Van Helsing Gender inverted

In the Van helsing (2004) film version of Dracula the story is dramatically changed. The plot this time revolves around Van helsing who is now somewhat of a seasoned hunter of cryptid like creatures vampires werewolfs and etc. As the plot advances van helsing heads to Transylvania to kill Dracula, later on we come to find out Dracula is trying to produce offspring via live birth instead of the traditional bite of the neck vampire turning. Due to this the live offspring are born dead because of the vampire’s undead nature. Then there is an interesting twist in the plot Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is also involved in the plot. Frankenstein’s monster is the key to giving life to Dracula’s offspring. Ultimately dracula meets his demise by van helsing who has been bitten by a werewolf and transforms into one himself.

In this adaptation of the Dracula story Dracula himself is an inversion of gender.During the film Dracula and his three brides only take enough people or the bare minimum needed for their subsistence. Dracula shows concern and stresses that they all not take more than they need. Throughout the film this Dracula shows continued emotional sentiment as well as sympathy. His character is feminized through the stereotypical archetype of the overemotional female. This version of Dracula is somewhat unique from the perspective of gender because, he is feminized and is portrayed in such a way to draw out sympathy. Although he is portrayed this way he easily becomes masculine when he transforms to defend himself or to meet his goals or desires.

The next relevant character from a gender perspective would be Anna Valerious who is at first portrayed as a supposed male gender perspective strong woman. She can be seen as masculine throughout the film. Fighting the same monsters that van helping fights. She is a gender inversion a well as contradiction even though she has masculine trait. During the film she has to be rescued by van helsing and can do nothing against Dracula while captive. This serves as somewhat as a double standard because she has shown that she is not weak and can defend herself, which shows that maybe this is an attempt to belittle women or make them dependent on men.  In contrast to Bram stokers Dracula Anna is definitely not the norm. Her involvement in battling overturns the view of stokers woman and the gender roles he though they should be inclined to.

Van helsing is the last gender relevant character in this adaptation in the film. He is the embodiment of masculinity and it is repeated. He saves the damsel in distress. It is also revealed in the film that van helsings real name is Gabriel and he is supposedly the right hand of god and he killed Dracula by gods order. In this version van helsing is portrayed as the protector of light which tightly relates with stoker’s depiction of the men in Bram stoker’s band of men.

Overall Van helsings version of Dracula is a unique twist on an old classic. It is also a fresh perspective on how gender roles can be inverted as well as the norms associated with them. Dracula himself is a great change to the narrative of these set in stone gender roles that are slowly change. Van helsing is a tried and true male masculine hero that was unique in his own way but failed to deliver a varied gender perspective. In conclusion it was a nice change to gendered norms and biases of modern society.