For as long as I can remember (which may
not be that long—my memory is not that great), I have had a HUGE fear of
zombies.
I do not know what it is about
them—potentially it is the body horror that is the most terrifying aspect. With
modern zombie films, as well as the immensely popular Walking Dead, there is always the inclusion of zombies ripping into
someone’s leg or arm or neck, pulling arteries out like strings. The idea of
hoards of the undead surrounding and eating people is terrifying and grotesque,
which my adolescent brain always brought into personalized, dream-morphed
graphics. All of these personal influences are why watching Dawn of the Dead (George Romero, 1978)
was incredibly important for both film analysis and personal catharsis.
Comparing nightmare to story, the
personal to what is depicted on the screen, there is a tension there about the
lack of unity within the groups of survivors, at least within Dawn of the Dead. When you are in a
nightmare, the presence of family, concern for your parents, pets, friends, and
belongings is a priority; uncertainty about your world is the main source of
fear. I would say in Dawn of the Dead,
though it is the second installment of George Romero’s zombie series, there is
already an acceptance of these losses. The characters come on to the screens
without backgrounds. Yeah, we know Francine is pregnant, which is initially a
huge tension and then later just a character aspect, but these characters pop
up without a background.
In many ways, there is a development
of sympathy for the living dead, especially in the moment where Francine is
looking through the store-front window, making a connection, whether or not
real or imagined, to the zombie on the other side who sits down and looks back
at her. We get as much background for the zombies than we do for Francine,
Stephen, Peter, or Roger, all characterized by what they wear: Peter and Roger
wearing military outfits—are part of the military; Stephen wears his aviation
outfit—helicopter pilot, zombies in basketball uniforms, garbage men jumpsuits.
Everyone is his or her job; everyone ends up in the mall because, “It’s what
they know”.
Besides the main characters, a sense
of community can be found in shots elsewhere. In the very beginning with the
SWAT raid of the housing tenement, we have people who are protecting their
deceased-reanimated loved ones. This one scene is one of the more emotionally
charged, not only because of the idea of families eating one another, the
obvious social inequality that leaves these individuals stranded, or prejudiced
onslaught, but the attempts to protect family members is shown to be
problematic. Evidence of this can be found in the scene where a man eats his
wife while she tries to embrace him.
Further
on, we have the military and those living in the country finding fun in their
survival, transferring the usual types of hunting of non-human animals to
hunting the “slow” and “dumb” zombies. There is a community here, somehow found
through the creative sport. I can not tell if this is an argument for finding
creativity in darker times, or that those who are well-prepared are going to be
able to withstand anything, but whatever reason, people have found an
acceptable community.
Even though Dawn of the Dead is obviously a commentary on consumerism (everyone
is in a mall, for Pete’s sake), the real threat posed by a “zombie apocalypse”
or apocalypse of any kind is the rearrangement of values regarding friends and
family. Those who cannot get over the undead being their loved ones end up
being food, those who can find it a game can survive, and those who are in the
middle somewhere, like the protagonists, are more like the zombies.
I am still really afraid of zombies,
but I think I understand it a bit more now. This is incredibly obvious, but
horror films are not only ways of communicating anxieties but also allow you to
observe how they manifest in yourself (at least for me in the case of zombies,
but you probably wont catch me watching the next big zombie film for a long,
long time).
Sources:
Chaw, Walter. "Dawn of the Dead." Film Freak Central. 18 Mar. 2004. Web. (Image)
Dawn of the Dead. Dir. George A. Romero. Perf. David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, and Gaylen Ross. United Film Distribution Company, 1978. DVD.