I want to suck your blood!!

I want to suck your blood!! That’s right I’m a vampire. No, I’m the one and only Druuuuuulaaaaa. That’s a dramatic entrance right? Well imagine that same statement said over and over and over again since the REAL Dracula existed?

The story of Dracula originates from a Romanian King, Vlad. The name literally means “Son of the Devil” which was no laughing matter. In order to defeat the Ottomans and scare them off, Vlad’s war tactic was to kill his own people by way of impairment. Innocent citizens were oiled and impaled alive so that their screams of pain and agony would scare about the larger army of the Ottoman’s. The story of Dracula is so gory the only way to understand it was by making Dracula a monster later called a vampire- demon who sucks blood to survive. What is true is that Romania exists from the bloodshed of their own citizens.

We see examples of Dracula in movie series like Twilight, The Count Dracula in Sesame street or my favorite Count Chocula.

Dracula, like Medea are vengeful and scary characters. Both make hasty decisions for the list of their family and and up killing their own blood. Medea enters the play having killed her father while Dracula, taken as a child for a rival army, kills his brother. Similarly, the United States is at war with itself struggling to determine which part of history to acknowledge. Recently there was the murder of a college student in Charlottesville who was at a protest to the removal of a statue of General Robert E. Lee. Today, without second thought we harm and even kill our fellow human beings (citizens of the USA or not) because we have different scales in which we determine what is right or wrong. Medea thought killing her child was good to save them from humiliation in being abandoned. Dracula sought vengeance in killing his family for not protecting his parents and protesters are killed because of hasty and emotional decisions. 

The Crime of the Greeks

There are many television shows out there that have love, lust, greed and murder. However, the one that stands out to me the most is Criminal Minds. This show is about a team of FBI profilers who solve cases and save the innocent from perpetrators who believe themselves to be a form of god. One episode in particular, season 9 episode 1, reminded me deeply of Madea. In this plot, a man, Sam, was in love with a woman named Heather. N his mind, there was nothing to tear them apart. In contrast, she was engaged and her wedding date was posted in the newspaper. This enraged Sam to the point of no return. He killed Heather and turned to cannalbalism. The death of Heather wasn’t enough for him as he proceeded to kill other women, forcing cannabolism onto them. The parts they were forced to eat was parts of Heather’s head. It was shown that the victims were put into a praying mantis position. Ths position was symbolic to Sam because he believed that Heather cheated on him with others and so he took her head. Similarly, once a female praying mantis mates, it rips off the male’s head. The plot reminded me of Medea and her tragic story.

Madea was the granddaughter of Helios, otherwise known as Apollo. She was a known enchantress and the princess of Colchis. She fell in love with Jason and helped him steal the golden fleece from her father. However, she didn’t know that Jason was promised the hand of another princess if he was able to bring back he golden fleece. Madea married him and had two sons. When it was time to choose, Jason chose the princess of Corinth. Flying into rage, the betrayed enchantress killed the king of Corinth, his daughter, and both of her sons. Her grandfather was appalled by her actions and sent creatures after her. Yet, she got away, living in hiding.

Medea and Sam have many things in common. For one, they both were in a one sided love story with their unresponsive soulmates. The difference was that Sam imagined all the thing Heather did for him, while Jason really led Madea on. Additionally, both characters did not have a handle on their emotions, murdering the people who made them feel that betrayal. Sam killed innocent women including the object of his unhappiness. In contrast, Madea killed the people who was in contact with Jason, including the children, but kept Jason alive. The thought of Apollo going after Madea was also similar to the criminal minds team. Apollo wanted to capture and punish Madea like the team of profilers wanted to apprehend Sam for his wrongdoings. 

This episode had a lot in common with Madea and her story.