“LOVING THE DEAD”: EXPLORING MINA AND DRACULA'S RELATIONSHIP IN THE NEW NOSFERATU (2024)

Lily Rose Depp in Nosferatu

"Loving you was like loving the dead"

-Type O Negative, Black No. 1

Is romance dead and gone in the new Nosferatu? 

With Nosferatu (2024), we are treated to a traditional taste of the complex relationship between Mina and Dracula. The undead question arose from Bram Stoker’s unforgettable novel. Dracula (1897) is the epistolary novel that permanently influenced the history of Gothic literature, with its legacy well affirmed in the subculture today. With its difficult copyright history, Nosferatu (1922) is considered the first adaptation of the novel. In this version, Mina offers herself, since the only way to stop the Vampire is a willing sacrifice of a fair maid. That seems about it, yet over the years, Stoker’s fans, horror lovers, darkness worshipers and all kinds of alt folks have been asking: was that really the only possible outcome? That is why a plethora of retellings, both faithful and unfaithful, have explored the relationship between the antagonist and the female protagonist, wondering if there could be more to it. The original story has been expanded beyond its limits to fulfil the desire for a love that transcends the times. Not a painless love, yet a passionate one. That makes it far more enticing.

There in Transylvania lives a Thing, a living dead, an immortal, a creature of the Devil, or- the latest adaptation moving the focus on primal desires- simply an “appetite”. He preys upon people and drinks their blood, his favoured targets being beautiful young women.  But his absolute obsession, his torment, is Mina. But why her? Dracula (1931) and Nosferatu (1922) are not inquisitive about the matter. They aim to narrate the tale of the terrible enemy of God and save pale and fragile damsels in distress. These ladies need help, yet only deserve to be saved for being submissive and righteous.

Dracula, 1931

Was there any romance ever?

In the novel, Mina doesn't have much to say. It comes as no surprise that she is not enamoured with the man who killed her best friend and is slowly sucking away her life. Fortunately for us, delusional dreamers, that dynamic shifts with later adaptations. "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992) unfolds a passionate love story between Mina, played by Winona Ryder, and the Count, played by Gary Oldman. The key to this retelling is Mina being the reincarnation of Lizaveta, Dracula's first love, who died young, as the ideal "dark feminine" character would do. Dracula has sold his soul for her. He travels "oceans of time" to find her. That's a Shakespearean kind of love, where the striving for a reunion is life's (and death's) sole purpose. In the climax of the story, when Mina and the Count are physically reunited, she exclaims "Take me away from all this death", meaning that her vampire love is not the end of her but a new start. That's a hot take on the romantic dichotomy between love and death, where the two forces merge in the ultimate experience of reality. The ungodly life of the Count is portrayed as an alternative path of existence, and it's the one with the truest pleasures.

Bram Stoker's Dracula, a graphic novel

Egger's psychological thriller

In Eggers' version, Nosferatu returns to a more menacing role, that of a primitive creature whose thirst only one soul is destined to quench. Again, Hellen Hutter, the new Mina, has given herself away willingly, but quite differently. Searching for tenderness in the lowest moment of her life, she called him, summoning his presence and signing a contract to be forever his. Legally, she can still withdraw, but he will murder everyone she loves if she tries to. This odd, to some recognisable feeling, is what makes the adaptation stand out, as it is meant to mimic the dynamics of a toxic relationship. We see threats and stalking. The most crucial aspect, however, is how the two consume each other. In this, the primitive nature of the creature plays an important role: the fault can't be entirely the beast's- a supernatural creature is bound to its own nature. Ellen signed her freedom away consciously.  She wanted this as well, and now she can't go back. As the story progresses, she seems to desire him. This leaves us wondering if she is supposed to be a protagonist or an antagonist in our eyes, meaning if we need to see ourselves in her struggle or keep a reasonable distance from her actions. In the end, she needs to die, as the only way to free the town from the deadly pestilence is to destroy their souls intertwined. One of the Gothic novel's staples is that the antagonist is always the most unfathomable, dangerous and corrupted product of existence_ and in this case, it's our own mind.

Nosferatu's finale is philosophically melancholic. As the light fills the cinema again, a great sadness fills our hearts. It's only natural that fans were displeased with this new, more psychological version of the story. It is brilliant, but it also lacks a strong core. A thorough analysis of a toxic relationship deprived us of our all-time favourite love story. Where are our passionate embraces and hand kisses? Where are the tales of love deceived or lost forever? Dracula has become a Goth's matter, and Goths are fully romantic. Bauhaus would say, "Gary Oldman's Dracula is dead". We will be mourning our precious Count.