Pandemics and Nosferatu

“It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.” – Ecclesiastes 7:2

When you consider undead literature and stories, zombie tales are never really about illness or the pandemics that lead to an apocalypse. They are about society, the rules that govern us, and how there is evil lurking in the system. They are stories about us as we are now. They just use the zombie outbreak to hold a mirror up for us to see ourselves. Vampire stories, on the other hand, are usually about sickness.

Sure, vampire stories tell us about ourselves, and civilization, and a whole lot of other things. But the vampire metaphor is all about the unseen, unknown agent of infection. They are about the danger of exposure. It is the vampire story that looks at the “danger of the other,” the mistrust in societies facing pandemics, and how the evil in society and human nature is exposed when such a threat faces us.

Zombie stories are about life after an apocalypse. Vampire stories are about death sneaking up on the living.

There are other aspects of the pandemic explored in specific vampire tales, and one that stands out to me is in Herzog’s “Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht” (filmed simultaneously in English as “Nosferatu, the Vampyre”). Late in the film, the vampire has made its way to Wismar (in the film, Delft stands in for the German city) and his arrival has triggered a wave of death. In a powerful scene, Lucy wanders through the town square, where the doomed are partying, dancing a “Dance Macabre” and feasting in the open air. Time jumps ahead and the table and the whole surrounding area is covered with rats.

This is a good picture of the way we try to deny our mortality. We entertain ourselves on the way to death. We live in denial. The Bible tells us it is better to look hard times, suffering, and death in the face. It is in recognizing our mortality, frailty, and sin that we can truly live. So, as we face a “once in a century” health crisis, don’t distract yourself to death. Consider the state of your life up to now and see what changes you might want to make.