Assignment 3: Analysis Essay
Introduction
Whether post-9/11 zombie films are substantially different to their twentieth century counterparts is a topic of debate and study among scholars, in which it is at least agreed on that the reception of such films has undoubtedly changed. The zombie subgenre of horror once presented horrifying and alien images to its audience, who is now desensitised to violence through exposure in news broadcasts and videos on the internet; now, zombie films are a grim reflection of an apocalypse that modern audiences feel is inevitable, with hallmarks of the terrorism and natural disasters that threaten the world today (Bishop, 2009). In this essay, it will be argued, through analysis of Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968), 28 Days Later (Boyle, 2003), Dawn of the Dead (Snyder, 2004), and Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004), that the zombie subgenre has always responded to what is happening in the wider world, and that it now evokes a post-9/11 audience’s individual exposure to epidemics, the threat of domestic terrorism, and the fantasy of the zombie survivor.
Genre
To understand the innovations in genre of the four films that are the subject of this essay, one must have an understanding of the basis of the horror genre. Neale (2000) identifies 14 different essential filmic genres, of which the original eight includes horror. Neale notes that in twentieth century media, a distinction between horror and science fiction is at times difficult to make, a notion which may seem somewhat ridiculous to modern audiences who are familiar with horror slashers and sci-fi adventures. It is important to understand the context of the Cold War (among other conflicts) and technological advancements of the period, especially nuclear weapons and space-faring technology. Such radical changes to scientific possibility inspired many films that serve as cautionary tales against technology run amok, often in the form of nuclear monsters; these are some of the filmic conventions that caused conflation of horror and sci-fi. The first seminal zombie film, Night of the Living Dead (1968) operates in this zone between and encompassing horror and science fiction, as the zombies here are, for the first time, the result not of Vodou but of radiation from a meteor that lands on Earth. Zombie films as a genre follow suit in finding a source for their zombies, originally often nuclear annihilation, it is now frequently environmental catastrophe (Crockett-Girard, 2024), either as a result of scientists meddling or as a form of retribution from the natural world. As a genre, zombie horror is then more intrinsically tied to cultural contexts than most others, and must make a statement (whether intentional or not) on the anxieties from which it spawns.
Night of the Living Dead and the Civil Rights Movement
In Night of the Living Dead (1968), the protagonist is Black antihero Ben who, along with a group of survivors, reinforces a farmhouse against the onslaught of the living dead (Romero, 1968). In a ‘colourblind’ casting decision, Duane Jones was hired to play a role written for a white man, and in doing so, entirely recontextualises the group’s internal conflicts. Ben (Duane Jones) asserts his authority over the white patriarch of a family within the home, and eventually kills the man when he makes an attempt on Ben’s life. When Ben is left the last survivor of a night of horrors, he is tragically shot dead by a roaming band of vigilante white men who seek to ‘purify’ the country of the zombie outbreak. In an outcome that Romero says was unplanned but that Jones always expected, the film reflects the anxieties of the civil rights movement era (Kinney, 2022), depicting the violent retribution that occurs when a Black person integrates into white society. The film caused such outrage that Jones was followed from set by violent racists for his role in the production (Dead Meat, 2021, 12:13). It is clear that the film’s positioning of a Black man as a valid and moral (as one can be in a zombie film) protagonist was divisive, due to the historical context of the film’s release, and how it intentionally and unintentionally responded to it.
28 Days Later, Urban Catastrophes, and Epidemics
28 Days Later (Boyle, 2003) presents a freshly post-9/11 audience with images of an abandoned London, inspired by the aftermath of disasters in Cambodia and China (Bishop, 2009). Despite not being intended as such, as the film was written and began shoots before September 11th, 2001, it strongly evoked the empty New York streets of 9/11 to the audience at release. In strong contrast to the audiences of 1968 which were shocked by graphic depictions of foreign threats, the audience of 28 Days Later witnessed an uncanny parallel between the film and their own experiences of witnessing terrorist attacks and natural disasters (Bishop, 2010) through the same digital cameras the film was shot with. The film also evokes the horror of contagion, as it prominently features a viral origin of the zombie infection; the audience was primed to be terrified of outbreaks of Ebola, mad cow disease, and SARS, among other diseases and viruses, due to then-recent epidemics across the globe (Echeverría-Domingo, 2018). Boyle manufactured a theoretical virus dubbed “Rage”, as inspired by real viral infections and “road rage, air rage, shopping rage, and their ilk” (Boyle & Dunham, 2009), capturing the hateful divisions inside societies, encased in a virus ‘shell’. Far removed from the zombie’s Haitian roots and its twentieth-century adaptations, 28 Days Later cements the zombie renaissance of post-9/11 zombie media as firmly based on cultural anxieties and real-world events, in this case terrorism, viral infection, and rage.
Dawn of the Dead and Domestic Terrorism
Capitalising on the revival of the genre, Dawn of the Dead (Snyder, 2004) remakes the sequel to Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, with the new sensibilities of 28 Days Later, including fast zombies, viral infection, and a preoccupation with current social issues. In an expansion of the human cast to ~16 survivors, each character occupies a cultural niche and represents a kind of person, replicating the relationships the audience experiences in their real, everyday lives. When each character falls in turn to the zombie horde, the audience is confronted with the violent corruption of representations of their friends and family, into bloodthirsty monsters that seek to hunt and kill. In this way, it represents the fear of terrorism as a disease that spreads and infects ordinary citizens via propaganda, or in this metaphor, biting (Cloyd, 2017). Here, the film shows an important distinction from Romero’s works, as the ensemble cast enables the audience to find characters to closely identify with. This self-insertion is then used to horrify audiences with the prospect of the zombie apocalypse, and the social upheaval of the war on terror.
Shaun of the Dead, Irony, and the Zombie Fantasy
Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004), in its extended parallels between the pre-zombie and post-zombie life of Shaun (portrayed by the film’s writer Simon Pegg), engages in a form of genre hybridization between zombie horror and comedy (Baillon & Labarre, 2015). This is done for comedic effect and irony, as Shaun is seemingly unaware of the apocalypse unfolding around him, but allows for a counterhegemonic reading of the film that shows audiences that Shaun’s wage slave life is parallel to the experience of a zombie. Miller & Van (2016) argue that this is due to an “awareness of his own under-achievement and societal displacement.” Shaun’s life is seemingly cyclical, consisting of a daily walking routine, a tenuous romantic relationship, and a repetitive friendship, all of which reoccur in the film; Shaun’s walk to work is repeated in the same long shot, Shaun promises Liz that he will change the disappointing status quo of their relationship despite past failed attempts to do so, and Shaun’s videogaming friendship with Ed persists even through undeath. Shaun breaks out of this cycle in front of the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse, where he has an opportunity to break from routine and be heroic, having honest conversations with his loved ones and prioritising his girlfriend as he promised to. Simon Pegg and his friend and co-star Nick Frost say, in the DVD extras for Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004), that they were inspired to write the film due to their own discussions about what they would do in a zombie apocalypse, and this influence is clear in the film. Here, the awareness of the audience of zombie media and the survivalist fantasies they have are used to project an audience member into the role of protagonist, and offer them victory over their daily problems. The cultural context of the film is not used to fuel the horror of the zombie genre, but it is foundationally important as the basis of the fantasy of the apocalyptic hero.
Conclusion
The progression of the zombie sub-genre, from its nuclear origins to the zombie renaissance, charts a course of increasing relevance to the individual audience member. What began as a reinvention of Haitian Vodou films with Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968) was a shocking, foreign depiction of unprecedented levels of violence that the audience was not accustomed to. As the genre moved forward, cast sizes expanded, and the genre came to represent not the individual struggle for survival, but society’s struggle to survive despite each other’s differences. This change heightened another emerging trend, the move towards more relevant depiction of audience’s lives, fears, and cultural anxieties; in a post-9/11 world, viewing access to real world violence is only a click away, and the news is filled with threats to the audience’s way of life. The zombie genre has become increasingly about how one would respond to such a threat, and not just the horror of the imagery itself; as the world is faced with financial crises, cultural polarisation, climate change, and disease, the zombie genre, post-9/11, has become the representation of this horror at the audience’s door.
References:
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