Wouldst thou like to die deliciously?

[bleodswean]

 
Let's talk about Egger's women. Let's discuss the female characters in Nosferatu and how Eggers portrays them, what they represent, and how we should view them in the vampire mythos, Stoker's Dracula, and the legacy of the Nosferatu films that came before.

Comments

[earthspirits]

(continued)

Next up: Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) - Essentially a film adaption of Stoker's book, with certain changes made to characters, names, and the setting. Despite being a copy of Dracula (Mrs. Stoker sued the film makers for copyright violation and won), there are nevertheless significant changes that make Nosferatu stand on its own.

Orlok's backstory is different, with his origins as a sorcerer who sold his soul to the devil. He's all evil appetite, with a grotesque rat-like appearance (symbolizing his plague connection).

There are only two female characters in the film: Ellen Hutter and Ruth, Harding's sister.

Ellen (perhaps meant to be Nosferatu's version of Lucy) is quite different from Stoker's character. She possesses an autonomy and determination that Lucy lacks, discovering on her own how to destroy the villain, and chooses to willingly sacrifice herself to save her husband and the town. No victim, she becomes instead a savior, and a heroic figure in her own right.

That said, Ellen still adheres to early 20th Century standards of being a demure and virtuous female character.

[earthspirits]

(Continued)

Skipping over the 1979 Nosferatu, as I haven't seen that version.

So - on to Egger's Nosferatu 2024 with some comparisons to the original 1922 film.

**SPOILERS**


Female characters in the 2024 film are Ellen Hutter and Anna Harding + Anna's young daughters, who seem more plot device than character.

1922 Ellen is psychic. At one point, she has a vision of Thomas being menaced by Orlok, whom she distracts by shouting her husband's name.

In the new version, Ellen has long been deemed a sickly hysteric by family and friends. She's been misunderstood (and under-estimated) her entire life. Dr. Sievers is convinced she suffers from epileptic seizures, but Professor von Franz suspects otherwise. He believes her to be a powerful trance medium, who is under spiritual attack by a demonic being. She later reveals to the professor that she always "knew" things - whether it be the contents of her childhood Christmas presents, or when her mother would die.

While Eggers shows Ellen to be brave and resolute in her own right, I think to some extent, he defines her character through her interactions and relationships with the male characters.

For example: She confesses to von Franz that she only became "normal" when she married Thomas. But that with him away, she has once again been afflicted with strange dreams and trances. The sympathetic von Franz is the first to recognize her hidden power. And it is he, via an ancient book in his possession, who explains to her how Orlok can be destroyed. This is in contrast to 1922's Ellen, who does it all on her own.

The ending of the film can have more than one meaning. On one level, Ellen is in love with death, and like Persephone, she takes Hades / death as her bridegroom.

She's also a classic savior figure, who, after enduring much suffering, heroically sacrifices herself to save others.

One reviewer suggested that the ending showed that women must sometimes destroy themselves, in order to defeat an abuser. I don't care for this explanation.

I thought of another possibility: All Ellen's internal doubts, self-recriminations and sabotage, all those negative voices in her head, coalesce in the nightmare figure of Orlok. He's a shattered aspect of herself, representing all her hidden fears and secret desires. It's significant that he's destroyed by the cleansing light of day, his destruction orchestrated by Ellen herself. And when she dies with him, this symbolizes the death of old ways of being, that she no longer needs. Only thus freed, can she heal and once more become whole.

Next is Anna Harding. Eggers also defines her through a male character - her husband, Friedrich. Happily married, and mother of two little girls, she's portrayed as a typical middle-class woman of her era, kind and considerate, although unimaginative. A contrast to the sensitive, troubled Ellen. Perhaps Anna symbolizes that part of Ellen that secretly yearns to be "normal" and mundane.

That said, Anna and her family are tragic characters in their own right, all suffering horrifying fates because of Orlok.

[bleodswean]

I think Ellen chooses Death, exactly as Thomasin chooses the Devil. Hence my title. lol.

I want Ellen to be an autonomous creature, and I think Eggers portrays her as such, despite or inspite of others perceiving her as unhinged, unclean, and even powerful.

Great insights here!

[earthspirits]

Thank you! Love your essay title, by the way.

Like you, I prefer Ellen to be autonomous (and yes, Eggers does show this).

I'm exploring this in my series of stories I'm writing about her and von Franz.