Vampirism in Gothic film parody: From Tod Browning’s ‘Dracula’ to Mel Brooks’ ‘Dracula: Dead and Loving It’

This thesis analyses motifs of vampirism in gothic film parodies on the basis of Mel Brooks “Dracula: Dead and Loving it”, which parodies its original “Dracula” by Tod Browning.
The contrasting juxtaposition of the two films serves to provide the parodic constructions of vampirism. By using the six methods of parody by Dan Harris – reiteration, inversion, misdirection, literalizitation, extraneous inclusion and exaggeration – the parodic constructions will be examined. This works aims to find answers to the question what is left of the old-fashioned motifs of vampirism.