NOSFERATU

So I finally watched it!

The first thing that became apparent to me was the beginning was quite similar to the start of Frankenstein- the main character is introduced as young, seemingly successful, happy, and in love. This could be a common theme in Gothic texts because it magnifies the impact when everything goes wrong and horrible. The love between Harker and Nina is also very innocent to begin with, but becomes corrupted by their experiences, and leads to events such as Nina breaking her promise and reading The Book of Vampires. This is a good example of corruption of innocence.

Also, Gothic texts seem to make a point of the action of one character leaving their lover- it is suggested that wherever they are going, bad things will happen to them and they won't be the same upon return.

There is a large amount of dramatic irony in the film, for example everyone apart from Harker knows to be afraid of Nosferatu, we know that Nosferatu is onboard the ship, and we know that the 'plague' is actually Nosferatu biting people.

The Gothic setting was iconic; spooky castle with no one in it apart from Nosferatu- he says the 'servants have gone to bed' but I don't think servants are ever actually seen? Also the setting of the castle, far from any other civilisation and across dangerous terrain, makes the atmosphere tense even as Harker tries to leave- he is still in the 'Phantom lands' even when he is far away from the castle.

The characters were all pretty typical of a Gothic story- innocent woman, innocent but too ambitious man, scary evil villain and a few more weird people to pad out the cast.

Overall I thought the film was a good example of a Gothic story, but not necessarily a good production- the music was no where near as good at creating a tense atmosphere as in other films we've watched have done.
A theme in Nosferatu in particular seems to be the ignorance of Harker as everyone who hears of his plan tries to dissuade him.