Dracula 2000: Gender Roles and Portrayals

In this interpretation of Dracula, there are several scenes that demonstrate the gender roles assigned to the characters. The first scene where these roles are clear is when the robbers have taken Dracula's coffin onto the plane. Dracula is released and beings to feed on the robbers one by one, saving Selena for the last. Prior to seeing Dracula, she slips on her white lab coat and goes to investigate. When she sees Dracula, he stretches his hand towards her and she is drawn to him in almost a sexual way. These are the first few scenes with Dracula in them and his dominance and control over women is clearly shown. Right after he feeds on Selena, the scene flashes to Mary's bedroom looking into the plane and vice versa, so that she is seeing Dracula standing in the plane and he is seeing her in her room. Here, Mary and Dracula make eye contact through this sort of window and when the point of view switches to her, she is wearing  a black tank top that says "Virgin" on it (the place she works is Virgin Mobile). I feel that this is significant because I feel that the tank top is representing that her virginity is already ruined or is going to be ruined. I also found it ironic that her name is Mary, similar to Mother Mary from the bible. An important thing to note is that Dracula is always wearing all black, which associates him with being a "bad character" to begin with, or even as being a strong character. 

    Male dominance is portrayed in a few other scenes, such as when Mary's father and Dracula are fighting over her, which could show that she is more of a possession to them than a person. This could also signify that Mary is someone to be desired by men. Once Mary's father is gone, Simon steps up and assumes the role as defender, trying to do everything he can to protect her. This shows males as being the strong ones and women as always needing saving. There is a specific scene when Dracula has found Mary and Simon and Simon stays behind to fight off Dracula , telling Mary to run, which she does without question. This scene reinforces that women need to be protected and shows Mary as weak or incapable of handing herself being around another dominant male figure.
   One scene that I found the most interesting out of the whole movie was when Dracula was about to take Mary. He briefly speaks to her and says "Everything I have is yours, and all you are is mine." I found this line extremely important because he is essentially saying that he has control over everything involving her, her things as well as her as a person, but she only has control over his things, not him as a person. This is showing that he has more power than her and is in control over her, which could signify a marriage between them with the sharing of the blood.
    The next few scenes described are ones that displayed a switch in gender roles, such as when Mary's father and Simon go to look at the bodies discovered from the plane accident. Selena has turned into vampire here and she pins Simon against a wall and proceeds to lick his face, claiming that all she wants to do is "suck". It is also significant to note that she is still in her white lab coat, which white is supposed to signify purity although she is speaking in a vulgar way. I think this scene is important because she went from being the one who was attacked, to a dominant character who is trying to, in a way, sexually take control over Simon. Selena as a sexually dominant character also shows when she is taken in for questioning at the station and pulls her dress up her thighs for the detectives. Women as hungry dominants can also be seen when Dracula is walking through Mary's work place and all of the women around (which appears to be only women in the whole store) turn to look at him in a hungry way, like he is something to be desired. 
    At one point, when Mary is running from Lucy after she discovers the death of her father, she escapes to the hallway to find that all of the curtains and the rug have turned bright red. This could signify the blood that is desired or the anticipated destruction of Mary. The inclusion of the three vampires, now wearing white gowns, also help to reinforce this because it is almost a joke that they are wearing white after they have been almost "ruined" by Dracula. The three women that come to speak to Mary and act in a predatory way towards her, confessing their jealousy of Dracula's desire towards her. The way the women are acting places them in a predatory light and shows Mary as the weak woman in this situation.
   As described earlier, right before Dracula took Mary, he demonstrated his possession over her and how she could only in turn, could only call the things he owns as hers, not him. In one of the final moments of Dracula's life, when he is hanging from the building, he looks down at Mary and says "I please you." These three words show that he is relinquishing his power to Mary once and for all, no longer assuming control over her as an individual. 
   I was surprised with how many gender role references that this movie was filled with. I was a little nervous because it was made in the year 2000, so I figured it may be more modernized in terms of gender roles, but there were so many things to write about that I had to cut my list in half for this blog. If I wouldn't have taken this class, I never would have been able to pick up on all of these little cues throughout the movie.