I really don't know what the internet's perspective on this movie is even now, or even if they have a joined consensus, because truly I do not think a movie like this has been in the common cultural zeitgeist for a long time.
Or maybe it has and I simply have been living under a rock called Marvel(yeah no that is definitely more viable) because apparently Robert Eggers the director of this movie has had at least two other(according to Wikipedia) movies that appear to have similar themes on the little research I have done.
They both appear to be historical Gothic fictions(I added the Gothic part)
But Nosferatu is definitely Gothic, Gothic fiction is all about finding beauty in Darkness, this is different from finding the ray of hope in a sea of Darkness, in Gothic fiction, it is often the Darkness itself that is the hope, more often than not the solutions in Gothic Fiction pieces require the Character to give in to the Darkness, to accept it, and defeat it that way.
After all, that is what lies at the core of Gothic philosophy, the Dark twin of the Beautiful, the Sublime, instead of going through the Details of the argument here I shall accept that my own thoughts on what Goth means became clear after watching a YouTube video, Hyperlinked here.
But I think one gets the General Idea.
Like look at the Sandman, which yes, The Sandman is Gothic fiction, if you couldn't tell
In this show, there was a story line where John Dee(or Doctor Destiny if you read the comics) uses the dream-stone and makes everyone strip away their dreams or "lies" as he calls them and as a result they divulge their deepest darkest secrets to each other, indulge their carnal desires and then in the end kill each other and themselves, Dream comes to stop him and tries his best to fight him.
But the Dream stone has too much of Dream's power, so how does he win? John Dee absorbs all of Dreams being into the Dream-stone and crushes it, in a move that simultaneously destroys Dreams being and remakes him as a more whole being.
This isn't obviously the only example of accepting defeat/darkness being the solution to defeating it in the show, the shots given above showcase another Idea like that.
The cause of Calliope's Abuse was that a writer needed Ideas and so he forced the muse of epic poetry to give them to him by keeping her against her will. Well, you need Ideas? You shall have them, in abundance.
And so we come to the subject of discussion, Nosferatu, while the original movie was in every sense of the word a giant act of copyright infringement from Bram Stoker's Dracula the remake... is also, an adaptation...
That's the end of that sentence, I have not seen that movie, and it is quite the ask, it is silent for one, meaning I can't do the usual thing of watching it while I eat, so.... I'll write a separate article on it.
But regardless, based on what little I know, in the original, the Idea of luring Nosferatu and tricking him into staying away from his grave till sunrise, or cockcrow as the movie calls it was something Ellen came up with independently. In this version the Idea is given to her by Prof. Albin Eberhart who is this versions replacement for Dr. Van Helsing in the Bram Stoker version.
And while on the surface this gives Ellen less independence/Agency, in reality it actually highlights the actual flaw in Society that caused Nosferatu in the first place.
See if someone is being ignorant someone can very easily blame Ellen or at least her abilities for waking Nosferatu, I mean she does it herself
Which is the problem, when you make someone grow up with the belief that they are unclean for what they are, for their abilities the want and need to indulge in the really unclean only increases, and then that is met with further suppression and the cycle continues, until they reach out for someone anyone who would pull them out of their misery, and it is not always someone good who answers the call.
But it is not someone bad always either, and it is necessary to emphasize that, because the presence of people like Nosferatu is the reason behind the fear that causes the above mention Suppressive controlling behavior(or Abuse as that is what it is.).
Thomas Hutter is the antithesis to Nosferatu he accepts Ellen for who she is, even after she tells him everything that she feels makes her unlovable, it is repeatedly shown how even her friends or at least friends to her husband like Ana Harding and her Husband Thomas Harding even if they come from the point of view of a caring(at least Ana Cares for Ellen) person often just ignore or invalidate her making the situation worse.
But even so, Thomas is not enough, partly because while he might be better than a lot of the people in this society he is still a member of the Society, and so the vices come through no matter how hard he tries.
The situation truly needed Prof Albin to come in as someone who has been equally cast out by society but somehow has kept his agency and authority over himself to come in and put a stop the main issue at the core of it all.
Ellen's inner voice being unheard.
This has a lot of parallels in real life, people who present similarly to Ellen are often disregarded as simply being crazy or unwell, not realizing that while some of what they see/say/experience may not indicate the whole truth, Mental illness(hate that name, but whatever) is often based on real abuse and our minds somewhat flawed way to deal with it.
And it is precisely because of these flaws that those who have undergone abuse are repeatedly Targeted by Abusers, and it is very disheartening that the answer to their cries for help is to put them to sleep by drugs, at least it was in the time period that this movie is based around.
The Doctor, Harding and even Anna are all showing different Forms of the same behavior that got Ellen in this situation in the first place.
And yes while it is still entirely possible that Ellen comes to the conclusion on her own that she needs to Sacrifice herself, from a story point of view, all of this complexity is gone.
And the even Sadder part? Albin is also problematic, I mean, my man didn't even try cold steel before asking Ellen to essentially kill herself, because.... he read it in a book... I mean sure the risk was too great and he was right anyways, but really, I think he just wanted to prove how right he really was all along.
And that is the true tragedy, that this one ray of hope, is also hopelessly broken.
But it doesn't stop there, earlier in the movie Count Orlok mentions his frustrations with the Gypsies and their "Traditions" and how he wants to go to the "Modern World" Free from all such things, on the surface it might seem that this is implying the belief in such Traditions to be a good thing, and calling the Modern world to be stupid, but upon Greater inspection.
These traditions are probably why Orlok became the way he is, not Justifying him, but the book that contains how to stop him is also the book that teaches how to become him, you think that's a coincidence?
The film doesn't explore this much, partly because it wants to keep Nosferatu mysterious, and good on them, this is a movie, but definitely food for thought.
The point is, time and again, people who do not fit into society and lean towards "Darker" things are pushed to the side, mocked ridiculed and as a result these things happen, everyone reacts differently to this treatment, some like Ellen try to keep in the society, Others like Albin, accept their role as the Lunatic and somehow keep their Humanity, while some don't and that is how Nosferatu is born.
And the movie shows this brilliantly by making him a literal Rotting Corpse that is somehow kept alive against nature.
And it is probably this shared experience that brought Nosferatu towards Ellen, I mean while those abused are often very likely to be abused again, a small minority go on to become Abusers themselves, and as for Abusers, it is almost certain that they have gone through some form of it themselves.
The problem is often our mind often confuses the signs of someone who is abused as someone who is actually the abuser, because of the above fact, our mind goes into fight or flight and as a result what we are trying to prevent ends up occurring.
Gothic Fiction at it's core challenges the idea of Beauty being tied to light and tries to find it in Darkness, the unknown, those parts that society deems too dangerous to venture into, as such it is very uniquely tied to being progressive.
Which is why this film has so many feminist undertones.
In Gothic literature often the only way to end a conflict or put an evil force to sleep is to give into it, and lure it to it's demise, act as it doesn't expect.
And lo, the maiden fair did offer up her love unto the beast and with him lay in close embrace until the first cock crow. Her willing sacrifice thus broke the curse and freed them from the plague of Nosferatu.
And I would like to stop here, except not really, as I am going to watch the original and continue this thought process there.
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