From Historical Archetype to Storytelling Variant, A Study on Developing Contents of Vlad Ţepeş

Dracula, created in 1897 by Bram Stoker, is a fictional character born based on the legendary figure of Valahia(Walachia) in the 15th century, Vlad Ţepeş, the lord of medieval Romania, and the vampire myth that prevailed throughout Europe in the 19th century. Vlad Ţepeş, a historical real person and cultural archetype, goes through the first transformation process of a novel in the realm of literature, and then spreads around the world through three-dimensional complex arts such as plays and films. And in modern time, thanks to the supply and spread of the internet, it has been expanded and reproduced in accordance with popularization codes of culture such as animation, webtoon, game, and storytelling variants of virtual media. The historical prototype ‘Vlad Ţepeş’ and the cultural content prototype ‘Dracula’ have a completely different concept of otherness(the other) through the fictitious process of novels and films. If Ţepeş is located in the same historical identity defined by awareness, consciousness, and consistency, the otherness of Ţepeş, that is, Dracula, is an existence that is not captured by this consistency, implying the otherness as a supernatural spirituality(eternal life) like a vampire born in the Victorian era. Traditional genres such as novels, movies, and musicals, as well as cartoons and animations based on digital content, games and virtual media also utilize Dracula and its progenitor, Vlad Ţepeş, as the storytelling source of OSMU(One Source Multi Use). Dracula, a fictional entity, has become a legend and a modern myth in the world beyond the borders of Romania, regardless of the intentions of his prototype, Vlad Ţepeş, and is constantly being transformed and created in response to the demands of time and space and the development of internet and virtual media technology.