http://tags.library.upenn.edu/tag/browning+psychoanalysis+universal_horror+lecture PennTags Feed http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/36598 http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/36598 <p>Rickels, Laurence A. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Vampire Lectures</span>. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999.</p> <p>In Chapter 11 of The Vampire Lectures, Rickels offers a psychoanalytic interpretation of Browning&rsquo;s Dracula (1931).&nbsp; He analyzes Lugosi&rsquo;s on-screen presence and association with the theater and details what Rickels asserts is the representation of psychoanalysis in the film by Van Helsing.&nbsp; For example, in reference to Van Helsing&rsquo;s staying behind at the end while John and Mina ascend the staircase in the final scene, Rickels compares Van Helsing to &ldquo;the underworld of psychoanalysis&rdquo; which must be left behind for Mina to be cured.<br /><br />Rickels focuses on the repressed desire of women for the exotic outsider.&nbsp; In the film this is represented by Mina&rsquo;s relationship with the Lugosi&rsquo;s Count Dracula of Transylvania, with his unique foreign accent, suave manner, and commanding gaze.&nbsp; Rickels asserts that the essence of the film is about whatever it takes for a woman to prefer &ldquo;someone more normal, like John,&rdquo; as Mina tells Lucy she does in the film.&nbsp; This aspect of the film appealed to the repressed desires of female audiences.<br /></p>