"Nosferatu" and the Pathology of Women’s Sexual Desire
January 5, 2025 12:37 PM Subscribe
"In Robert Eggers’s new film "Nosferatu" (2024), Nosferatu is the dark Count Orlok, whom the socially alienated young Ellen summons as spiritual company, and the force her older, betrothed self must confront, navigating both attraction and repulsion."
Just saw Nosferatu and immediately went looking for reviews and commentary. This is interesting, but FYI spoilers abound.
Just saw Nosferatu and immediately went looking for reviews and commentary. This is interesting, but FYI spoilers abound.
I'm not reading the article because I don't want to spoil anything from the movie, but isn't this one of the standard interpretations of Dracula and its successors? I feel like the reviewer noting that Nosferatu is a metaphor for societally unsanctioned sexuality is the same as saying "yep, they made a Dracula movie".
posted by Balna Watya at 1:56 PM on January 5 [15 favorites]
posted by Balna Watya at 1:56 PM on January 5 [15 favorites]
but isn't this one of the standard interpretations of Dracula and its successors?
Oh, yes (the female vampires in Dracula's castle; Lucy Westenra vs. Mina; the scene where all the guys get together to stake Lucy; etc.). A lot of Dracula knockoffs take the subtext and make it central to the plot.
posted by thomas j wise at 2:25 PM on January 5 [3 favorites]
Oh, yes (the female vampires in Dracula's castle; Lucy Westenra vs. Mina; the scene where all the guys get together to stake Lucy; etc.). A lot of Dracula knockoffs take the subtext and make it central to the plot.
posted by thomas j wise at 2:25 PM on January 5 [3 favorites]
Yes, that's a standard line of interpretation of Dracula and its various adaptation. Eggers' Nosferatu takes it in various directions, amps up some parts of it, and adds in a few changes I haven't encountered previously. I've seen or read many versions, but not all, so I may have missed past usages. For me, there was a number of additions that seemed appropriate, and a few I'm going to be thinking about for a while. I really enjoyed it, in any case.
posted by cupcakeninja at 2:52 PM on January 5 [4 favorites]
posted by cupcakeninja at 2:52 PM on January 5 [4 favorites]
I also admit to skipping the article because spoilers for this spin on Dracula, but I just finished a Dracula novel re-read in December.
I feel like the reviewer noting that Nosferatu is a metaphor for societally unsanctioned sexuality is the same as saying "yep, they made a Dracula movie".
It's one plausible reading. That it is a "standard" reading that has crowded out other ones bothers me, especially when it makes that leap into text (basically everywhere, but especially when it shows up into stuff like Coppola's supposedly "true to the source material" movie.)
The abuse reading is as strong. Dracula vs. Mina is explicitly rape. Early assaults leave her traumatized even as she refuses to believe she could possibly be a victim. Lucy is suffering serial harassment in private and it not being noticed by anyone else. The person who suspects it's happening knows he will be disbelieved if he just blurts out the truth.
Neither of the women are shamed in the text for violating norms--the response to Mina's violation is for the other characters to feel that they failed her by trying to shelter her. Is the subtext--the occult after effects--to be read as shame, a supernatural scarlet letter? Could be. But it's not the only spin: the mark the holy wafer leaves on Mina is removed by removing her abuser from her life.
I admit I like this better for the rather pedestrian reasons that (1) it connects the subtext of the horror to the surface text and (2) I am so sick of pining, romantic vampires.
Clearly Stoker wasn't looking at through a me-too movement lens; that's us looking back. But same, I suspect, with the reading that it is fear if of women's sexuality. I don't know much about Stoker's personal life, but there is precedent for authors centered in the world of theater to be more relaxed about sexual conventions. He was also a friend of Oscar Wilde's, which he maintained even after Wilde lost the lawsuit.
Carmilla is a far better template for vampirism being an awakening-and-forbidden-sexuality metaphor.
posted by mark k at 3:11 PM on January 5 [13 favorites]
I feel like the reviewer noting that Nosferatu is a metaphor for societally unsanctioned sexuality is the same as saying "yep, they made a Dracula movie".
It's one plausible reading. That it is a "standard" reading that has crowded out other ones bothers me, especially when it makes that leap into text (basically everywhere, but especially when it shows up into stuff like Coppola's supposedly "true to the source material" movie.)
The abuse reading is as strong. Dracula vs. Mina is explicitly rape. Early assaults leave her traumatized even as she refuses to believe she could possibly be a victim. Lucy is suffering serial harassment in private and it not being noticed by anyone else. The person who suspects it's happening knows he will be disbelieved if he just blurts out the truth.
Neither of the women are shamed in the text for violating norms--the response to Mina's violation is for the other characters to feel that they failed her by trying to shelter her. Is the subtext--the occult after effects--to be read as shame, a supernatural scarlet letter? Could be. But it's not the only spin: the mark the holy wafer leaves on Mina is removed by removing her abuser from her life.
I admit I like this better for the rather pedestrian reasons that (1) it connects the subtext of the horror to the surface text and (2) I am so sick of pining, romantic vampires.
Clearly Stoker wasn't looking at through a me-too movement lens; that's us looking back. But same, I suspect, with the reading that it is fear if of women's sexuality. I don't know much about Stoker's personal life, but there is precedent for authors centered in the world of theater to be more relaxed about sexual conventions. He was also a friend of Oscar Wilde's, which he maintained even after Wilde lost the lawsuit.
Carmilla is a far better template for vampirism being an awakening-and-forbidden-sexuality metaphor.
posted by mark k at 3:11 PM on January 5 [13 favorites]
Yeah, Dracula is much more about rape and contagion than unsanctioned sexuality. The original Nosferatu turned the contagion element way up.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:15 PM on January 5 [4 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:15 PM on January 5 [4 favorites]
Dracula is a gay throuple romance where hot Victorian guys write passionate letters to one another. I believe there may also be a vampire.
posted by mittens at 4:24 PM on January 5 [10 favorites]
posted by mittens at 4:24 PM on January 5 [10 favorites]
For those with an interest in reading more, many have written about the contagion of Nosferatu, including antisemitic elements.
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:33 PM on January 5 [3 favorites]
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:33 PM on January 5 [3 favorites]
I really thought this was excellent. Thoughtfully executed, if a bit long. But still very, very good.
Question: Did anyone else feel like Eggers was not-so-subtly referencing A Muppet Christmas Carol? The Victorian town looked just like the town that Michael Caine and the muppets move around. Apparently my siblings and I weren’t the only ones who thought that.
posted by glaucon at 7:59 PM on January 5 [2 favorites]
Question: Did anyone else feel like Eggers was not-so-subtly referencing A Muppet Christmas Carol? The Victorian town looked just like the town that Michael Caine and the muppets move around. Apparently my siblings and I weren’t the only ones who thought that.
posted by glaucon at 7:59 PM on January 5 [2 favorites]
On the contagion front, the Herzog Nosferatu has an absolutely incredible plague feast scene. Completely otherworldly.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:59 PM on January 5 [2 favorites]
posted by kaibutsu at 8:59 PM on January 5 [2 favorites]
METAFILTER: the same as saying "yep, they made a Dracula movie".
posted by philip-random at 9:35 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]
posted by philip-random at 9:35 PM on January 5 [1 favorite]
(also haven't read the article, cuz haven't seen the film, which I want to, but also really, really don't? Because contagion?)
posted by taz at 3:57 AM on January 6
posted by taz at 3:57 AM on January 6
Taz if you've seen the original silent movie the contaguon/plague theme and explicit imagery are turned way down but the spreading infection of evil and it's impacts and just the absolute disgustingness of a "living corpse" are played way way up. The original uses the plague in vispburg as a ticking clock ratcheting yhe tension up. Both movies do a really good job of showing you people going crazy trapped in their houses facing a force they cannot control murdering them and their loved ones (and interestingly original nosferatu and new nosferatu are about the same year difference from spanish flu and covid respectively). So depending on what part of the contagion is bothering you...
posted by edbles at 7:52 AM on January 6 [2 favorites]
posted by edbles at 7:52 AM on January 6 [2 favorites]
I have now seen the new Nosferatu twice and still can barely remember it. It's wild how a talented director with interesting source material could make something so forgettable.
posted by skullhead at 8:06 AM on January 6
posted by skullhead at 8:06 AM on January 6
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