Nosferatu the Vampyre [Blog #1 - Dracula]

Nosferatu the Vampyre

Dracula by Bram Stoker is an unshakable and profound text. Count Dracula is constantly revisited with unending character depictions. Through copious amounts of adaptations, the character of Count Dracula differs (and can remain oddly stationary) from adaptation to adaptation. I personally have the ability to attest to one adaptation, in particular. I hope y'all are ready for one truly interesting depiction of Count Dracula!

Figure #1: The promotional theatre
poster for Nosferatu the Vampyre.
https://www.amazon.com/Nosferatu-
Vampyre-27-Movie-Poster/dp/B004AMWFNO

Released on January 17th, 1979, Werner Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre accomplishes two distinct tasks: 1.) adapt Bram Stoker's iconic Dracula text, and 2.) remake F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu film - which does not follow the Dracula storyline remotely. In this film, Jonathan and Lucy are the immediate couple; Mina is a one-dimensional character in the film, however she is married to an unnamed man. Following Stoker's original storyline (basically), Jonathan travels to Transylvania for Count Dracula to review and sign documents pertaining to new property he is considering purchasing in Wismar, Germany. Quickly, Jonathan is experiencing weird events inside of Castle Dracula. In Herzog's film, different from the original novel, Count Dracula feeds from Jonathan numerous times. Once seeing a photo of Lucy from Jonathan's locket, Count Dracula immediately purchases his property and devises his scheme to travel to Germany. As a result, the Black Plague travels alongside Count Dracula inside the coffins on the ship. As Jonathan escapes Castle Dracula and is placed into a mental hospital, the Black Plague infects the people of Wismar, Germany. Count Dracula is on the hunt only for Lucy; however, the Count does drink from and kill Mina along the way. As Jonathan returns back to Wismar from his hospitalization, he does not recognize Lucy. As a result from his changes, Lucy becomes the galvanized individual to believe in vampires; Lucy is the sole character to create a plan to kill Count Dracula. Her plan is simple: to sacrifice herself. She lures Count Dracula into her bedroom where she permits him to feed from her blood throughout the entirety of the night. As a result, Count Dracula could not protect himself from his impending doom: sunlight. Count Dracula is subsequently killed once he see his first ray of sunlight. Just before the film ends the biggest alteration to the Dracula storyline occurs: Jonathan transforms into a vampire (resembling exact features that Count Dracula had).

Treatment of Gender

Figure #2: Count Dracula offering 'the oldest
remedy in the world.'
https://youtu.be/jweLDWGtRXs

The conversation of gender in Nosferatu the Vampyre is striking. In his original text, Stoker never presents Count Dracula directly feeding from a man. However, in Nosferatu the Vampyre, Count Dracula actively drinks from Jonathan Harker on multiple occasions. The first moment he directly feeds from Jonathan occurs a few seconds after an accidental cut to his hand [video link provided here]. Jonathan slices his bread and unexpectedly his left hand. Unable to control himself, Count Dracula offers the 'the oldest remedy in the world' (a.k.a. letting him suck the blood from the source). Count Dracula feeding from a man is foreign to the text. This apparent adjustment in narrative is clear: Count Dracula sits in a homosexual space. Count Dracula (from the film) does not think twice about drinking blood from a man. He could not resist; he chooses not to resist. Dracula will always desire blood. Now, he does not shy from desiring male blood from a male body. Count Dracula from Dracula would never consume male blood from a male body; Count Dracula from Nosferatu the Vampyre does not second-guess the man-to-man physicality. He simply finds Jonathan's blood too irresistible.

Figure #3: Count Dracula preparing an attack
in Jonathan's bedroom.
https://giphy.com/gifs/vampire-nosferatu-
phantom-der-nacht-2gVxnrPXAjO8BzMwqJ

Figure #4: Count Dracula halts
his feeding from Jonathan.
https://streamondemandathome.com/
werner-herzog-nosferatu-vampyre-vod-dvd-blu-ray/

The second time the Count feeds from Jonathan happens in his bedroom. Although the audience does not actively see the Count feed from him in this space, there are images (and scenes that follow) that further solidify Jonathan is being fed on in his bed. Not only is Count Dracula actively seeking male blood, he is seeking this blood in such an intimate space. Count Dracula goes inside of Jonathan's bedroom. For lack of better terms: Count Dracula lies in bed with Jonathan. There male bodies touching further suggests that Count Dracula is unashamedly sitting in a homosexual space. Count Dracula does not halter (nor think twice) from frequently sucking another man's blood. This change in narrative is astounding. Count Dracula's gender portrayal is shifted the very moment he drinks from Jonathan. He likes it too much. He incessantly imbibes from Jonathan. He does not and will not get enough of this man's blood. Which is one-hundred percent different from the Dracula text.

Figure #5: Jonathan Harker as the only vampire
that Count Dracula has propagated in the film.
http://deeperintomovies.net/journal/archives/120

Count Dracula never propagates male vampires in Stoker's text; there is no moment where another male vampire exists in Stoker's universe. This is fact. In Herzog's film, Count Dracula breeds only one vampire: Jonathan Harker. This selective choice by Herzog allows such a dense and enhanced conversation of gender. Why does Herzog have Count Dracula drink from Jonathan Harker in his film? Why does Count Dracula's reproduction only result in one male vampire? This subject-matter is fascinating to ruminate. Herzog is forthright in his images. There is nothing to hide. The audience witnesses Count Dracula feed from Jonathan. The audience witnesses Jonathan turn into a vampire. Herzog's film is accentuating a potential homosexual lens that applies to Count Dracula. And I am just fascinated with his construction and this conversation.

These specific modifications to Count Dracula are unmistakably clear: Count Dracula is displaced from a heteronormative space. Herzog's film is questioning whether or not Count Dracula worries about being with men. Count Dracula gets with Jonathan Harker. The intimacy of the vampire bite is shared between these two men. Their scenes together suggests that Herzog's Count Dracula is another addition in the catalogue of questionable gender depictions of Count Dracula. And I as an audience member am just in awe of this depiction.


Sources:

Nosferatu the Vampyre. Directed by Werner Herzog, performances by Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, and Bruno Ganz, 20th Century Fox, 1979.

"The Oldest Remedy - Nosferatu (1979)." YouTube, uploaded by ScreamFactoryTV, 08 May 2014, https://youtu.be/jweLDWGtRXs.