'Dawn of the Dead' (2004) Escape on Boat Analysis

This is the escaping scene of ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004) where they have finally got to Stephen’s boat and are drifting in to the sunset.

This shot is all about how patriotic America is. Here you have the protagonist of the film, who has drove the story forward and been the most influential character to the narrative, standing next to an American Flag as they are drifting into the sunset. This all connotes to freedom in America, it is the director’s way of saying that above all, no matter how hard something hits us, such as terrorism, we are still America and you are still free in the end. It is signifying the amount of power America have and how influential they are, not only to themselves but to the world. This form is of deliberate patriotic signs are also used in The Hills Have Eyes (2006), in this film an American Flag is used to kill one of the enemies. It was also used to create this ultimate power of American protecting them from the rest and all the who endanger them. This was also made post 9/11, linking very much to the context at the time, further proven by this quote by Big Brain “Your people asked our families to leave the towns, and you destroyed our homes. We went into the mines; you set off your bombs, and turned everything into ashes. You made us what we’ve become. Boom! Boom! Boom!”

This shot is an extremely clever way of using the mise-en-scene to create this patriotic feel and to make a very bold point with the sub-narrative of relationship between America and terrorism. Plus, this shows what the country stands for is characters like Ana, strong, caring characters that show true leadership as that is how they want to be perceived as a country to all audiences. On the boat there is also the black male protagonist Kenneth, along with Nicole and Terry. This is used to further back up the more understanding nature of the current CDI, with a range of characters, some of which seem weak or unlikely to live till the end, they do. However, there was one character that was quite clearly the male hero throughout and that was Michael. He sacrificed his life to save the final girl Ana, an action that replicates the conventions of a male hero, outing the woman’s life before his own.



This scene can be located at 1 Hour 42 minutes in to this clip, demonstrating the where the still shot came from.