love the idea that Dracula has gotten bolder and bolder with his puns over time because either a) nobody ever picks up on it until it’s too late, or b) he realizes that people are ironically less likely to suspect him the more obnoxious he is about it.
In a modern retelling, you’d absolutely have them sit down across from each other, Dracula dropping all of the vampire puns, Harker looking into the camera like Jim from The Office, and then when the truth is revealed, it’s impossible to convince anyone because he spent so much time being dismissive of all the weird habits.
Also, Van Helsing tries to take down a different vampire at one point and it turns out to be a regular goth
