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Nosferatu vs The German Society

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Sarah Bonchick

Professor Tovey

German Cinema

29 April 2020

Nosferatu vs The German Society

  • Title Page: “Fear vs The German Society- By Sarah Bonchick”
    • Narration on title page: The film that I will be focusing my final on is Nosferatu. One of the main themes that is presented in this film is fear.
  • Slide 2: Theme: “The film Nosferatu shows that when people feel fear, they act on that fear by finding someone to blame it on, or immediately thinking the worst.”
    • Narration on Slide 2: The film Nosferatu shows that when people feel fear, they act on that fear by finding someone to blame it on, or immediately thinking the worst.Nosferatu helps us to compare this underlying theme of fear to the German society at the time this film was created. Post World War I, the German society was struggling to get back on its feet again. Nosferatu shows examples on how Germans projected their fears. Here are some examples to help emphasize these fears:
  • Slide 3: Picture of Count Orlock
    • Narration on Slide 3: Count Orlock was a person from a foreign land. He was made to look very frightening in order to emphasize the fear that Germans felt during this time period. His character had a hooked nose, long fingernails, his face was rat like, and he had bushy eyebrows. These are the depictions of a stereotypical Jew. Jews have been considered scapegoats all throughout history. Once Germany lost the war, they needed to find someone or something to blame their losses on, so they can be proud of their nation and come back from this depression.
  • Slide 4: Picture of Germany in shambles after World War I
    • Narration on Slide 4: Germany was in shambles from World War I and people were very on edge with the new government system, the Weimar Republic. This was the beginning of when Jews started to become the scapegoat for all of society’s problems. The Germans put this blame for all of the society’s problems on the Jewish population. This is why Count Orlock is depicted to look like a Jewish person, but in a more sickening way.
  • Slide 5: Picture of Hutter traveling, and of Count Orlock’s Castle.
    • Narration on Slide 5: People were frightened about Count Orlock moving because they did not know anything about him. People set their fears into this newcomer because they were wary after losing the war, and not being in a stable country. There was a social consciousness of fear and unsteadiness at the time because of losing the war.
  • Slide 6: “Examples of foreshadowing throughout the film”
    • Narration on Slide 6: This film reveals that all films have an underlying theme. It may be more prevalent in some films than in others. Films put a lot of thought into the way the characters look, how the actions of the characters come across, and the different scenes that are shown to reveal what the theme is. Nosferatu uses foreshadowing to help create fear for the viewer, as well as in the actual film itself. Here are a few examples of how foreshadowing is used in this film.
    • Slide 7: Picture of Ellen saying goodbye to Hutter.
      • Narration on Slide 7: When Ellen, Hutter’s wife, hears that he is going to Transylvania, also known as the land of phantoms and thieves, she looks terrified. Not knowing about where he is going and what he will encounter mirrors how Germans during this time treated people and places they knew nothing about. Fear overcomes them and they immediately think the worst.
    • Slide 8: Video clip from Nosferatu at 00:08:50-00:09:20
      • Narration before the clip starts on Slide 8: Here is a short clip from the film that shows how mysterious Transylvania is portrayed to be.

 

  • Show video clip on Slide 8.

 

      • Narration after video clip on Slide 8: The estate agent that Hutter works for tells him “you might have to go to a bit of trouble… a little sweat and maybe… a little blood”. This is foreshadowing that Hutter will come in contact with Nosferatu, the vampire. The estate agent also looks very mysterious in this scene, foreshadowing how mysterious of a place Transylvania is.
    • Slide 9: Picture of the book titled “Of Vampires Terrible Phantoms and the Seven Deadly Sins”
      • Narration on Slide 9: This book title comes up a few times before Hutter reaches Count Orlock’s castle. It is shown in the room he is staying at while he is traveling to get to Count Orlock. This scene foreshadows that Count Orlock is a vampire. When Hutter mentions he is going up to Count Orlock’s castle to the people around him, they all shudder in fear. They explain to Hutter the rumors they have heard, and that Count Orlock is known to be a vampire. But, no one is certain that he is one. People fear things that they do not know a lot about, as we have seen in the German society.
    • Slide 10: Video Clip from Nosferatu at 00:26:35-00:26:49.
      • Narration before the clip starts on Slide 10: This is an example of how the music plays a major role in producing fear into the viewer.

 

  • Show video clip on slide 10.

 

    • Narration after video clip on Slide 10: The music riffs are short and sudden when something that is not good is about to happen. It is supposed to instill fear, and can also be shown as blaming Count Orlock for being bad before he does anything. Although Count Orlock does do something bad, the music makes us automatically assume he is a bad person. This scene depicts that when you do not know a lot about someone, you do not know what they do or are capable of doing. Hutter accidentally cuts himself on a knife, and Count Orlock immediately jumps and goes to his hand that is bleeding, and is going to suck the blood off. Hutter runs away in time.
  • Slide 11: Picture of Count Orlock in his coffin.
    • Narration on Slide 11: The fear of death is shown when Hutter sees the casket that Count Orlock is sleeping in.mRight when Hutter sees the coffin, he immediately becomes scared. He becomes even more scared when he realizes that Count Orlock is inside. This shows that death is near, and that Hutter is terrified of it. This can relate back to the German society post World War I. Because Germans had faced a huge loss in their population from the war, they were afraid of death, and facing even more casualties.
  • Final Slide: Picture of the cover of Nosferatu

Narration on Final Slide: This film helps to show that people in real life were afraid of death, just like in the movie. During World War I, lots of people had died, and there were many casualties that happened. Germans were afraid of having that happen again, and not having their national pride back. They tried to blame whoever they could for their problems, and the Jews happened to be their easiest target. Nosferatu does a great job in showing all of these different things, and comparing everything in the film to the German society at the time.

Blindness

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The scene that wanted to focus on is when Bronski wants to prove to the rest of his cast and director that he looks like Hitler in To Be or Not to Be. Right now, there is a huge stigma on how mysterious Hitler is to the world, and how no one really knows who he is or how to identify him. That is why everyone in Bronski’s play is not convinced that Brosnki portrays Hitler well enough.

When Bronski steps outside, huge groups and mobs of people start to surround him because they immediately think that Bronski is Hitler. They are all overwhelmed. But, most of these people who are in shock are adults. When the little girl walks up to Bronski and asks for his autograph, everyone stands in amazement because they could not believe that a little girl just walked up to “Hitler”. These adults were blind, and too scared, to realize that this was only an actor.

This shows that when adults are in fear, they are close minded, and want nothing to do with what is causing the fear. This little girl was able to see right through the Hitler costume and see the true actor underneath, who was Bronski. This scene also shows how innocent little kids are, and how unaware they are of all the terrors in the world.