Dracula on Christmas? A Victorian (Dickensian) Tradition Revived.
by Kimberley Allen McNamara
Christmas Day 2024 will have the opening of the film: Nosferatu a retelling of Dracula. (Dracula, written by Bram Stoker in 1897, which was during the Victorian period). If you think this an odd time for a release of a horror film, consider that this release is a 21st century nod to the Victorian supernatural yuletide tradition.
Ghost stories at Christmas and the ‘end of the year’ were a popular tradition during the Victorian period. Charles Dickens, known famously for his novella originally published in1843 as: A Christmas Carol in Prose; Being a Ghost Story of Christmas (commonly known as A Christmas Carol) did much to popularize the genre of ghost stories during the yuletide. He wrote many Christmas-set ghost stories, and he edited many others by aspiring authors and inserted these stories into the magazines for which he served as editor.
The tradition of telling ghost stories at ‘years-end’ in England peaked during the Victorian era; but prior to this period, ghost stories, as the days grew shorter and many lingered around the hearth for warmth, were a staple. The exact cultural origin of the tradition of ghost stories during winter is not known because many were told orally. Queen Victoria and Dickens are credited with popularizing Christmas as a celebration; Victoria introduced the Christmas tree tradition of her beloved husband Prince Albert’s homeland (Germany) and Dicken’s promoted the themes of reunion, regret, and forgiveness, and hope with the added thrill of hauntings and other supernatural elements.
In the United States, this tradition of ghost stories at Christmas struggled to take hold. For a time British ghost stories were broadcast on the radio by the BBC at Christmas and listened to in the US but these stopped with the onset of WWII. The BBC resumed this practice again in the 1970s with A Ghost Story for Christmas. But in the US, the ghost story tradition became firmly centered on the holiday of Halloween. The American love of a a ghost story is evidenced by many film/tv narratives of summer camp, or hitch-hiking trek, or friends-lost-in-the-woods that populate the box office. These stories often feature the trope detail: the telling of a ghost story—as a lynch pin scene. There is something about the shortened daylight coupled with the thrill of setting others on edge before sleep that Hollywood and authors tap into every autumn. Clearly, the love of a scary story permeates American culture at Halloween.
Narratives at Christmas, in the US, often run more toward sweet and simple (think the myriads of Netflix movies with titles such as: Paris Christmas Waltz, Falling for Christmas), or outlandish and comical (Red One, Elf, The Santa Clause). Christmas romances and comedies or short story collections appear on bookstore shelves. There are also films and books about dysfunctional families, consider: The Family Stone and Love the Coopers and the novel Skipping Christmas by John Grisham which became the movie Christmas with the Kranks.
Dicken’s A Christmas Carol has remained predominant in American culture. It even seems to get an acknowledgement in the Christmas song It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year with the line “there’ll be scary ghost stories/ tales of the glories of the / Christmases long, long ago”.
A Christmas Carol is truly a Christmas ghost story that succeeded in America so much so that it may be argued that It’s a Wonderful Life is a version of this Dicken’s tale with a twist. (Spoiler alert) George Bailey, the protagonist, in dire straits. decides to end his life so his life insurance will cover the missing money at the Savings & Loan. But Clarence, an angel, instead takes George on trek back through time to show George all the good things that would not have happened had George not existed. Thus a Christmas ghost story of sorts. The 2000 film The Family Man with Nicholas Cage and Téa Leoni does something similar. Cage’s character is allowed the possibility of seeing what his life would have been like if he had not abandoned his college sweetheart (Leoni) for a life of money (via stocks and bonds); he would have had a family. And like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, Cage’s character, too, gets a possible second chance to get Christmas right.
If the opening of a film about Dracula on Christmas Day catches you by surprise, it shouldn’t. It’s a tradition that is simply being revived. Whether Nosferatu contains the Dickensian possibility of redemption, reunion, remorse, or hope remains to be seen.
Proposed writing prompt: write a Christmas ghost story. or retell an old one.
Tell me: Did Nosferatu have any redemptive or remorseful qualities with it’s ending? Did it offer hope? Was there a reunion?
