10. Shadow of the Vampire

What is more real than real? Why it's the "Hyper-Real" of the cinema. Jean Baudrillard formulated his theory of the Hyper-Real, which is actually the death of "the Real" by simulacrum, in part from a quote from Clockwork Orange, in which the protagonist Alex reflects on how the blood in the screen is better than real blood because its "redder than red," or realer than real in Baudrillard's way of thinking about similacrum. And the contradiction of real, cinematic blood is a useful way to think about Shadow of the Vampire's approach to the Real. The Hollywood phenomenon of a director willing to sacrifice his female lead to get the "real-est" possible performance out of her is taken to an extreme by director FW Murnau, played by John Malkovich. Murnau is even willing to sacrifice the life of his leading lady Greta Schroder, played by Cathrine McCormick, in a pact that he makes with a real vampire Max Schreck, or possibly Nosferatu himself, played by Willem Defoe, to get the most realistic possible performances out of his cast. Shadow of the Vampire plays with the ideal of a performance so real that it crosses the line into the impossible ambiguity of the Hyper-Real. Come join us as we try to discern when extreme authenticity becomes a lie.

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