Nosferatu

Nosferatu is one of the most known and famous silent movies of its era. It is about a mysterious man named Count Orlock who is actually a vampire. Count Orlock lures a real estate man named Thomas Hutter to his castle in the hope to discuss buying a house by Hutter and his wife Ellen. As the movie went on, Count Orlock showed his vampire tendencies and started to make his way back to where Hutter lives while trapping Hutter in his castle. Hutter’s wife Ellen feels the darkness coming in towards her in a series of  seizures and night terrors, and when she learns that a woman with no sins can help kill the Count she is faced with a difficult decision. Should she sacrifice herself, or can she trust her husband to help kill Nosferatu?

After analyzing the movie with the feminist theory in mind, I saw that Hutters wife Ellen was on my mind a lot. When Ellen is introduced, she is seen tending to animals by a window filled with flowers in a nice little dress. She is shown as gentle and at times, an airhead. For example when her husband gives her a bouquet of flowers, she basically starts crying and asks her husband why did he kill the flowers and make them suffer. Or when Hutter goes away to find Count Orlock, Ellen is left in the care of his friends as if she is not capable of being alone and she absolutely needs a man to be with her or else something is bound to happen. To top this all off, Ellen sacrifices herself “pure, sinless” self to help save those around her after not even being seen as a human for the entire movie. Ellen is not seen as a human in this movie, she is seen as a cute, empathetic, harmless, painting of the wall that we need to protect – much like the way many women are still viewed today in society. Ellen is cared about more because of what she represents, not who she actually is. 

To add on, to every man in the movie, Ellen is seen as something that requires protection because since she is just so pure, sweet, good, and femenine, she is obviously a threat to herself by means of corruption. Another way to look at this movie is through gender theory. When with her husband, almost everytime they are showed together, they are hugging, which often sometimes is leading to sexual context. Even the way Count Orlock describes her having “a lovely throat”, he is not seeing her for who she is, but rather just food he can eat and throw away after. To top this all off, at the end of the movie, the tired trope of the too good to be true, beautiful and compelling woman sacrifices herself to save everyone else so that maybe, no surely, the men around her will finally be able to see that she is a person who had feelings and thoughts as well, and should have been known for them. 

Part two – 

I think horror has endured so long because not only is it a classic movie genre, but because people love being scared. It’s a feeling that we can only feel while watching a horror movie and being actually able to laugh about it after. There are also many stories that can come out of horror. It can be based on a true story, or even a comedy that is not all that scary, but still fun to watch. I think it can also be a sort of universal genre. Everyone can enjoy horror when watching with friends. Horror gives us an adrenaline that can be really fun and there are always new stories to watch. Fear can be seen as entertainment because it can be a distraction for some people because they are so scared they won’t think of anything else. I personally just think it sometimes can bring a group of people closer when watched together.