"This case impressed upon me how important Stoker's novel still is to the whole vampire culture, even if people don't always remember that this is so. It has been unceasingly popular and its subtle influence can be observed on all Vampire related literature by anyone who cares to look for it."

-Silas Dean, '04

"In Bram Stoker's Dracula, evidence of historical research occurs throughout the novel. His detailed notes demonstrate his intense desire for historical accuracy as a foundation for his fictional tale. We found this objective to be characteristic both of Stoker's fiction and non-fiction writing. For example, Stoker's non-fiction work, Famous Imposters, cites laws, legislation, and historical data concerning the "supernatural" throughout the world and through time."

-Alexandra Chapman,'03 & Rebecca Bilbro, '04

"Viewing the plethora of colorful absurdity of children's Dracula spinoffs places the Dracula fan in strange territory. Here are pop-up books, stories of "Little Dracula's" first day at school, how to make origami Draculas, funky seventies Draculas that are vegetarian or comic book characters, bloated blue actioon figures, and a vampire duck! None of these representations bare any resemblance to the depiction of Dracula found in Bram Stoker's novel. One might wonder, "How did this happen?" I certainly did. I never expected to see so many goofy variations of a charaacter seemingly more derived from the 1932 Universal picture than the novel and put through a rainbow. Putting this section together made me hark back to my childhood and my conception of Dracula and vampires and my level of atraction towards them. It made me wonder what children find so appealing, and how such continuing far removed inventions are allowed to bear Dracula's name. This image of cape clad, well dressed, polite monster with human features, a clean shaven visage, and hair slicked back somehow is programmed into children's imaginations by simply being an icon of our culture. It is ubiquitous and it causes children to think about something that appeals to them. They buy this stuff and they dress up like it every Halloween. However, it is Bela Lugosi's Dracula, not Bram Stoker's. For fun and great contrast, my friend and colleague Katharine and I placed this side of the Dracula phenomenon in the same case with the critical interpretaions and the search for legends and historical accuracy. A quick perusal from one side of the case to the other is surely testament to the enduring quality of Bram Stoker's creation."

-Kevin Larkin Angioli, '04

"What I first liked about vampires when I was younger was not the vampire pop culture, or Dracula, but the original folk tales and superstition about vampires. Vampires have to count any small object scattered in their path, werewolves turn into vampires when they die, things like that. That's why the historical research of vampires interested me. I also like fantasy and horror and believe that it can be literature, as the many books of Dracula literary criticism in this case show."

"It was a lot of fun making the Anne Rice/Buffy case. I'm really into the Anne Rice novels, and I'm the President of the Buffy club on campus (The Skidmore Slayers), so it was just great fun for me to get the opportunity to work on a project such as this. I think that there is a definite reason Anne Rice has such a cult following. Her novels, especially Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, and The Queen of the Damned are wonderfully written and really give an in depth look into the life and struggles of the vampire. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, on the other hand, is the antithesis of Anne Rice. It's a lighter take on the mythology of the vampire, and really is about a young, teenage girl named Buffy Anne Summers, who struggles to save the world, in addition to managing her Bio homework and maintaining a social life. The show is about a normal girl in a paranormal situation, and it correlates the problems Buffy faces as a slayer to the ordinary, everyday problems teenage adolescents face as they grow up. The episodes deal with all kinds of issues - from suicide to simply dealing with your parents. What also makes Buffy unique is the fact that no matter how hard you try, you just can't pigeon-hole it into a category. It's sci-fi, horror, drama, comedy, tragedy- you name it, Buffy's done it. They even made a musical episode, which just aired on UPN! Some of the episodes are so avant-garde; you won't see any other television show make an episode like "Hush," which was 55 minutes of aired silence, in which the characters could not speak because their voices had been stolen by creepy demons known only as "the gentlemen." The entire show - the acting, the writing, the cinematography, the set, costume and makeup design are all phenomenal. When I choose items for the case I really tried to focus on the origin of Buffy and the different kinds of paraphenalia that came from it. It is starting to compare with the myriad of Dracula items that were made. In addition to those items in the case, there are Buffy t-shirts, lunch boxes, action figures, puzzles, posters, plaques, collectible cards, a game boy game and even a board game. I just hope the legend of Buffy survives as well as that of Dracula!"

-Lauren Cognato, '04

"Like any great work of literature, Dracula has been adapted countless times for both stage and screen and inspired many other writers and artists to create similar works. Bram Stoker’s original work, as well as other vampire derivatives continue to enjoy a healthy presence both in the theater and the cinema, where he has been portrayed by such legends as Bela Lugosi, Gary Oldman, Willem DaFoe and Raul Julia. The very first movie was 1922’s silent film Nosferatu, directed by F.W. Murnau. This film was produced without permission from the heirs, and the director was later sued by Stoker’s widow. The first “official” Dracula film starred Bela Lugosi in 1931, and since then many other directors and actors have tried their hand at portraying one of the world’s most infamous literary evils, or at parodying him in such classic vampire farces as The Fearless Vampire Killers, Pardon Me, but Your Teeth Are in My Neck or Leslie Nielsen’s Dracula: Dead and Loving It. All of this is detailed extensively in the book Hollywood Gothic, which follows the path of Dracula from its very first publication up to the present. Vampire Cinema also has a detailed history of the Count’s history on the silver screen, but expands its scope to include all cinema dealing with vampirism. Dracula: Film and Legend is an impressive documentation of the production of Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula film. Not only does it include pages of rich, colorful images from the film, but also the complete shooting script, with many of Coppola’s own production notes added in. The book is so thorough, any slightly talented and ambitious film buff could feasibly reproduce the film in its entirety armed with only this book and a camera."