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Zombieland: Social Commentary, not so much…
By Rusty Shackleford | October 8, 2009
You can’t throw a dead cat and not hit a new zombie flick now-a-days (mostly direct-to-dvd releases), and with that, I was really hesitant about seeing the new zom-com, Zombieland. It took reading only one review, and I was sold:
But when the movie is over, it is little more than empty experience lacking any sort of real depth or social commentary.
…
Right about now, some of you are probably saying, “It’s a f***ing zombie movie, asshole! It doesn’t need depth or social commentary!” To which I would respond, “The greatest zombie movies of all time–Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead–all had depth and social commentary.” Hell, even zombie movies that skimp on the social commentary in exchange for humor–Return of the Living Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Dead Alive–have a certain amount of depth and story complexity that makes it more than just movie about the walking dead. But the problem with Zombieland is that it makes no social commentary, it trades depth and dimension for humor, and instead of seamlessly mixing the humor and the horror the way Return of the Living Dead and others have, it treats the two as separate elements. The result is a movie that is both horror and comedy, but seldom at the same time.
Loosely translated: I like my zombie movies to make a statement about the world in which we live. Why are the zombies here? Were they not once human like us? Should they not be allowed to exist? Why do they want to eat our brains? Why all the killing and mayhem? Can the zombies be reasoned with? Has anyone ever tried to reason with a zombie? Why do the zombies hate us? Is George W. Bush to blame? Capitalism, perhaps? Why is everyone’s first reaction when approached by a zombie to put a bullet in its brain? Why all the violence?! It’s deep and philosophical questions such as these that need to be addressed in the zombie-film genre. [/pretentious film school graduate]
Yeah, I get it, George Romero was making a statement with his zombie flicks or something…”Night” dealt with the issue of race relations, “Dawn” was telling us that we’re the actual zombies and that going to the mall and consuming is bad, “Day” was a commentary on the military-industrial complex, and “Land” (the worst of the four) was a shot at the then Bush administration. We get it George, subtle, but we get it.
I find humor in the fact that in the eventuality of a Zombie Apocalypse, only the strong (intellectuals?) shall survive. I’ve blogged this before, but it still boggles my mind…
While one can certainly use zombies to express all kinds of ideas, I would argue that at heart, the genre is a progressive one. It’s true that fighting off the zombie horde requires plentiful firearms, no doubt pleasing Second Amendment advocates. And in a zombie movie, government tends to be either ineffectual or completely absent. On the other hand, when the zombie apocalypse comes, capitalism breaks down, too — people aren’t going to be exchanging money for goods and services; they’re just going to break into the hardware store and grab what they need (and if you think your private health insurer is going to be paying claims for treatment of zombie bites, you’re living in a dream world). But most important, what ensures survival in a zombie story are the progressive ideals of common cause and collective action. A small group of people from varying backgrounds are thrust together and find that they can transcend their differences of age, race, and gender (the typical band of survivors is a veritable United Nations of cultural diversity). They come to understand that if they’re going to get out of this with their brains kept securely housed in their skulls and not travelling down some zombie’s gullet, they’ve got to act as though they’re all in it together. Surviving the tide of zombies requires community and mutual responsibility. What could be more progressive than that?
“In the event of a zombie apocalypse, will progressive ideals win out?”
DO YOU SEE!! We’re all in this together! If it weren’t for the progressives who’d tell us how to load our 870s correctly in order to protect their limp-wristed intellectual asses?!? Who else is gonna protect them when they sit around and smoke pot all day as the undead walk the earth?
Anyway…Zombieland kicked ass. Violent, gory, scary, hilarious…what more do you want out of a zombie-flick? And for you purists, yes, the undead are of the Danny Boyle fast-moving variety, but what are ya gonna do?
That is all.
Topics: Film Geek, Stupid things the Left does/says, Zombie Apocalypse |
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