Modern-Day Mina

So, I decided to watch the Dracula themed episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  And I don't regret my decision at all. Thanks to this class I will be binge-watching about 3 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer this weekend. I really enjoyed this episode. I like how the creators of this show mastered the art of portraying most of Dracula's characters and iconic moments while turning the construction of gender roles on it's head. 

Buffy instantly reminds me of a modern-day version of Mina.  She, like Mina, is the glue holding the vampire-slayers together. She seems to be every one's motivation to work harder at their job. 

When the movers discovered the crate filled with dirt I got excited because I already knew Dracula was in town. Giles plays a Van Helsing-like role. That role is reinforced when he mentions that he will be returning to England because Buffy doesn't need him to help her anymore. Dracula eventually makes his presence known to Buffy and he is a cutie patootie. When he tells Buffy that he assumed she knew who he was I knew this story was going to follow the romantic version of this story. Dracula has been searching all over the world for Buffy. Buffy, as well as the other female characters, are star struck but Dracula and are all sexually attracted to him.  

When Dracula is in town he proves he is the great Count Dracula. He has the classic accent, can appear and disappear from thin air, turns in both a bat and a wolf, lives in a luxury estate, and can put people under mind control. He even puts a spell over Xander. Xander takes the role of Renfield in this episode. He is promised immortality if he does Dracula's bidding. He constantly refers to Dracula as the Dark Prince or his Master. He says that "blood is life" and kills and eats a spider. Gross!

Expectedly, Dracula comes into Buffy's bedroom as a pearlescent mist. He comes in and seduces Buffy. Even though she tries to resist him, he puts her in a trance and bites her. When she wakes up, she discovers the bite marks and tries to hide them from the rest of the group by wearing a handkerchief.  The men in this story all remind of the men in the book. They're protective over Buffy. When one of the males discover the bite mark on Buffy, she admits to him that he doesn't know why she tried to hide them from everyone. She tells him "I'm your girl and I'm going to stay that way".

 That guy immediately takes the role of Jonathan Harker.  But Dracula's hold over the modern Mina is too strong. He summons her again and tries to get her to drink from him and to my surprise she did. But as she does, her life flashes before her eyes and she remembers her purpose. This was my favorite part of the episode because this is where the show reverses gender roles the most. Buffy didn't need a man to remind her of her goal to defeat Dracula. She figures it out on her own and in the end saves her own life. If she would've relied on the men in the story, she probably wouldn't have been successful in her mission to kill Dracula. Dracula was strong but Buffy was stronger and I loved that about this episode. It showed that women can be their own knights in shining armor. They don't need a man to complete them or come to their rescue.

While the men split up, Giles encounters the three vampire sisters. They are very aggressive and try to seduce him and distract him from his mission. But unlike the book, he cannot resist them. He was powerless under their control and would've been fed upon if it wasn't for the Jonathan of this episode saving him by showing the sisters a cross. 

Buffy is the most clever of the characters and outsmarts Dracula. She kills him all by herself and that spoke volumes on the topic of traditional gender roles. As soon as she kills him, Xander's spell is lifted and he is back to acting like his normal self.