Vampire Metaphors Evolve from Nosferatu to Twilight and Workplace Satire

The centenary of F.W. Murnau's 1922 film Nosferatu prompts reflection on shifting vampire symbolism across cinema. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart starred in 2008's Twilight, a film noted for its gender role reversals and melodramatic tone. Vampires have represented diverse anxieties: plague in Nosferatu, sexual temptation in Twilight, unsafe sex in 1983's The Hunger with Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie, and addiction in Jim Jarmusch's 2013 Only Lovers Left Alive. The mockumentary series What We Do in the Shadows (2019-) satirizes workplace dynamics through vampire characters, including an energy vampire feeding on office boredom. Iván Zulueta's 1980 film Arrebato linked vampirism with cameras and heroin. George A. Romero's 1977 film Martin explored a teenager possibly being a vampire or serial killer. Twilight fan-fiction evolved into Fifty Shades of Grey in 2011. Robert Eggers is developing a Nosferatu remake potentially starring Pattinson. The UK sees a Nosferatu re-release this month.