Vampire Lit - Lecture 2 9/8/16 participation: post one comment about vampires per week on the Facebook page AND respond to 3 people F.M. Murnau, Nosferatu o1922 – symphony of horror ofirst time in the vampire was visualized in film omax schreck plays nosferatu based on Bram stoker’s Dracula (German altercations) onosferatu’s origin is the seed of Belial, Old Testament demon ostereotypes held about the racial “other”, uncivilized creature of extreme aggression in the midst of Europe ocharacters associated with the vampire have the same overtly “Oriental” and or Semitic appearance (Jewish looking) oAryan-looking protagonists suffer from decidedly evil influences oBram Stoker’s widow sued Murnau over copyright issues, and all copies of film were ordered burned oONE copy escaped burning oFilm as a vampire: survived certain annihilation to infect/affect global immigration oStart of vampire genre within horror film oAggression & sexuality MOVIE NOTES o Catania Saviour oAbsent presences in liminal places German romantic roots oExpressionism in cinema is a visual representation of Romantic ideals Expressionism in the Arts oRejection of reality and Realism oImportance of subjective emotions

oStrong contrasts in color & meaning oSymbols as condense and intensified forms of reality Gothic motifs oAbsent presence: Ethereal body No mirror reflection Shadow rather than body Vampire of Dark Light oDestroyed by sunlight oMaking visible the invisible oEvil that permeates everything David Caspar Friedrich – The Monk by the Sea (1809) oNo sun oNo face of subject – “sort of become any one of us” Ruckenfigure oSubject from a rear point of view in contemplation of another scene oSubject does not have visible face oSubject is shown in isolation within composition SOMETHING ABOUT THIS ON MIDTERM Liminal landscape oRudolf Otto: “magical is nothing but a suppressed and dimmed form of the numinous, a crude form of it which great art purifies and ennobles.” oSublime force permeating the landscape brings foreboding of a doom and a sense of human smallness in the face of the negative force ruling the universe Fear of finality oRepulsion/attraction oImmortality of the non living oSpectral quality of the vampire Arnold Boecklin, “The Isle of the Dead” (1880) Phantom ship oFerrying the dead to the other side 2

oHorror vacui – fear of nothingness/emptiness oSpirit possession: being robbed of the self PTSD after world war I oGrisaille Gothic style: shades of grey Twilight preferred to daylight Vampire’s negative landscape in film 9/13/16 Black death oPlague oRats oNosferatu’s fangs Vampire’s names oOrigin of the word “clouded in mystery” (Wilson 3) oTO DRINK – pi, piti, etc oSouth and east European origins oTurkish, Greek, Slavic, Hungarian Vampire origins oPagan dualism of Slavic tribes oByelobog (white) god and chernobog (dark) god o