Jordan's A2 Media Blog

'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.

'Dawn of the Dead' (2004) Ana gets Stephen Analysis

This is the scene in ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004) where the buses have just crashed after Kenneth losing control. After the crash Stephen recovers, grabs a pistol and exits the bus. In the process rejects Kenneth’s hand out for help, signalling his betrayal of the group. He gets bitten by a zombie and turns into one, Ana goes to save the others and is faced with him. She shoots him in the head resulting in his death.

This is all about the dominant characters and their representations. Ana is the goal-directed protagonist (a key feature in Vladimir Propp's “Morphology of the Folktale”) and she drives the group's survival forward. Ana is extremely feisty in the process, being a lot more influential character than any of the men. Ana often wears white vests, jackets and denim jeans fitting to her tomboy style final girl archetype. This is due to the fact that what she wears doesn’t indicate weakness it conveys strength and lack of fascination on appearance, a trait that is very common for a final girl.

Stephen is a very arrogant, self-involved, insensitive character that does nothing but get in the way and make things more difficult for the rest of the group through his selfishness. For example when he had to hold the door for the characters who went to save Nicole’s life but he didn’t bother, nearly resulting in their death. This shot indicates that good ultimately prevails, people who are all for themselves and are selfish are the ones that become worse off. Plus, Ana is holding a gun directly at his face, which is a phallic symbol, which connotes to the rise of feminism, relating to the current context. She is overpowering an arrogant man with her power.

This shot is all about representation and how characters are perceived and, as with many horror films, this reverses negative sexist stereotypes and presents a pro-feminist ideology through the mise-en-scene.

'Dawn of the Dead' (2004) Opening Credits Mosque Analysis

This is the Opening Title Sequence from ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004). It begins to introduce the different credits such as Directors etc. This is along with all with different shots, ranging from this mosque shots to images of zombies. It is very quick editing to begin the film, changing from one shot to the other very rapidly; this gives you this real sense of panic. There is also some non-diegetic sound of a speech which almost sounds presidential. This implies that the different shots of mosques, American flags and wars are not just a coincidental occurrence with each other.

This opening scene is very much tapping into 2004's Cultural Dominant Ideology of terrorism. It is using the context of events such as 9/11 which was only 3 years prior to this film. This means that this was still very fresh in people’s mind so this is tapping into a lot of the public’s fears. The non-diegetic sound of Jonny Cash’s song called ‘Man Comes Around’, this song addresses a lot of issues, it talks about how humans have made this mess for themselves and how it will result in an Armageddon or a Biblical ‘End of the World’, this links very closely with religion such as Christianity. In the bible it indicates that humans will be the end of the world, his creation will be the devastation, which also links strongly with other religions. This shot further backs up the feeling of terrorism from an America’s point of view because it shows a high angle looking down upon thousands of Muslims praying. It signifies that no matter how many there are that they are inferior to America.

This scene gives you a deep insight into the sub-narrative of the film. The quick editing doesn’t allow you to think too much about it on the first viewing, but all the different components in this scene clearly point to the effect terrorism has affected America’s context. On repeated viewings, the clear suggestion is that the zombie virus has spread from the Middle East.