Sunday, February 28, 2010

DAWN OF THE DEAD..themes

"I've always felt that the real horror is next door to us, that the scariest monsters are our neighbors," filmmaker George A. Romero said in an interview with Barnes & Noble.com. "It's been a theme throughout my work--to bring the horror into our own homes, to fill the stories with brand names that we all use, beers that we like to drink, streets that look like our own."

This sums up for me the themes of reason for film such as Dawn of the dead. It expresses the idea that we all know that scarier things happen in daily life however filmmakers use themes such as zombies to mystify a reality that films can be more scary then life. By bringing the modern version of Dawn of the dead to show in the remake it shows the modern capitalist society through its new motifs such as consumerism. The interpretation that Kyle Bishop has about the use of Zombies in American culture is agreeable. I found this quote simply sums up the use of American zombie ideas best. "Historically, zombie cinema had always represented a stylized reaction to cultural consciousness".This perpetuates the idea that whatever issues are within American cultures there will be a zombie film to match, for the American people to still believe there is worse to come.

2 comments:

  1. Dawn Of The Dead (2004).

    This film offers an interesting idea of the end of civilisation, "When there's no room left in hell, the dead will walk the earth". it's not an infection to be cured, such as in I Am Legend, and 28 Days/Weeks later, but instead showing the demise of humanity because we are so terrible that hell is full.

    Harper and Bishop definately make a persuasive argument about the relation to the negativity of consumerism. Using the mall as a last stand, fighting for control, and with the quote, "its not us, its the place", shows how the film relates consumerism to the downfall of society and humanity. The baby born as a mindless zombie into an environment of consumer culture, the mall, shows how consumerism is viewed as a perpetuating downward spiral.

    Selfishness and survival also come into play as important themes in the characters traits. The struggling together idea to overcome the obsticles is fought over on both sides, with characters such as Steve and CJ only being concerned with selfish self-preservation, and Anna, Kenneth, and Michael always trying to help others.

    The failure for everything to be fixed in the end shows how the film views the problems of society as ongoing, there is no escape or immediate answer correcting everything, mmaking this a slightly different apocalypse film. Unlike pre-apocalypse films, the devastation is not averted, and with post-apocalypse films such as Terminator Salvation you see how humans can win in the end. Dawn of the Dead just shows the apocalypse as it unfolds with no answer to resolving it.

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  2. The quote that is presented is agreeable, bringing horror closer to home does scare alot of people, knowing that one day it could be on out doorsteps. Making the film more realistic shows that this is not a game it can happen any day any where.

    I also agree with the end quote that issues in America are put into films and more recently zombie films, to match todays societies glitches.

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