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Ideolgy of zombie films
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’28 days later’ and ‘Shaun of the Dead’ are both a zombie film, which is a sub-genre of horror. However their genres are extremely different because ‘Shaun of the Dead’ is also a comedy.
Both of these films use typical conventions of the zombie genre. For example, they both use the convention of desertion and loneliness. In ’28 days later’, Jim comes out of the hospital to a completely deserted city (London). This convention helps create unease in an audience, especially when these scenes are set in places that are usually crowded i.e. we expect cities to be full with people and therefore it is very disturbing when we see them completely abandoned. In ‘Shaun of the Dead’ there is dramatic irony as the audience realises there is something wrong a long time before the protagonists do. However this adds to the protagonists’ vulnerability because they will not be expecting anything and therefore will not be prepared.
The unease created by this convention is played on in ’28 days later’ by having several extreme long shots of the city which shows the audience that everywhere is deserted (not just the are where Jim is). The mise-en-scene is extremely important in this scene because props such as abandoned money and an abandoned car make is appear as if everyone has just dropped their possessions and run. This emphasises the feeling that something terrible has happened.
The zombies in each film resemble each other in the way that they are always covered in blood, and (although different in the two films) there is an emphasis on their eyes. In ’28 days later’, their eyes are blood red and this is shown right from the beginning sequence and used throughout the whole film.
Another generic convention that both of the films use is the ide...
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... rushing to save some others, Phillip is saying things like “Do you realise this is a 20mile zone?” Another example is the garden scene where Shaun and Ed are taking time to decide which records to throw at the zombies even though it is a race against time sequence as the zombies are approaching them.
However, in the pub scene, ‘Shaun of the dead’ starts to show a lot more typical conventions of the zombie genre.
In both ‘Shaun of the dead’ and ’28 days later’ there is a typical convention of this genre used, which is that there are only a few protagonists compared to hundreds of zombies. For example when the main characters are left in the pub in ‘Shaun of the dead’, there are silhouettes of hundreds of zombies trying to get in through the doors and windows. The convention of being ‘cornered’ is often used general horror films not just in the sub-genre of zombie.
Both White Zombie and “Dead Men Walking in the Cane Fields” represent the early zombie and both of them embody Cohen’s first thesis “The Monster is a Cultural Body” Both the story and the film have zombies and both of these works make their zombies appear scary with dead like characteristics, however the real reason why they are scary is that, at the time, they tried to change society and that scared people. The people that liked society the way it was didn’t want another group to gain power or righ...
Max Brooks explains in his article ‘’The Movies That Rose From The Grave’’ [2006], that zombies and the supernatural forces have impacted and have become popular in the world today. The first main idea that Brooks points out is the way society has changed the meaning and glimpse for the supernatural creatures like zombies causing them to become increasingly popular. To support this zombie movies have changed from darkness and mystery to violent and bloodier scenes therefore making them more prevailing. The second main idea that is discussed by Brooks is how the media has helped to increase the popularity of zombies, vampires, ghosts. Highlighted by the author particularity both ‘’resident evil,
Everybody is obsessed with the Zombie Apocalypse these days. Bumper stickers reading “My zombie ate your honor student” and television documentaries about “preppers” who are ready for the zombies to come; even Law agencies placing their officers in specially designed zombie apocalypse training courses. The result of all of this zombie hype is that everybody wants to test themselves—to be the one who survives and saves mankind. Joseph Campbell’s monomyth of the hero’s journey is widely accepted as the basis for most, if not all heroic tales. Campbell relates that the hero begins ordinarily and is then called to the adventure, usually with the help of somebody. The hero must cross a threshold into danger and during the quest he/she faces trials and tests. Finally the hero meets the ultimate challenge; afterward returning home with some elixir or knowledge that betters themselves or human kind (). The role of the hero is one that appeals to anyone from elite soldiers to ordinary civilians—and Shaun is an ordinary man. More ordinary, perhaps, than anybody has ever known, but like so many people today aspire to be, he survives a zombie outbreak and ultimately becomes the hero in the movie Shaun of The Dead, written and directed by Edgar Wright.
In the article "Movies that Rose from the Grave" by Max Brooks, he delves deeper into the reasoning of where, why, and when zombie horror flicks
Torie Boschs “First eat all the lawyers” appeared in Slate october 2011. Her piece was to reach out to horror fans and to explain to them why zombies are a great monsters in current media. Zombie fanatics who read this short essay will love her vast knowledge of zombies while others who still do not understand why zombies are horribly terrifying can get behind her argument. Bosch explains that the current zombie craze has to do with our current society and how white-collar workers would be left defenceless in a world over run with a rampant horde of zombies. While blue-collar workers can flourish in this current state as they have more skills suited for survival. Boschs essay uses rhetorical devices such as ethos, foil and satire to make her
James Parker essay “Our Zombies, Ourselves,” informs readers that the zombie has almost outranked the vampire, and why they’re so popular. This undead monster originated from a Caribbean folk nightmare and was adapted over time by, the Halperin brothers, William Seabrook and George Romero and numerous others. Much like the vampire, zombies owe their fame to the progressiveness of technology, allowing them to consistently invade various media forms. The zombie has infested countless tv shows, movies, video games, and books, throughout the 21st century. Zombies themselves are soulless corpses who were regurgitated back into the world of the living. This making them rejects from the underworld, this presents the zombie as rejected yet inexpungable. What makes the zombie so popular, however, is that symbolizes everything that is rejected by humanity. “Much can be made of him, because he makes so little of himself. He comes back, He comes back, feebly but unstoppably” (Parker). The zombie represents humanity itself as well as what is rejected by humanity. Much like individuals today, the zombie is burdened by life’s demands, converting to nothing but a rotting, groaning human shell that stumbles through life without a purpose. The zombie is symbolizer of the real world, and all things irrepressible, whereas the vampire is a symbol of an alternate world and all things
In the film, after Tom and Judy’s car explodes, Ben is left to fend for himself in the middle of the group of zombies. The zombies encroaching on Ben from all sides is reminiscent of a lynch mob. They loom in on Ben from all sides, trying to rip his flesh off. In retaliation, Ben uses a torch to fend off the zombies and run to the house. The zombies are white oppression; the mindlessness and murderous nature of the zombies is similar to the blind stupidity, violence, and sheep-like mentality of
Tim Burton is known for his stop motion animated films. In most of these stop motion films he uses many of the same techniques to produce his conflicts and resolutions. In two of his films, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, they each have a different plot, but they share a common theme of death and another world. There are many similarities in The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride including the use of dark and bright colors, the way music is used, using the dead and the living to thicken the plot, and supporting characters to show the main character’s proper course of action. The differences between the movies include the celebrations that occur, the means of transportation between two worlds, and how the dead and
Although the zombie metaphor focuses primarily on fear involving unconscious contributors and their mission of adding to their population, the fear of governmental control and how society responds to the epidemic is also an issue that needs to be considered. In this scenario, the viral outbreak is not only a threat to individual health but also to the stability of society as a whole.
George Romero's reinvention of the zombie in night of the Living Dead (1968) is clearly a critique of elements of the American society, and the film as a whole is easily twisted into a warped view on the 'American Dream'. Themes throughout Romero’s film, dealing with controversial topics during the time that the film was made, are still, to this day debated by critics and film historians. Themes of racism and war are defined within the movie, hidden underneath the idea of carnal, cannibalistic zombies and over the top heroes who, eventually, succumb to the reanimated; despite their every effort. These themes are colored over and painted to hide beneath subtle references to the typical American Dream during this time, and Romero does quite the good job at it too. This dream, whilst continuously changing in the everyday lives of modern Americans, can be loosely defined as a national ethos of the United States, or a set of ideals dealing with freedom and the opportunity for success - an upward social status that can be achieved through hard work and effort.
Zombies have become very popular due to their depictions of being easy to kill and being communal. Zombie apocalypses are also very relatable due to the fact that they are set in lives similar to our society and seem easy to overcome. Zombies, themselves, can be identified with because we see ourselves when we look at a zombie. Zombies drudge on through the same task of finding human flesh to consume every day just like we drag ourselves to either class or our job in order to sit through another boring lecture or perform the same menial task every day. Just like the zombie, R, in the book, Warm Bodies, said, “I am Dead, but it’s not so bad. I’ve learned to live with it,” we have learned to succumb to our daily routines and just live with
In Night of the Living Dead, the zombies were eventually eliminated. Or were they? Theorists argue that the monster’s elusiveness is due to its physical, psychological and social characteristics that cross the lines of classification. Human’s innate fear of the unknown is due to their inability to make a distinction or draw a clear conclusion. This is explained further in Jeffrey Cohen’s second thesis in “Monster Theory” that claims that; “the monster never escapes” (Cohen, 14). The zombie as a monster can never be destroyed completely and if it is, it leaves a remnant the make people feel uncertain of its destruction. Base on Cohen’s theory, the zombie’s different interpretation allows it to emerge in other forms (a faster, smarter zombie?)
In the movies White Zombie and The Night of the Living Dead there were some similarities, but mostly there were mostly differences. The similarities were that both zombies were not running they were walking zombies. Also both zombies had no soul and had no control over what they could do.
In the article, “A Zombie Manifesto: The Nonhuman Condition in the Era of Advanced Capitalism” by Sarah Juliet Lauro and Karen Embry, the authors’ evaluate the idea of the zombie and its connection to capitalism and post-humanism. According to the authors, the zombie represents much more than just a fear, it represents a loss of oneself to many different things, primarily to a capitalist society. The authors have come to the conclusion that humans have a fear of what they cannot control, and that is why the zombie is so big in entertainment. We see zombies everywhere, in movies, books, tv shows, fundraisers, marathons, and so much more. They have been around for decades, but recently they have become very popular. The authors believe this is
The idea of a zombie is made up and it comes from nzambi, the Kongo word for the spirit of a dead person. In states such as Louisiana, or the Creole culture they believe zombies represent a person who has dies and brought back to life with no speech. Kings psychological argument on how we have an urge to watch horror movies because it helps to re-establish our feelings and feel natural again. Klusterman’s sociological essay helped us see the comparison of zombies and humans in real life. In conclusion zombies are not real, they are make believe but help bring a sense of normality to