I almost titled this one another in the series of “Your Weekly Dose of Stupidity.” There are Internet bottom-feeders complaining at hints that Dracula, as portrayed by Claes Bang in the new BBC series, might be bisexual. That is to be expected. And there are sources rightly calling them out for their childish ramblings. Not content to leave it at that, though, some of those same sources are trying to “out” the Count by claiming that he was *always* bisexual. To quote from this one linked article: “Most suggest the BBC has radically changed the source material to fit its own ‘SJW agenda’, ignoring the fact that Dracula and vampires of his ilk have been queer since the very beginning.” Um, well, that might be stretching it a bit.
“Not only does Dracula’s fear of sunlight echo how Victorian homosexuals were forced to meet under the cover of darkness, away from the judgemental [sic] eyes of society, but there’s also the more literal idea that LGBTQ+ people were once (and often continue to be) seen as dangerous monsters.” And here the writer tips his hand to the fact that he has never actually *read* Bram Stoker’s novel. Dracula, in the novel, does *not* fear sunlight. That trope came from the movies. In fairness, the guy may *only* be referring to this one particular miniseries, but if so then he shouldn’t try to link the entire vampire genre to his argument if his knowledge of that genre is limited.
The writer is unhappy that the “LGBTQ+” Dracula is defeated by the “heterosexual hero” who “successfully managed to fend off Dracula’s evil gay advances through the power of Christ.” Ah, pookie. Bless your heart.
“To pretend [Dracula is] anything but queer is frankly offensive, particularly when he’s portrayed as such, and denying such an integral part of Dracula’s character reeks of pandering to homophobic audiences.” This is what the writer of that article says in response to what showrunner Steve Moffat said in regards to the character: “He’s bi-homicidal, it’s not the same thing. He’s killing [men], not dating them.” Now I ask you, if they were going to pander to homophobic audiences, why would they have bothered giving their vampire any hint of bisexual tendencies in the first place? Why go to the trouble? It seems Moffat, instead of pandering to the homophobes, as accused, is simply trying to prevent people like the writer of that article from Digital Spy from drawing *too* direct a parallel. Their Dracula is not *supposed* to be a gay man. He’s supposed to be a powerful and rather nasty bloodsucker.
People bitch because the showrunners hinted in the script that their Dracula might be bisexual. And then those over on the other side bitch because he’s not “queer” enough to suit them.
You know what? I *am* going to refer to this one as “Your Weekly Dose of Stupidity.”
