Nosferatu and Dracula - A comparison
Hey Hey everyone! As we all know, the re-make of Nosferatu (1922) recently came out in December and I finally watched it last night. Since the OG film is an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula, I thought that I should do a comparison review of the two.
If you haven't read it, I have done a book review on Bram Stoker's Dracula and I'll link it here!
In the 1922 film, it's expected that some details were altered for the taste of German audiences however, the similarities are everywhere! Despite small details being altered, Stoker's widow sued for copyright and ordered that all copies were to be destroyed. Naturally, some copies survived and now we have the modern Nosferatu.
In both pieces of media, the two male leads (Jonathan Harker and Thomas Hutter) both work with real-estate firms and are sent to close a deal with the antagonist (Dracula and Orlok) It's crazy how both of these films are because some vampires wanted prime real-estate smh.
The two female characters in Nosferatu are based on Mina (Jonathan's fiancΓ©) and Lucy (as Ruth in Nosferatu). Their physical attributes and obstacles, despite the changes that were made.
We have the male leads (Jonathan and Thomas) escape the antagonist's castle and they are both found by nuns and delirious. Meanwhile while this is happening, we also have the shipwreck that is transporting the antagonist to his new land (England in Dracula and Germany in Nosferatu respectively)
We have characters representing the insane asylum patient, Renfield, and Van Helsing. Of course, the details of the characters were changed including their attitudes but they all play the roles they were based on and while watching the movie, John Gottowt (Van Helsing's character) is starkly different than his book counterpart. His method and end goals are different (of course, that was the whole point) however, there are enough similarities to where I kind of got tired of it. (This is simply my own opinion, I encourage you to watch/read both pieces to form your own perspective)
I also noticed that the themes regarding societal views and the analogy that both Dracula and Orlok are representations of Satan/death. Vampires are written as satanic creatures who cannot fulfill their blood lust and are weak to Christian symbols like crosses and wafers. This is important symbolism to consider.
Both pieces of media place this societal view and expectation that women are to be chaste and pure, uncorrupted by the evil in the world. With the two female characters, they are both "tainted" and you can see in both works that this causes them to feel outcasted.
If you would like a more in-depth explanation, I would suggest reading my review of Dracula and reading the book!
Of course, we have differences between the two pieces, that being parts of the plot and characters. The main difference is from the female lead, Mina and Ellen, and the events that happen to them.
In the newly released Nosferatu, Ellen is depicted to have been assaulted by Orlok and references him as her shame (as someone who had similar experiences, I can most definitely see similar attributes in response to her trauma), and by the end of the movie, she learns that the vampire can be destroyed if a pure-hearted woman offers him her blood willingly. Basically, she decides to sacrifice herself and after Orlok is defeated, she lives just long enough to see her husband and then DIES. Bruh.
In Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mina is attacked by Dracula after Lucy's death and is now running on limited time. Instead of abandoning her like his movie counterpart, Van Helsing is determined to save Mina and defeat Dracula. The sense of friendship between the characters in the book is much stronger and more defined than the characters in the movie and it's something that really caught my attention. At the end of Dracula, Dracula is defeated and Mina is saved and gets to live a happy life with Jonathan.
To me, the main differences (like I stated above) regard not only the details of the journey that the characters go on but also their bonds with each other and their goals.
All in all, I would say that while I enjoyed watching the movie (despite the awkwardness of the sex scene) I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to watch it. I respect it as a piece of media however, I personally enjoy Dracula more. I say this because the characters and plot have more depth which is to be expected after watching a remake based off of an unauthorized adaptation. Like I said, I think you should explore these pieces on your own and form your own opinions and if you have any questions or more to add, feel free to DM me! (Also sorry for the confusing layout of all the characters, it's most definitely a mess)
Overall, I rate this movie 5/10!!
