Nosferatu was a film created in 1922 that was deemed ahead of Its time. The plot follows a real estate agent by the name of Thomas Hutter and his wife Ellen. In the beginning of the film Hutter is on his way to work and upon arrival Hutter we are introduced to his boss, Knock. Hutter receives a job that requires him to travel to Transylvania to sell a house to Count Orlak. On his journey to Transylvania Hutter gets several warnings by villagers in the area that Count Orlak’s castle is haunted. Hutter takes this message lightly as he continues his travels to the castle. Hutter quickly regrets his decision to not listening to the villagers as he is drawn into Count Orlak’s castle and got trapped by Orlak himself. Hutter becomes aware of the situation he is in and tries to flee. At the same time his wife Ellen is experiencing bad omens and seizures. During the nightmares Ellen figured out the only way to defeat Orlak, Ellen a woman without sin had to offer herself to Orlak.
I analyzed this movie through marxist lens. During the movie there is a clear depiction of the bourgeoisie and the proletariate. The bourgeoisie in this movie is depicted as knock the owner of the real estate company. During the scene where knock is telling Hutter about the job opportunity it says “…of course, it will cost you some effort… a little sweat and… perhaps…… a little blood”. This depicts the power dynamic between the proletariate and the bourgeoisie, Hutter was put into a scenario where he had to sacrifice his well being for profit. Knock was aware of the dangers that Hutter was going to meet and he still sent him to Orlak. Hutter is solely driven by money and is willing to put himself in danger for it.
Feminist theory is portrayed in this movie through Ellen, Hutter’s wife. Ellen is portrayed as this innocent and clueless woman that needs to be protected and looked after by others. In the scene where Hutter was leaving to Transylvania Ellen was shown hysterically crying and begging for Hutter to not leave which illustrates Ellen as dependent on Hutter and when he ended up leaving Hutter told her she would be taken care of by a friend, who is a man. This portrays Ellen as useless and needy. Ellen was shown to be driven strictly by emotion and unable to fend for herself. At the end of the movie where Ellen sacrificed herself to Orlak to save her husband. After being portrayed as clueless and innocent throughout the whole movie she came to the rescue at the end. Ellen was only shown as strong and independent when it was for her husbands benefit.
Part 2:
The horror genre has endured for over a century because of its thrilling and exciting nature. People find excitement in being scared which is also why horror movies play ominous music in the background building up suspense. Horror movies execute jump scares perfectly to the point to where it gets the audiences adrenaline pumping. As humans adrenaline is an exciting feeling and watching horror movies is the easiest way to get an adrenaline pump. Horror movies keep you locked into the movie and make it very hard to look away. When watching horror movies people tend to put themselves in the protagonists shoes and when that happens nerves start to build up and it feels like you are experiencing the movie in real life.