Zombie Research Paper Essay Example
Richard Petaccio
11/17/10
Dirmeyer
My thesis focuses on the social commentary found in the second entry of George A. Romero’s “Living Dead Tetraology" Dawn of The Dead (1978), specifically on issues of the representation of race, class, culture and violence in the four films, and how these representations, along with the social critique evident in Romero's work, change in response to the upheavals and developments which have occurred in the American social, cultural and political climate over the past four decades.
While many may assume that the blood, guts and the horror genre are the ingredients for mindless entertainment, George Romero's 1978 film Dawn of the Dead is concrete proof that extreme gore and violence doesn't always equal a dumb movie and that the two can make very nice bedfellows. Dawn of the Dead is used by Romero primarily as examine and critique the state of race and class issues in the United States, including the very consumer culture that feeds the industry.
The plot of this film follows four survivors of the zombie apocalypse that has ensued after the events of Night of the Living Dead as they hold up in a shopping mall to try while the dead shamble aimlessly. However, this poses another problem, as once their home has been built up in the midst of the atrocities; will our hero's be able to give up all that they have built? Dawn of the Dead is an epic view of a civilization in decline". It is the violence at the heart of the American experience that Romero turns his critical eye towards in Dawn of the Dead, and the only way to adequately showcase it is through the extremes of exploding heads and splattering viscera. The movie, which takes place at the Monroeville Shopping Mall outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a biting satire of the modern consumerist way of life. It may also be considered a mocking portrayal of mankind's persistent inability to cooperate or make decisions based on logic rather than emotion in the
11/17/10
Dirmeyer
My thesis focuses on the social commentary found in the second entry of George A. Romero’s “Living Dead Tetraology" Dawn of The Dead (1978), specifically on issues of the representation of race, class, culture and violence in the four films, and how these representations, along with the social critique evident in Romero's work, change in response to the upheavals and developments which have occurred in the American social, cultural and political climate over the past four decades.
While many may assume that the blood, guts and the horror genre are the ingredients for mindless entertainment, George Romero's 1978 film Dawn of the Dead is concrete proof that extreme gore and violence doesn't always equal a dumb movie and that the two can make very nice bedfellows. Dawn of the Dead is used by Romero primarily as examine and critique the state of race and class issues in the United States, including the very consumer culture that feeds the industry.
The plot of this film follows four survivors of the zombie apocalypse that has ensued after the events of Night of the Living Dead as they hold up in a shopping mall to try while the dead shamble aimlessly. However, this poses another problem, as once their home has been built up in the midst of the atrocities; will our hero's be able to give up all that they have built? Dawn of the Dead is an epic view of a civilization in decline". It is the violence at the heart of the American experience that Romero turns his critical eye towards in Dawn of the Dead, and the only way to adequately showcase it is through the extremes of exploding heads and splattering viscera. The movie, which takes place at the Monroeville Shopping Mall outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a biting satire of the modern consumerist way of life. It may also be considered a mocking portrayal of mankind's persistent inability to cooperate or make decisions based on logic rather than emotion in the