The Arts in New York City

Before watching Nosferatu, when I heard the word vampire I would think of two images. One image was of a scary, undead, repulsive monster with sharp fangs that wanted to suck my blood and the second image was a sparkling, pale-looking human with special powers and sharp teeth. However, after watching Nosferatu I added another image to my vampire list. If I were to describe Count Orlok, it would have to be a strange-looking lonely evil blood-drinking creature. Count Orlok appearance and exaggerated acting made him more of a comical character then a scary monster.

When I began watching Nosferatu, I was a bit shocked that it was a silent black and white film. I had the notion that a movie about vampires would need to have color and sound to make it more dramatic; for example the use dark red blood running down a victim’s neck, or maybe someone shrieking and screaming for help. At first it was a little strange watching a film without color, or without actors and actresses talking (because it felt unfamiliar), but as the film went on I realized these characteristics added to the vibe and feel of the movie.

I must admit I was a little disappointed when I was watching Nosferatu because I was expecting it to be extremely scary. Maybe it was the image of Count Orlok or the fact that the actors and actresses would over exaggerate their actions, but I found Nosferatu almost comical. I was also disappointed because I read Dracula by Bram Stoker last year. Nosferatu is an adapted version of Dracula and shared almost the same plot and characters. So as I watched the film, I already knew what was going to happen. It felt like someone had spoiled the film for me before I even watched it. Although knowing the plot of Nosferatu beforehand took some fun out of watching the film, I thought it added to the experience of watching Nosferatu. While I was watching, I would compare the similarities and differences between the book and the film. One obvious difference was in the ending of the book and film. I believe the ending for Nosferatu was much happier and cliché. Ellen is able to “defeat” Count Orlok and the plague by spending a night with him. However in Dracula many people die as a result of Dracula, and ultimately Dracula dies from being stabbed through his throat and heart by Harker and his companions. The ending of Dracula was much more intense and tragic because it involves a fighting scene and the death of good, undeserving people.

I enjoyed watching Nosferatu. But if I were to choose between reading Dracula or watching Nosferatu, I would choose Dracula. Nosferatu is probably more entertaining, but I believe Dracula is more authentic and scary. The way that it is told through letters and diary entries is extremely interesting. Overall, Dracula was more realistic and believable then Nosferatu, even though they shared similar characters and plot.

Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor is an instructional text that provides an algorithm to analyzing and interpreting literature, and also argues that all literature is interconnected. Because of this premise, I found one of its chapters, “Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires,” to be extremely helpful in analyzing Nosferatu and its relationship to other vampire stories.

One point that Foster makes, and which I found to be especially valid in Nosferatu, is that vampirism often depicts an evil man corrupting and violating an innocent woman. Obviously, in this film, Ellen is the archetype (haha see what I did there?) of this innocence and femininity, and is thus sacrificed as “deliverance is possible by no other means but that an innocent maiden maketh the vampire heed not the first crowing of the cock–this done by the sacrifice of her own blood.” This aspect of the plot is what irritated me most about this film and what it speaks of its time period.

Ellen’s “innocence” is characterized by her endless devotion to Hutter, her husband, and her pathetic helplessness in his absence. The fact that she is the heroine of the film, and for doing nothing but acting subserviently to her husband and whining about her loneliness, is just disappointing. Ellen communicates to men and women of her time a false standard of how women should behave to better society, and so, I just can’t approve of her character or the movie.

Foster also points out how the hidden sexual implications of vampire novels make a greater statement about society’s suppression of natural occurrences by deeming them improper. For example, Murnau makes an obvious innuendo to homosexuality when Count Orlok asks Hutter to suck on his bleeding finger and Hutter retreats fearfully due to his (and Victorian society’s) homophobia. A similar statement is made regarding a woman’s fidelity and chastity, as Ellen dies upon having her neck sucked by Count Orlok. In this sense, she became a “ruined” woman. It was interesting to watch how a society’s conservative values were translated into a film, especially with my modern and more accepting perspective.

That’s right, girl. You flash that ankle and show him that your legs are for walking and not for his viewing pleasure!