Nosferatu is a controversial 1922 silent horror film that was revolutionary to the filmmaking industry. The plot revolves around Thomas Hutter, a real estate agent sent to Transylvanian castle to visit a new client. This client turns out to be Count Orlock, who’s later revealed to be a vampire. Orlock seeks to buy a house across from Hutter and his wife Ellen, and Hutter soon realizes the truth. With this knowledge, Hutter realizes the danger being placed on his wife as the Count makes it to their home. However, the Count traps Hutter in his castle, and soon Ellen becomes aware of the Count’s presence. As terror, death, and darkness loom upon her, Ellen learns that the Count could be stopped if a pure-hearted woman’s beauty embraced him. The movie ends with Ellen offering herself to the Count so that he feasts until the sun rises, which exterminates him.
A central literary theme of this movie is the usage of the traditional female role in feminist theory. Upon further inspection, females play the role of gentle and innocent beings in the story. They are incredibly reserved and serve as submissive pieces within society. They could also be described as sinless and pure, as shown by Ellen’s character in the story. People often believed at this time that females couldn’t fend for themselves and needed more robust masculine figures to protect them. A perfect example of a woman that fits into this role is Ellen. In the beginning, she is seen tending to animals and wearing a dainty dress. Ellen was also left in the care of her friends when her husband was away, proving that she couldn’t survive alone. This generic stigmatism of women at the time led to their emotions and thoughts being overlooked. Often their personalities and distinctive nuances were forgotten and instead replaced with assumptions. People just saw women as the same archetype of someone needing protection and care.
It was ironic that the person everyone expected to need protection would save everyone in the end. Ellen, seen as a pure and innocent beauty, exposed herself to darkness willingly. She sacrificed her purity for the sake of saving everyone else. This lines up with the feminist theory since Ellen being such a harmless and good-natured individual made her a massive target. It also reveals that Ellen’s character comprises a perfect illusion. From top to bottom, every aspect of feminist theory is fulfilled and presents a question. Does a woman’s value come from a sense of perfection or rather the imperfections and individualities they hold within?
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The horror genre has been consistently popular throughout the last 100 years. This is because the horror genre provides many distinct features that people love. Horror provides adrenaline and panic, which excites thrillseekers and those who don’t. You’re always on the edge of your seat if you’re watching a horror movie, as you never know what to expect. Whether the movies are gory, creepy, paranormal, or just outright scary, there’s a horror film for everyone. Overall, horror is a beloved genre due to its immersion and stimulation that it poses upon the viewer. As mentioned by Phil Wang, I do not believe that horror is merely a Western privilege. Horror as a genre is becoming increasingly widespread nowadays, and countries such as Japan and Korea are making incredible film adaptations.
I thoroughly enjoyed your analysis. In many old movies, especially in horror movies, there was a lot of stereotypes about women being gentle and easily frightened. Even in some movies of today, some of these stereotypes are still present.
I wanted to watch and write about Nostefaru, but I couldn’t deal with the no sound or talking. The way you analyzed Nostefaru made me want to watch the film, good writing!
I really enjoyed how you pointed out the use of traditional feminist roles in feminist theory in this movie, and the idea of how women are put in a certain stereotype in film. I also really love how your analysis rose the question of “Does a woman’s value come from a sense of perfection or rather the imperfections and individualities they hold within ?”