Nosferatu Analysis

Nosferatu is one of the first horror films that happened to be produced. It came out in 1922 and is a silent film. Silent films were common during this time and movies during this time were also black and white. In Nosferatu, there were many theories presented even though it was a silent movie. This just shows how good the acting and demonstration of something are. When you make things clear to the audience without actually having to say anything, people are able to pick up on it as they watch the movie. 

The first theory I wanted to point out was the gender and feminist theory. Hutter’s wife stays home while he goes out on his job and has to wait for him. When we first see her she is presented as a typical 1920 housewife, from what we were shown she typically stays home and has a warm side for nature, when he brought her the flowers she said: why would you murder the flowers”. This indicates she is really soft and in touch with the earth. Typically you can say flowers, gardening, and anything of that nature is pretty much taken up as a woman’s job at home. Women are typically seen as nurturing and that is how she is portrayed in the movie. After her husband left they made her seem helpless without him like she couldn’t do anything for herself. After her husband was bitten by Nosferatu she had a vision that he was harmed and they made her “delirious”. I took this as a further notion of showing that she depended on him to keep her sane. This is ridiculous, trying to show that all women are codependent back then it was believed that a woman needed a man in her life to be good, so he can take care of her and provide all things emotionally, financially, and physically. Now not saying women being codependent is always bad but I feel like in movies around this time that is the only thing they showed.

The second theory I would like to point out is Critical Disabilities Studies. We know that Nosferatu is portrayed as a vampire in the movie, but people don’t know this and think it’s a plague being spread. But if we look deeper into it we can see what exactly is being shown to us. Nosferatu is seen as scary because of the way he looks. He is not considered the “typical” normal to people. His head is large and you are able to see bumps on it, he has these really huge ears and dark and defined eyebrows. Now granted that can really freak anyone out those features are so prominent. But those aren’t the only features that stand out. He has really wide eyes, long nails, and beaver-like teeth which I guess then were his fangs. Because in the movie when someone would get bitten the bites were so close to one another. He wouldn’t be considered normal because his features are dramatically represented. It’s normal for people to have big heads, ears, and teeth. But the way it’s represented by him is purposely shown dramatized and in a sense scares or disturbs people because it is not what they are normally used to. That’s why even now people will not typically be scared of those with disabilities but make fun of them because they aren’t “normal”. But it is not that they aren’t normal, it’s just something people haven’t been around a lot and it tends to make those who make fun of people feel better about themselves and superior. This is wrong but some people like this self-validation that it gives them. However, I feel like making Nosferatu different and out of the “norm” is what made his character. He needed to look different, this was one of the first times a vampire was being shown in films and it gave people an idea and imagination of what a vampire looked like. In order to make him stand out he had to look different from the rest of the characters in the movie.

I think that horror has endured popularity for nearly 100 years because of the feeling it gives people. People like to feel the fear and anxiety that comes with horror movies. There’s a build-up to the moment when you are scared. Or even when the character is being chased by the killer but keeps doing stuff that doesn’t seem logical and that makes us get anxious “WHY DON’T YOU JUST GO THAT WAY, OMGGG WHY WOULD YOU STOP AND CHECK WHO’S AT THE DOOR”, these are things going through my mind while watching a horror movie. I think it’s considered scary because it gives us an adrenaline rush. This is also why people can equate fear with entertainment some people like to feel this rush and movies give it to them. In the same way, going on a roller coaster is scary at first but after you get an adrenaline rush and you are like that it wasn’t so bad. The thing is this feeling does not last long so it’s why people will continue to watch these movies. I mean I guess it can be considered a western privilege. Especially since most horror movies do take place here. But it could be the technology that we possess that gives us this privilege.