Shadow of a Vampire, Post Modernism
Vampire Essay
The text Dracula was written in a time long before post-modernism, when Victorian values were considered important and issues relating gender were established. Nosferatu was also written in the time of modernism, where there was a sense in that western culture had lost its values. Shadow of a Vampire is a recent, post-modern text that focuses on the filming methods and techniques used to film Nosferatu. Using post-modern techniques that are comparable to satire in some scenes, Shadow of a Vampire combines the two gothic texts into a new text, using a film within a film technique.
As previously noted, Dracula, Nosferatu and Shadow of a Vampire all incorporate a gothic sense as in they involve; a castle, shadows, a beam of moonlight in the blackness and the only source of light failing (a candle blown out or an electric failure). All these are used in the three texts to use imagery on black and white as good and evil, for example Christian values are good and promiscuous woman are bad in Dracula. Shadow of a Vampire contradicts this by making the text set in Berlin during a time of massive drug use (particular morphine which gives you an effect quite like Draculas bite) and promiscuous activity was large.
Shadow of a Vampire uses pastiche to imitate the filming of the original Nosferatu text, but normally adds its own twist to the stereotypical vampire story. Such as the scene in the night, after the building of the makeshift ship on the set count Orlak sneaks up on the two film producers, making the audience think that he is about to attack and kill them. He ends up drinking and getting drunk with them, and even eating a vampire bat in front them. A symbolic factor in all vampire stories is the bat but Orlak shows he has no care for the traditional modernist view in this scene. When Orlak is asked about how he feels about the book this triggers a text within a text within a text, being a movie based on Nosferatu making a mention on Dracula.
The
The text Dracula was written in a time long before post-modernism, when Victorian values were considered important and issues relating gender were established. Nosferatu was also written in the time of modernism, where there was a sense in that western culture had lost its values. Shadow of a Vampire is a recent, post-modern text that focuses on the filming methods and techniques used to film Nosferatu. Using post-modern techniques that are comparable to satire in some scenes, Shadow of a Vampire combines the two gothic texts into a new text, using a film within a film technique.
As previously noted, Dracula, Nosferatu and Shadow of a Vampire all incorporate a gothic sense as in they involve; a castle, shadows, a beam of moonlight in the blackness and the only source of light failing (a candle blown out or an electric failure). All these are used in the three texts to use imagery on black and white as good and evil, for example Christian values are good and promiscuous woman are bad in Dracula. Shadow of a Vampire contradicts this by making the text set in Berlin during a time of massive drug use (particular morphine which gives you an effect quite like Draculas bite) and promiscuous activity was large.
Shadow of a Vampire uses pastiche to imitate the filming of the original Nosferatu text, but normally adds its own twist to the stereotypical vampire story. Such as the scene in the night, after the building of the makeshift ship on the set count Orlak sneaks up on the two film producers, making the audience think that he is about to attack and kill them. He ends up drinking and getting drunk with them, and even eating a vampire bat in front them. A symbolic factor in all vampire stories is the bat but Orlak shows he has no care for the traditional modernist view in this scene. When Orlak is asked about how he feels about the book this triggers a text within a text within a text, being a movie based on Nosferatu making a mention on Dracula.
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