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(Warning: this gets long. Like ridiculously long.)
The Statement For The Prosecution:
Comes in two parts.
( The failings of Blade: Trinity production-wise )
( The failings of Blade: Trinity artistic-wise )
The Scene Itself:
Much though I am tempted to go for the scene of Triple H with the vampire Pomeranian for wrestling in-joke related reasons, or indeed, the scene with the vampire Dobermen, no, the scene I wish to highlight is the scene where Dracula tries to scare Zoe. Sadly I can't find a video of it.
Dracula: Do you know who I am?
Zoe: You're the Gnome King.
Dracula: Ah. The Gnome King. How sweet. Tell me, child, do you want to die?
Zoe: I'm not afraid. I'll go to heaven.
Dracula: There is no heaven. No God, no angels. The only thing in your future is nothingness. But what if you could change that? What if you could remain a child forever? Wouldn't you like that? Wouldn't you accept that gift?
Zoe: (pause) My friends are coming to kill you.
Why the Scene is so Good:
Other than Dracula failing in his attempt to intimidate a 6 year old girl, it's how the scene is played.
Zoe has no idea *who* Dracula is, as such, she just knows that he's a bad person. And she's just seen him kill her mother and all/most of her mother's friends. But she doesn't back down. She's scared, but that doesn't stop her standing up to Dracula. Because Zoe has been taught you never back down from evil. And because Zoe, and by reference, her mother Sommerfield, is awesome.
Dracula meanwhile is ... amused. And I think that's part of what saves Zoe. Because Dracula terrifies everyone (except Blade, who by this point is running on cold-burning rage and therefore doesn't count), even the vampires who have resurrected him. And Dracula enjoys that fear, and the respect that goes with it. I still think the lack of respect for his person is why Dracula eats the shop-girl in the vampire shop.
But he also, quite clearly, doesn't like mindless fear or creeping subservience because he barely tolerates the vampires. I think this is what they've been trying to go for with Dracula for the rest of the film (that he is evil but he recognises Blade as a worthy adversary, and doesn't particularly care for the modern world or what vampires have become) but this is one of the two scenes where it actually works. Because he recognises in Zoe someone else who is a worthy opponent, or could grow into one. I think it's because she doesn't take a step back despite being scared. If she hadn't been scared, he would have thought she was stupid, and there wouldn't be that odd sort of respect.
I do think it's quite telling that she's utterly unharmed by Dracula by the end of the film.
The Statement For The Prosecution:
Comes in two parts.
( The failings of Blade: Trinity production-wise )
( The failings of Blade: Trinity artistic-wise )
The Scene Itself:
Much though I am tempted to go for the scene of Triple H with the vampire Pomeranian for wrestling in-joke related reasons, or indeed, the scene with the vampire Dobermen, no, the scene I wish to highlight is the scene where Dracula tries to scare Zoe. Sadly I can't find a video of it.
Dracula: Do you know who I am?
Zoe: You're the Gnome King.
Dracula: Ah. The Gnome King. How sweet. Tell me, child, do you want to die?
Zoe: I'm not afraid. I'll go to heaven.
Dracula: There is no heaven. No God, no angels. The only thing in your future is nothingness. But what if you could change that? What if you could remain a child forever? Wouldn't you like that? Wouldn't you accept that gift?
Zoe: (pause) My friends are coming to kill you.
Why the Scene is so Good:
Other than Dracula failing in his attempt to intimidate a 6 year old girl, it's how the scene is played.
Zoe has no idea *who* Dracula is, as such, she just knows that he's a bad person. And she's just seen him kill her mother and all/most of her mother's friends. But she doesn't back down. She's scared, but that doesn't stop her standing up to Dracula. Because Zoe has been taught you never back down from evil. And because Zoe, and by reference, her mother Sommerfield, is awesome.
Dracula meanwhile is ... amused. And I think that's part of what saves Zoe. Because Dracula terrifies everyone (except Blade, who by this point is running on cold-burning rage and therefore doesn't count), even the vampires who have resurrected him. And Dracula enjoys that fear, and the respect that goes with it. I still think the lack of respect for his person is why Dracula eats the shop-girl in the vampire shop.
But he also, quite clearly, doesn't like mindless fear or creeping subservience because he barely tolerates the vampires. I think this is what they've been trying to go for with Dracula for the rest of the film (that he is evil but he recognises Blade as a worthy adversary, and doesn't particularly care for the modern world or what vampires have become) but this is one of the two scenes where it actually works. Because he recognises in Zoe someone else who is a worthy opponent, or could grow into one. I think it's because she doesn't take a step back despite being scared. If she hadn't been scared, he would have thought she was stupid, and there wouldn't be that odd sort of respect.
I do think it's quite telling that she's utterly unharmed by Dracula by the end of the film.
