#Orlok: TIME FOR SOLICITOR VIOLENCE

[see-arcane]

Do you think Jonathan would have preferred the more straightforwardly hostile Orlock hosting? Also I like how Dracula says "Now write 3 different dates on your final three letters that seal your death date" and Orlok says "you gave 3 days exactly".

Jonathan would probably react similarly to Thomas in that spot, albeit with him taking a moment to write everything down. At the same time, I think Jonathan ‘Count Charmer’ Harker would actually be able to wheedle an ounce more sociability out of Orlok versus Thomas’ pure paralyzed terror. If nothing else, Jonathan knows how to get an egotistical undead aristocrat monologuing

[the-crooked-library]

"Even during daylight, Thomas fails to destroy his tormentor. In the story sense, he cannot do it because Orlok is a vampire; on the symbolic level, we understand that he cannot kill his own nature."

So, unrelated, but because I see the Harkers, too, as queer (though bisexual, I cannot not read them as unfathomably horny for each other, and genderqueer) and the biting and blood drinking as metaphors in Dracula too... I wonder if the above also applies to Jonathan Harker when he struck/marked but failed to kill his tormentor? Though he does succeed at the sunset in the end...

Yes omg I agree with you 100%! To give the Hutters credit where it's due, I think the film makes it fairly obvious that Ellen is bisexual as well; but I personally cannot help but see Thomas as a closeted gay man. He tends to shy away from his own wife throughout the film - the only scene where he does not is after she's baited him into trying to reassert his masculinity, and even that fizzles. He definitely cares for her, of course; but I don't think he's really attracted to her, is the thing.

The Harkers couldn't be more different. In fact, one of my favourite aspects of their story is the way they're both utterly obsessed with each other - which absolutely does include being unfathomably horny, exaaactly. That said, they're both distinctly queer - Jonathan's coding being more prominent - and I actually have posted a slightly more detailed analysis about it here. The scene of Thomas' attempted destruction of Orlok is indeed directly inspired by Jonathan's attempt at killing Dracula - and, as you say, he did eventually succeed; but I think that only really elaborates on his overall arc.

While Jonathan, unlike Thomas, is able to go from being a classic damsel in distress to assuming the role of a fighter, there is another, far more curious development in his characterization. As the story goes on, his hair turns grey, it is mentioned that his hands are very cold, his love for Mina takes on a practically violent intensity (though the violence is directed outwards, never at her); and, by the finale, despite having started out as a mild-mannered English solicitor, he is somehow able to expertly wield a kukri knife. The description is unmistakable; by the time Jonathan faces Dracula on the field of battle, they are each looking into a terrible mirror - each personifying what the other could have been. Assuming the usual vampiric parallel to queerness, it may be said that this is indeed his Turning; or as close to it as he would get without getting actually vamped.

I think Jonathan is able to accept himself by the end. By assuming the shape of Dracula, and by killing the one that terrified him originally, he kills his fear and becomes Himself.

[iamnmbr3]

#Orlok: TIME FOR SOLICITOR VIOLENCE#Jonathan: Can you tell me some war and plague stories of old my lord? :3#Orlok: …I SHALL POSTPONE THE VIOLENCE AS HE SEEMS VERY POLITE. via @see-arcane

Do you think Jonathan would have preferred the more straightforwardly hostile Orlock hosting? Also I like how Dracula says "Now write 3 different dates on your final three letters that seal your death date" and Orlok says "you gave 3 days exactly".

Jonathan would probably react similarly to Thomas in that spot, albeit with him taking a moment to write everything down. At the same time, I think Jonathan ‘Count Charmer’ Harker would actually be able to wheedle an ounce more sociability out of Orlok versus Thomas’ pure paralyzed terror. If nothing else, Jonathan knows how to get an egotistical undead aristocrat monologuing

[jaggedcliffs]

#Orlok: TIME FOR SOLICITOR VIOLENCE #Jonathan: Can you tell me some war and plague stories of old my lord? :3 #Orlok: …I SHALL POSTPONE THE VIOLENCE AS HE SEEMS VERY POLITE. (via @see-arcane)

Do you think Jonathan would have preferred the more straightforwardly hostile Orlock hosting? Also I like how Dracula says "Now write 3 different dates on your final three letters that seal your death date" and Orlok says "you gave 3 days exactly".

Jonathan would probably react similarly to Thomas in that spot, albeit with him taking a moment to write everything down. At the same time, I think Jonathan ‘Count Charmer’ Harker would actually be able to wheedle an ounce more sociability out of Orlok versus Thomas’ pure paralyzed terror. If nothing else, Jonathan knows how to get an egotistical undead aristocrat monologuing