Bicakci, Tugce (2014) The First Vampire of Turkish Cinema: Adapting Dracula and Representing Sexuality in Mehmet Muhtar’s Dracula in Istanbul (1953). In: Visualising Fantastika Conference, 2014-07-04, Lancaster University. (Unpublished)
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
The cinematic adaptations of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) have always been a focus of interest for Gothic Studies. Since Tod Browning’s classic adaptation Dracula (1931), the story of this immortal fictional character has been adapted into film and TV many times by many different cultures. However, the adaptation in which Count Dracula travelled to Istanbul has never been widely known or discussed by the Western world; yet, it was a ground-breaking experience for both Green Pine –a metonym for the Turkish film industry of the time– and Dracula studies worldwide. This paper discusses Dracula in Istanbul (1953), directed by Mehmet Muhtar, in terms of its representation of Count Dracula in a Turkish context. Although the adaptation was mostly deprived of the nationalistic tone found in Ali Rıza Seyfi’s earlier novel adaptation, I argue that as a transcultural adaptation, Dracula in Istanbul constructs Turkish national identity through the vampire figure and its use of historical, religious, cultural and gender imageries. In fact, contrary to popular Western belief, the movie was the first adaptation of Dracula in which fangs were seen and also the first Muslim interpretation on silver screen. Therefore, Dracula in Istanbul not only initiates the Gothic atmosphere in Turkish cinema for the first time and becomes a classic on several counts, but also brings a new insight to the representation of national identity on the Gothic screen.