Romero’s
Dawn: Fighting the Urge to Become a Zombified Consumerist
The opening minutes of George A. Romero’s 1978 film Dawn of the Dead thrust viewers into a
country that has devolved into chaos as society is in the throes of a zombie
apocalypse. Immediately the viewer is introduced to Fran who is a news reporter
with the WGN television network. Her significant other, Stephen, is the WGN
television network traffic reporter and he offers up the idea of stealing the
helicopter from the station to fly from the city of Philadelphia to safety. The
two of them connect with Roger and Peter, police officers on separate SWAT
teams that descend on an apartment building to help quell an uprising. Seeing a
possible way out all four characters get on the helicopter and head out west
looking for some means of safety and security from the onrushing mobs of
creatures they leave behind. After a brief stopover to fuel the helicopter, the
four survivors decide they need to find a place to rest and find something to
eat. As hope is dwindling away they see a large shopping mall which appears on
the horizon promising the supplies they need. Stephen lands on the roof and the
survivors look down through the skylights assessing the situation at hand. What
they see is a consumerist palace full of stocked stores and electrical power
with a few zombies walking the halls of the building. The four survivors take
shelter inside the building and from there the film becomes a battle for
survival as they attempt to keep out the zombies that constantly come banging
on the doors.
Fran, trying to get a handle on what is happening when
they land at the mall, proposes the question as to why the zombies have come to
this place as civilization is falling. Her boyfriend Stephen answers with the
words that echo throughout the remainder of the film, “Some kind of instinct.
Memory, of what they used to do. This was an important place in their lives” (Dawn
of the Dead, 1978). With that it
becomes clear that the overt metaphor Romero is discussing in the discourse of
the film is the idea of consumerism. Specifically, he is looking at how
ingrained in society the need to own and consume goods has become in the
twentieth century. Consuming has become such a part of culture that even when
characters die in Romero’s film they still search for the mall. At some point,
the desires of conscious living beings have drifted into the conscious of
beings that no longer are living. With the zombies pushed into the background,
it moves the four survivors to the forefront focusing attention on their
actions in this time of crisis. The zombies offer a threatening presence that
hover over the surviving characters in the film, but the real story focuses on
the survivors and how they are engaging the consumerist paradise surrounding
them.
Romero’s film serves as a commentary on America’s slavish
devotion to consumerist tendencies. As Kyle Bishop points out about the film,
“The insatiable need to purchase, own, and consume has become so deeply
ingrained in twentieth-century Americans that their reanimated corpses are
relentlessly driven by the same instincts and needs” (Bishop 234). Romero is
specifically looking at Americans of the 1970s and how they have become zombies
long before they have begun a never-ending search for human flesh. They are
slaves to the ideology of consumerism traveling to the mall in a ritual of
procuring and consuming goods. Using the mall as the location is natural
because, “the shopping mall remains a cultural fascination in capitalist
countries” (Harper). At the mall, shoppers have a vast array of products to
select from, while having outlets for food, movies, and as much or little human
interaction that they could want. It is a destination, meeting place, and
social center for people of all ages. By attacking the ideology of consumerism
Romero is going after a target that is central to the capitalist economy in
which Americans live. Dawn of the Dead
is a film that at first glance appears to be offering some confirmation of
America’s love of consumerist culture. The survivors take up residence in the
mall which provides a flight of fantasy, or “mall fantasia,” (Loudermilk 93) where
everything is free and available to anyone who has the means of acquiring the
items. A closer look at the film though reveals what Jean-Louis Comolli and
Jean Narboni described as a Category E film in their essay
“Cinema/Ideology/Criticism.” That category of films turns ideology on its ear by
presenting themselves as a text subversive to the dominant ideology. In
discussing the end result of this category of films they wrote, “The ideology
thus becomes subordinate to the text. It no longer has an independent existence.
It is presented by the film…While being completely integrated in the system and
the ideology (these films) end up partially dismantling the system from within”
(Comolli and Narboni 483). Romero is trying to be disruptive in this film by
putting the ideology of consumerism under a microscope for viewers. While
shopping holds a special place for certain people, Romero wants those same
people to carefully examine these relationships to uncover what that love of
purchasing actually means. In this particular scenario there is no outside
world, there is no law, and there is no working towards anything. To go a step
further he sets an analogy in the film that, “Seems to suggest that devotion to
an inadequate ritual robs people of their souls, reduces them to zombies” (Horne
105). Viewers are prodded into looking inside themselves to examine why they
are attached to items that can be bought even if it is something ingrained deeply
into their being.
The 1970s saw a paradigm shift in how capitalism worked
for most Americans. According to Rick Wolff, a Professor of Economics at the
University of Massachusetts, real wages for workers rose every decade from 1820
to 1970. While wages were rising however, the output of the American worker was
increasing at a faster rate. Wolff argues that there were a number of factors
that risked upsetting the balance of work output versus rising wages.
Specifically he mentions that there would be an uprising from the workers if “Rising
wages did not suffice to make them (the workers) ignore the growing inequality
of US life, or if they rejected subordination to ever more automated,
exhausting work disciplines” (Wolff). At that point the companies, and the
economic markers, switched towards pushing the idea of consumerism. If people
had purchasable items put in front of them as distractions then they would
never question the clearly evident divide in front of them. In the 70s, real
worker wages stopped rising, but the demand for goods did not stop. That
never-ending feeling of obtaining more is an idea referred to by Aristotle as “pleonexia,”
which means, “the disposition to have more” (Walker 83). To go a step beyond that, it
further means grabbing for extra even when you have your share. Aristotle
further says, “Those who grasp seek to keep at bay the inescapable bad fortune
with which death confronts us” (Wolff). Stephen’s character in the film is the
main character that has a tendency to be openly grabbing for items at multiple
occasions even when he already has everything. It is his idea to steal the
helicopter because, “Someone has to survive” (Dawn of the Dead) When Fran shows some reservations about staying
in the mall Stephen tries to reassure her by pointing out how much is in the
mall telling her, “This place is terrific! It really is! It’s perfect. All
kinds of things. We’ve really got it made here” (Dawn of the Dead). The mall itself factors into the idea of
consumerism because it helped cause a shift from small stores to supercenters
where everything can be found, but at a cost of human interaction and social
identities as malls do not have room for conscious shoppers. The lack of
conscious shoppers is a concern because as wages trend downward that should
trigger a decline in interest of goods but that never occurred. Romero is
arguing that people need to be more discretionary in how they spend their money
and thus engage in consumerism.
Most of the literature regarding the film has focused
solely on the views of Romero regarding consumerism. With Romero putting the
metaphor squarely in the narrative of the film it is hard not to focus on the
almost satirical nature of the film. In a documentary on the making of this
film, Romero admits as such by offering, “The moment we come in and see [the
mall], I think it is going to be obvious about the false security of consumer
society . . . In this film the people starting to get tempted and attracted by
the mall and adopting their military attempts to taking it over . . .these are
things that I’ve tried to stay as close as possible to the script” (Document of the Dead, 1985). Scholars
argue the film is drawing a line in the sand against the ideology of
consumerism- the machinations of the film point too directly in that direction
to be ignored. The zombies fill up the mall;
the survivors stay there enjoying the plentiful goods, and ultimately a
motorcycle gang of thugs break into the mall searching for their own piece of
what is inside. Consumerism is flayed in the course of the two hour film by
Romero. It is an idea that most scholarly pieces about the film have picked up
and run with. However, Romero is not quite as nihilistic in his motives as some
of the writings make him seem. It is clear that while Romero does reject some
concepts of consumerism, he does not reject them all. Malls can confuse people
towards identifying a good life with gadget oriented affluence but the mall in
the film does offer sanctuary to the four survivors. The majority of the
literature discussing the film focuses on the evils of consumerism though it
misses the distinction that Romero is making between different forms of our
consumerist tendencies. There is a line Romero draws between good consumerism
and the perversion of consumerism. Furthermore, that line is drawn based off
how the individual characters interact with the environment of the mall. Romero
showcases the mall as the constructed ecosystem it is, with all the familiar
trademarks that are recognizable to viewers. Fountains spit water upward,
stores are brightly lit, and shelves are stocked with goods ready for purchase.
Not all of the characters though relish the gleeful plundering of the mall.
Throughout the film the viewer is shown different modes of engaging with the
mall and in the end, the fates of the four survivors are tied to how much
respect they show their new home. Romero is arguing that while the ideology of
consumerism can corrupt individuals, if people exercise some restraint and
discretion towards how they operate within that ideology, they will never fully
succumb to it. In attempting to do this he uses a mix of dialogue and camera
shots throughout the film to set up the differences. Fran and Peter (the two
characters that ultimately survive) are shown multiple times with the camera
looking up at them in situations where the consumerism ideology is at play with
the implication being that they are above the accepted ideology, or good
consumers. Stephen and Roger (the two characters that do not survive) are shown
at camera level or the camera looks down on them in situations where that
ideology is in play with the implication being that they are consumed with the
ideology, or a perversion of consumerism. There are also some efforts to show
certain characters as being boxed in at times or surrounded by the ideology
around them.
To Romero’s credit he takes great care to show the mall
in its unblemished form. While the world outside is crumbling, the mall stays
intact. It is not unrecognizable to viewers because the impending apocalypse
has so far failed to destroy the place. What the viewer is seeing is their
consumerist palace in the way they most easily recognize it. When focusing on
the differentiation between how survivors interact with the mall though it is
important to first focus on how the mall appears in the film and consequently
how it works in the lives of those that shop there. In a study done to focus on
how malls try to appeal to consumers, Pauline Maclaran and Stephen Brown
conducted a study of a new shopping center being built in Ireland. Within the
course of the study they found that stores are arranged in a manner to create
the most appealing artscape, or design, to make shoppers comfortable in their
stores (Maclaran and Brown 321). Combined with some other factors this helps to
create a feeling of topophilia, or a love of place, in shoppers. Romero
recognized this mission of developers and placed that within the context of the
film. In his original shooting script Romero describes the mall as a shrine
built to consumerism for consumers, “Stores of every type offer gaudy displays
of consumer items…At either end of the concourse, like the main altars at each
end of a cathedral, stand the mammoth two-story department stores, great
symbols of a consumer society” (Horne 97). Designers of mall layouts have an
understanding that they need to foster a rapport between consumers and the shopping
experience. However, there needs to be a sense of harmony between the design
and those who experience the design. In Dawn
of the Dead, the harmonious nature comes out of necessity for the four
survivors, but for the zombies it comes out of familiarity.
Prior to arriving at the mall the survivors are having a
discussion about their current predicament and where they should be heading.
Roger and Stephen are in the front of the helicopter with Fran and Peter
sitting in the back. As they assess the maps they talk about avoiding locks
along the rivers outside of Pittsburgh since those are probably still manned by
guards. Stephen offers the argument that, “They are just out after scavengers
and looters” (Dawn of the Dead). Peter
quickly responds by angrily asking if Stephen has the papers for the helicopter
they are flying. A clear contrast in their thoughts on the situation at hand is
immediately evident. Stephen does not see them as doing anything illegal. He is
still trying to differentiate between good and bad but does not recognize that
what they are doing is a bad form of procurement. Peter though, realizes that
the four of them are engaging in the behavior that Stephen is decrying. To
further his side Peter adds, “Right. And we’re out here doing traffic reports?
Wake up sucker. We’re thieves and bad guys is what we are. And we gotta find
our own way” (Dawn of the Dead). Peter
recognizes the group as being bad consumers in this instance. There is nothing
that elevates them above a common looter because they stole something and are using
that for their benefit. It is a distinction that comes into play throughout the
rest of the film. With Stephen being unable to differentiate what they are
doing from looters he is placing himself into an area where he is unable to
make a choice away from consumerism. Peter’s comments show that he is not lost
in the ideology of consumerism because he is able to recognize what is good and
what is bad.
The screen goes dark after this exchange before a smash
cut, accompanied by a loud musical change on the soundtrack, switches us to
daylight with the helicopter hovering towards the mall. A shot from the sky
shows the mall in the left side of the frame with the vast parking lot taking
up a majority of the picture. They circle further on towards the mall with the
parking lot gradually taking up more and more of the frame. The shot itself
makes it appear as if the helicopter is willing them to go forward to another
destination. At the very least it offers some sense of internal debate within
the survivors about whether or not they should land there. The ominous music on
the soundtrack increases the palpable uneasy feeling of this structure despite
it offering the security the survivors are seeking. Unsurprisingly that binary
nature is noticed in the film. Philip Horne’s essay on the film incorporates a
quote from Robin Wood that offers, “The mall is associated with entrapment in
consumer-capitalism, from whose structures and characteristic relationship-patterns
the surviving humans must learn to extricate themselves or succumb to the
living dead.” (Horne 99). When the building is first viewed it is hard to see
why any person would be attracted to it.
On its exterior the mall is a cold looking concrete building with minimal
entrances in and no windows, other than the glass in the doors, looking out. The
wide shot of the mall then switches into quick cut clips of exterior places around
the mall. A light post marked “30” is shown in a mid-range shot with the camera
looking up at the post where the viewer can clearly read what is on the sign. The
very next shot though is under that same light post looking directly up at it
to the point where the number is not visible and all it appears to be is four
lights hovering over the viewer. It is a disorienting shot in that it is not
recognizable to the viewer. Marked light posts offer a frame of reference for
consumers when they exit the mall. From the first angle we get that post from
the angle most common for shoppers. It is at a distance where the number can be
seen and the viewer can walk forward with some confidence about their parking
situation. The second shot though furthers the sense of unease about the place.
This is the mall that one knows, but there is now something different about it.
Following that cut we get a shot of the fence surrounding the electrical area
of the mall with the foreboding, “Danger! High Voltage!” sign. Electrical areas
are usually tucked away on the backside of a mall hidden from shoppers. It is
not a space that creates a warm fuzzy feeling in consumers. In fact, it stands
as a sense of danger- a space trying to shield itself from the on rushing
shoppers advancing through the parking lot. Taken literally in this instance,
it is alerting the survivors that there is trouble waiting for them the minute
they enter this facility. The very last shot in the sequence is the entrance
marker as the helicopter flies past in the background landing on the roof. Again
this situates the survivors into a place where they can recognize the mall as
they remember it, welcoming and offering to them a place to purchase to their
heart’s content. Of the four images, two offer some sense of familiarity while
the other two offer a stern warning towards the survivors. While this mall
resembles something from their not too distant past, the world is different and
the surroundings have changed.
Once inside the mall the survivors see that there is a
storage room that is separate from the rest of the building, a place where they
could situate themselves and be protected from the zombies already in the
place. When they get set up in there, Roger and Peter decide to go down into
the mall and lock off some of the stores to allow themselves access to places
without having to go through the mob of undead. It is referred to by both as a
“hit and run” mission but there are some telling signs indicating their
feelings on what that term actually means. Peter offers that there is a lot of
stuff down there that they could use. Roger says the place is a gold mine.
Using those opposing viewpoints there is a discussion to be had about procuring
things one needs and things one wants.
They step into the electrical room and Roger sees a wall
that has a number of switches which control the automated aspects of the mall.
Peter says to turn everything on so they have power in the entire facility. To
this point the mall is a drab, dark place with no life to it. The zombies are
walking the halls expressionless as they move from one end of the building to
the other. As Roger begins turning on aspects of the mall the viewer begins to
see the mall come to life through a sequence that alternates between switches
being turned on, and showing what that switch did and its effects. It is in
this sequence where viewers see why the mall is so hard to extract oneself
from.
First, Roger flicks the switch for the music which turns
on the easy listening muzak which is commonly heard throughout a mall’s speaker
system. The music itself carries an ambling nature designed to mimic the
process of walking as a shopper could easily move in tune with the notes. When
the music starts we cut to the zombies walking through the mall and this
matching nature can be seen. Their expression never changes to indicate that
there is a foreign noise now being played. Nothing about this is out of place to them as
it taps into the memory they are recalling of being in the mall before. The
scene cuts back to Roger as he flicks the switch for the escalators. Once those
are on we see a shot of two zombies being carried to the second level on the
machine. Again there is no change in the expression on the faces of the zombies
as this action still does not seem out of the ordinary to them. Next to be
turned on by Roger are the fountains which begin shooting water into the air
followed quickly by Roger turning on the exhibits in the mall. Artwork emerges
from behind sliding partitions in the wall which reveal the pieces designed to
create an ambience in the walkways. This switch also gives movement to the
mannequins in the stores which begin turning towards the shoppers to showcase
the items that are available for purchase. Here in this sequence Romero works
to show that the zombies and mannequins share similar qualities. Viewers see a
brunette mannequin wearing lipstick turn towards the camera from right to left
to show her face. This shot immediately cuts to a similar looking zombie
turning from left to right in frame. Both movements are done with an almost
mechanical precision with very little fluidity contained within the movements. It
looks like these are mirror image shots. From pairing these scenes up side by
side Romero is offering a comparison which shows that the mannequins and
zombies, and by extension the shoppers, are similar. Shops want people to
purchase their goods and in doing so essentially turn shoppers into walking
mannequins. Wandering aimlessly through the mall without any engagement is
turning oneself into a zombie- something devoid of emotional attachment and
just searching for something to grab, be it clothes or brains. Mindlessly
walking through the mall and being unaffected by everything happening in the
background is succumbing to the system. It is what shops and malls want from
the people that go there. One is not supposed to think about what they are
purchasing because stopping and thinking about a purchase may lead to not
making a purchase.
Romero gives us the opposing view of this by cutting to
Fran at the tail end of this back and forth sequence. She is standing in the
stairwell as a lookout for the sleeping Stephen and is clearly annoyed by the
music she is hearing over the loudspeaker. After a few seconds of dealing with
it she rolls her eyes upward and flips her hair backward in an annoyed manner
before going back into the room to wake up Stephen. In this shot the camera is
a level below Fran looking up at her. Contrast that with the following shot
where the camera is on the same level of the mall- albeit out in the concourse
area and not the stairwell- looking down at the zombies on the bottom floor of
the mall. If one thinks of the camera level looking straight ahead as being the
platform of consumerism, the camera is looking up at Fran as if she is above
this crass commercialization, and casting aspersions on the zombies for being a
part of the machine or being figuratively under its spell. The camera cuts back
to the same level as the zombies to show them mystified by what is happening
around them in the mall. Two zombies foolishly walk into the fountains chasing
the movement of the water. A mass of zombies wander towards the clock in the
middle of the building drawn by the siren sound of the chimes. One zombie is
stuck in the fountain and is grabbing change from the floor of the decorative
piece. As zombies ride the escalator one has fallen down and just lays
motionless on the device as it goes to the upper level. Other zombies behind
him on the escalator just step around him as he lies at the top of the steps.
They never acknowledge his presence there but just continue moving forward
towards their destinations. Viewed as a collection, all these scenes work as
vignettes of things one could see on any given day at a mall. As pointed out
earlier, Romero is taking great pains to show the mall in a form that viewers
would be familiar with. Malls try to create a blissful effect where shoppers
are lulled into a comatose state within a system that only asks them to
continually purchase goods. Throughout this sequence, beginning with Fran, we
see the dichotomy of consumer culture, with Fran representing consumers trying
to operate outside the system by proposing indifference to the charms of the
mall. Conversely the zombies act as the masses that would normally populate the
mall on any regular day. There is zero thought given to what they are doing,
consumption is the only thing on their mind.
Throughout their initial shopping spree Roger and Peter
take different tracts towards what they pick up. Roger immediately yells about getting watches-
an item that is not essential to survival. Peter offers to grab a radio and
television set which are, “the things we need” (Dawn of the Dead). The camera shot is from a high angle looking
down on the two men as they run through the store, however Peter disappears
from the shot with Roger being the only one in frame. Again, the camera is
casting blame on Roger for his actions. Grabbing items that do not qualify as
necessities is bad consumerism. With the keys to the building now as well the
survivors have a certain level of power that is not usually granted to those
outside of the system, but they choose to use the same methods that the
consumerist creators use. As A. Loudermilk points out, “The runners (Peter and
Roger), must enact a sort of false advertising- as decoys- in order to maneuver
the slow-moving cluster of zombies…For the time being it seems that the desired
human consumable has one-up on Romero’s walking dead consumer” (Loudermilk 92).
Simply put, when the two men need to get out away from this situation the
method they use is similar to one used by malls. Divert the shopper in one
direction to hide something else. Falling for this course of action the zombies
remove themselves from being a threat and instead are drawn to the allure of
the sale.
The survivors attempt to close off the mall which
requires them to move trucks from an adjacent parking yard to the front of the
doors. In this process Roger is bitten by a zombie and is doomed to become one.
Peter throughout the scene keeps the mission solely in the front of his mind.
He is being careful about everything he is doing. Roger is more reckless in his
actions and looks at this as an activity not worthy of care or respect. At one point Roger and Peter start to pull
away but Roger insists they go back because he forgot his bag. Peter asks him
to let it go but Roger persists. Again we are witnessing bad consumerism. He is
unwilling to move on and let what he thinks is his get left behind. After he is
bitten the camera looks down at Roger with the zombie in the foreground
obscuring part of Roger’s body. Roger is also stuck between two trucks with no
escape. He was figuratively and literally trapped by his need to pursue what he
felt was rightfully his.
After the mall has been sealed off and cleared of zombies
the four survivors survey the emptiness and vastness of the building in front
of them. At this point the mall is entirely their own. They are positioned on
the upper level of the building and as they view the aftermath of their
takeover the camera focuses downward into the mall as if the three of them are
looking down on consumerism and are above the lemming like nature of shopping.
Although they are in solitude the moaning and groaning of the zombies can still
be heard echoing through the hallways. Fran and Stephen talk about the fact
that the creatures are still lurking and Stephen says they are after us. Peter
disagrees with this and offers, “They’re after the place. They don’t know why,
they just remember. Remember that they want to be in here” (Dawn of the Dead). With this statement Peter recognizes what Stephen
did earlier- the ingrained nature of this place in the lives of the living.
Fran questions what the creatures are and Peter answers by pointedly stating,
“They’re us. That’s all” (Dawn of the Dead). There is a sense of melancholy that pervades
throughout this discussion about what is happening around them. Whether they
are longing for what this place once stood for or solely lamenting their own
fates at this point the discussion focuses almost solely on what they need to
do now. One could make the assumption that the survivors can see where their
fates are drifting at this point. In his piece about the film, Tony Williams
wrote, “Mindlessness, the suspension of any form of critically-minded
independent thought and passivity, characterizes any true believer whether they
adhere to the realms of capitalism…The four humans soon become reduced to
conditions of mindless passivity like their living dead alter egos” (Williams
93). While there is some validity to this in the actions of the survivors, it
is clear from what he says that Peter doesn’t view himself, or the others, as
being above the zombies although the camera positions them in this manner once
again. He phrases his comments in a knowing manner about the reality of this
situation. If one falls victim to the hedonistic pleasures the mall offers than
they have removed themselves from the position of spectator and are a part of
the machine, and essentially part of the problem. Peter may fall into the trap
of the mall but his comments reveal a certain level of humanity inside of him
yet that gives the impression that he will never fully fall under the allure of
the mall. In Stephen’s mind, the four inside are still what is for sale, yet
the mall has been cordoned off from the dead outside. The survivors are not the
commodity desired; they just happen to be within the commodity desired. This particular
scene follows one where Romero shows us a montage of the four survivors
shopping in their mall that is now zombie free which helps shape how this
conversation is viewed.
Fran is paired off
with the bitten, and now doomed to become a living dead, Roger as she wheels
him around the mall in a shopping cart. They reach the center of the
shopping mall and Fran leaves Roger alone to sit in his cart around the
fountains. Similar to what was seen with the zombies earlier in the film, Roger
is smitten with the movement of the water. Spatially, for part of the scene the
camera is filming from behind the waterfall so we see Roger though the
translucence of the water. The viewer is put in a spot where again they are
observing what is happening and it has a voyeuristic quality. Viewed this way
as well, Roger appears to be contained within the walls of the consumerism
ideology now. He is physically contained by the confines of the shopping cart
but visually he looks contained by the walls of water and stores behind him.
Angle wise the camera is also on the same level as Roger which gives the same
appearance in which the viewer saw the zombies filmed during the initial scenes
in the mall.
Peter and Stephen are moving through the mall together
and go into the bank where Peter takes some of the money out of the register
and both grin for the security cameras. On the surface this seems like an
action outside of the argument being made, but Peter makes clear that the
reason he is taking the money is because they may need it for the future. For
author Stephen Harper this sequence is one of a, “Fantasy of purchasing power
that emphasizes the economic exclusivity of consumerism.” (Harper). While that
is true, more attention should be paid to how the characters react to what they
are taking. Peter looks at it as a survival need- maybe not an immediate one-
but one that could be necessary at some point in the future. Throughout the
exchange Stephen is grinning in a mischievous manner. He is also framed in his
shot as leaning over the divider at the teller window. It is another place
where there are walls that can be physically seen. Stephen hovers over them but
when Peter hands him the money, Stephen leans forward through the teller window
to shake hands, while one hand remains outside the window holding the cash.
From this we see a man who is starting to drift into the confining metaphorical
walls of the system. Ultimately this would make him a prisoner to consumerist
desires.
The camera cuts back to Fran and the viewer observes her
trying on dresses in a clothing store. She stands in front of a changing room
mirror wearing a sun hat, a dress, and is holding a matching purse. The mirror
has three individual mirrors so a person can look at clothing from the front,
their left and right sides. The camera is behind Fran so while we see three
sides closing in on Fran there is still a sense that there is nothing behind
her confining her to these desires. Also, through the reflection of the mirror
the viewer can see the store laid out behind her. Additionally, the scene is
filmed with the camera pointed upward looking at Fran. Again the implication is
that Fran is still above the idea of pervasive consumerism and is not falling
into the trappings of the mall around her. Fran is also portrayed as someone
who is neither excited nor impressed by this shopping excursion. She only looks
in the mirror for a brief couple seconds before she turns around and looks
behind her as if she is looking for a way out.
While the three guys pick up watches, hats, and candy-
Fran goes ice skating in the mall’s skating rink. This solitary moment for Fran
is filmed from a distance and the camera, while stationed above the rink, films
it from so far away that it never highlights the idea that it is looking down
on Fran. Furthermore, she is positioned skating in front of the open door to
the rink which again showcases that Fran is aware of the way out. Set against
the backdrop of Roger, Peter, and Stephen’s purchases, Fran stands alone as
someone who is not participating in the destruction of the mall’s sanctity. It
is telling enough that she is engaging in an activity that does not consist of
taking anything.
The film advances a few months as Peter, Stephen, and
Fran have adapted to their surroundings and are treating the mall as their home
at this point following Roger turning into a zombie and being killed. After a
few months in the place the pull of consumerism begins to get to Fran. She is
sitting in a department store again and dressing up with fancy clothing and is
using make-up and perfume. The happiness with this is evident in her face.
Instead of filming her from behind and looking up, the camera is now pulled in
tight off her right shoulder giving a feeling that Fran is now being boxed in
by the same greed that has consumed others within the consumerist ideology. This
shot stands as a stark contrast to the last time we saw Fran dressing up in
front of the mirror. Most powerfully though, Romero inserts cuts of a mannequin
head in the store looking almost identical to how Fran has dolled herself up. Brandishing
a pistol, Fran looks at herself in the mirror and smiles at the look she has
given herself. On one hand it looks as if consumerism has firmed its grasp around
Fran’s throat and is now consuming her. As the camera focuses on the mannequin
though we hear a voice on the PA system announce, “Attention all shoppers. If
you have a sweet tooth, we have a special treat for you. If your purchases in
the next half hour amount to five dollars or more we’ll give you a bag of hard
candy free” (Dawn of the Dead). In the middle of this announcement Fran drops
what the viewer now sees was a façade. For Fran, the announcement reminds her
of the reality of the situation surrounding her. What good are promises of free
candy, a reward for indulging yourself in rampant consumerism, if there is no
world to walk into which relieves you from these gimmicks? Besides, the three
remaining survivors can have the candy whether they purchase five dollars of
merchandise or not. Purchasing goods creates a space to converse with someone
about the candy that is now rightfully yours and that interaction provides a
few brief moments of humanity outside the vein of consumerism. Fran doesn’t
have that diversion anymore. All she has are Stephen and Peter, and a vast
empire just waiting to be picked clean. Seeing as she appears uninterested in
that, there is nothing Fran is living for at this moment. Furthermore, the next
scene shows that Fran sees what has become of the group as they sit down for
dinner rhetorically asking, if the characters have trapped themselves in a
culture where there is no escape. There is some comfort the three feel but that
is stymied by the isolation permeating their very existence. Kyle Bishop
discusses the sense of isolation by offering, “Although they (the survivors)
have attempted to recreate the structural apparatuses of society…the
institutions are mere fabrications.” (Bishop 244). The movie is arguing that
what good are institutions that do not carry any weight outside of the
established society? Consumerism is an empty shell of an ideology at this point
in the film because there is no challenge to owning anything.
With the three of them living as a family and cut off
from the outside world, they have essentially exited the ideology of
consumerism while trapping themselves in the building geared towards
perpetuating that ideology. While consumerism has some bad connotations it at
least gives one the feeling that they are working towards something. Whether
they are buying goods for survival or treating themselves to some superfluous
good earned through hard work- a good is an end goal of production. Here the
survivors no longer have that noble intention. Everything is theirs for the
taking and they are taking within the visual confines of the system. Matched
with Fran’s comments from earlier in the film the mall has officially become a
place of doom for the three remaining survivors. The mall has taken hold of
their collective conscience and has settled them into a place where they are
too content to leave, yet not content enough to stay. That binary way of thinking is at the heart of
shopping and is what Romero criticizes throughout. People want more, but at
what point does one have enough?
In the end though, it is not the zombies that ultimately
doom the survivors, it is a renegade motorcycle gang breaking into the mall
that causes problems. The first time the viewer sees the motorcycle gang they
are watching Stephen teach Fran to fly a helicopter. It is framed initially through
the eyes of a person looking through binoculars. Again it gives the viewer a
sense of watching something from outside the system and because of the
voyeuristic nature of the scene it alerts the viewers that the intentions of
the gang on the hill are not noble despite how they try to portray themselves
to the three survivors. The two groups engage each other over a short wave
radio with the bikers trying to gain access to the mall. Fran and Stephen are
willing to let them in but Peter remains unconvinced about the magnanimous
nature the bikers are presenting.
Ultimately he is correct that the bikers are not coming there to share
the riches, but rather to pilfer from the survivors. Engaging in their outlaw
logic the bikers indicate they are going to attack because, “We don’t like
people who don’t share” (Dawn of the Dead).
Peter engages in bad consumerism and it leads to an attack from the motorcycle
gang.
The bikers come under cover of darkness and appear first
as lights in the distance coming toward the mall. In contrast with the slow
moving zombies, the bikers are fast although both groups though are awkward in
their actions. The zombies are sloppy and amble about with no real purpose
while the biker gang is reckless with nothing but carnage on their minds.
Entrances and zombies are reduced to rubble by grenades, guns, axes, and
whatever else the bikers have been able to get their hands on. There is a
sloppy precision to what they are doing. This entire scene is filmed from a
stable viewing point that is looking straight on at the fight. The bikers and
living dead are battling for entry into the mall essentially making this a
battle over consumerism. Peter recognizes what the survivors are going to be
dealing with here and his only act of defense is to lock the stores and offer
to Stephen, “Let’s not make it easy for them” (Dawn of the Dead) While Peter does want to protect what they
have he doesn’t want to engage with the bikers in any manner. Letting them have
their run of the mall does not matter as it is more important to protect the
domesticity they have developed for themselves. Safety and not consumerism is
Peter’s goal here which is a switch from just minutes earlier. He advises Stephen
to stay upstairs and lay low letting the bikers have their fun, grab their
stuff, and then move on.
When the bikers attack the interior of the mall, the
viewer is shown lengthy sequences of the bikers and zombies fighting with each
other. The camera is situated at the same visual level of the action and is
focused in tight on everything happening. There are shots filmed looking
through trees in the mall and behind structures as the motorcycles disappear
behind a column only to reappear on the other side. Romero is situating the
viewer again outside the action to show that these bikers are fully entrenched
in the ideology of consumerism. They are not procuring goods for survival but
rather just because the lawlessness of the times allows them to steal whatever
they want. Zombies are roughed up by multiple bikers as they are pulled to the
ground, hit with beer bottles, seltzer water, and pies. It is an attack that is
cartoonish in nature and shows a lack of respect for everything and everyone
involved. The bikers are representing anarchy against the system, but in some
way they are participating in the circle as much as anyone. Marching against
the grain in order to stand out still indicates that one knows which drum to
march in step against. However, it is clear that the bikers do not respect any
aspect of what society has become or what this place represents. They destroy
the mall by blowing the doors open and shooting locks. They destroy the zombies
and the interior of the building. They see nothing but a world that is theirs
for the taking and they gleefully destroy every aspect of this place.
Peter and Stephen have taken cover upstairs and are
separated from each other. Peter is listening to the chaos downstairs and while
he is concerned he realizes that they are safe from what is happening as long
as they do not draw attention to themselves. Stephen though has a different
take on what is happening. He is shown hiding in a forest setting in the mall
and is filmed as he is standing halfway behind a tree with a look on his face
that looks eerily similar to the one on Roger’s face when he returned from the
dead. It is cold, emotionless, and his eyes and cheeks look sunken as he is
clearly wrestling with his anger. Unable to contain himself anymore, Stephen leaps
behind a park bench and cuts off contact with Peter. Partially hidden behind
the bench and again framed partially behind walls he mutters the words, “It’s
ours. We took it. It’s ours” (Dawn of the Dead). Upon finishing his thought he opens fire on a
bike moving past him. At this point the bikers now know where Stephen and Peter
are hiding and this all erupts into a gun fight that draws the groups’
attention towards each other and off the zombies. This opportunity is taken by
the zombies to turn the tables on everyone in the building and they begin to
overrun the mall and get the upper hand on all the living humans inside. Stephen
is the survivor that gets the worst end of this deal. He is shot in the gun
battle with the bikers and then he tries to escape through the vent in the
elevator back to the safety of their residence in the offices. However, he is
unable to pull himself up to that level. The mall is rejecting him at this
point and he has himself to blame. Consumerism has swallowed him and he no longer
is able to bring himself out of the ideology. Stuck in an elevator he is easy
prey for the zombies who attack the minute the elevator reaches its destination
and opens its doors. As he forces the last zombie out, the doors close and Stephen
is left to suffer in his last minutes as a living being. Throughout this
sequence, Romero intercuts scenes of Peter trying to escape through a hallway
after debating whether he could save Stephen. As he scurries through the
hallway he hears a few gunshots and stops to pound the wall and damn the
terrible decision he has been forced to make. Saving Stephen is a noble goal
but by doing so he is running back into the consumerist paradigm and entering
that world. The dankly lit hallway where he currently is situates him again
outside the brightly lit paradise so close to him. While he is in a hallway the
camera is set up so the viewer is looking down the hallway at Peter. The viewer
sees the exit behind him and while he is contained in two directions, he has
two ways out. Either run towards the camera and back towards the mall, or
continue to run away from the camera, from the mall and towards safety. Peter chooses to continue towards his safety
despite being anguished about the decision he has to make.
Zombies have now taken over the mall and the camera is
still on the same level as the zombies showing them as being in harmony with
the consumerist ideology. While they still amble in their movements there is a
precision in what the zombies are doing now. The system is no longer looking at
drawing them in; it has them- now it is just a matter of controlling the
machinations of their actions. Within this sequence the elevator doors slide
open and out steps Stephen who is now a zombie. The zombies that were waiting
outside the door for him to emerge see that he is one of them and turn away and
they all begin ambling away from the department store. Stephen is framed in the
shot as being between two zombies in the foreground and looks boxed in by what
is around him as the elevator is directly behind him. Stephen ends up leading
the zombies towards the fake partition wall that the survivors had set up to
protect the home they have built now consumed with the same feeling that
brought the zombies to the mall- familiarity. Fran flees to the roof as Peter
kills Stephen and begins fighting off the zombies that have now invaded their
solace away from the mall. The two worlds are bleeding together and the remaining
survivors are being asked to choose whether they will be consumed or remove
themselves. Both of them choose removal, or life, and the dash for the
helicopter begins. Peter begins punching his way to the helicopter before one
zombie grabs the gun in Peter’s hand and they begin jockeying over possession
of the gun. In a symbolic moment, Peter lets go of the gun, passing the burden
of the place onto the zombies. Consumerism has lost whatever small grasp it had
on Peter as he lets go of the gun. While he stands there initially with a bit
of a perplexed, but bemused look on his face, Peter does eventually decide the
best thing to do is leave this all behind and head into the unknown. The zombie
does not know how to use the gun and why he wants it- all he knows is that he
wants it. Ultimately that is the conceit of consumerism. Stores trick people
into feeling they want to purchase goods they do not need. Peter gets into the
helicopter and he rides off into the sunset with Fran behind the wheel. In these
closing seconds of the film the camera follows them as they drift higher into
the sky, flying towards the horizon again positioning Fran and Peter as being
above the idea of consumerism. They leave behind everything they had and they
are moving towards a future that may be unknown, but it is one that they can
find for themselves. Once the helicopter disappears the ending credits roll
while Romero presents a montage of shots inside the mall. Many of the shots are
ones that were used during the sequence after the motorcycle attack when the
zombies had overtaken the mall. As the final scenes roll the cheery soundtrack
is replaced by the chilling tone of the clock striking the advent of a new
hour. This is accompanied by a wide shot from the upper level of the mall
looking down at the zombies as they move around the mall again casting
aspersions towards the consumers that remain. In some ways it is a new hour for
the mall, but the camera angle indicates that while some remove themselves,
there are plenty others ready to submit to the consumerist ideology.
It is not really shocking that Romero tucked this message
into a zombie film. Zombies look to assimilate others into their world through
biting. Marketers try to do the same thing by looking to make people think that
they need an item that is being presented. Also, in this film- the zombies do
very little damage by themselves, but in a pack they are deadly. Again it is
similar to how stores operate. Having a couple people in a store to buy a
couple items will not raise their sales greatly. However if stores can draw in
many people all at once that can raise their sales totals.
The closing minutes of the film represent a switch from
the beginning moments. Ending the film this way Romero does provide a positive message-
albeit a small one- as the remaining two characters get out of the ideology.
Both are able to successfully leave behind them the allure of shopping and
although the world out there carries some unknown safety concerns, they have
not lost their identities or turned into mindless soldiers in the consumerism war.
Romero’s closing image before the credits show there is hope for some, while
the image after the credits shows that there is no hope for others. In the lead
up to its release, Romero had trouble with the MPAA over the rating of the film.
The gore earned the film an “X” rating which Romero fought because he felt that
would conflate the film with pornography in the viewer’s mind. Not wanting to
give his film that death knell he released it unrated and added a message that
read, “There is no sex in this picture. However there are scenes of violence
which may be considered shocking” (Document
of the Dead). Romero gave viewers a chance to be a conscious consumer with
the film and make a choice for themselves as to whether they wanted to see the
film without following the guidelines of the MPAA. He is asking for the same
thing with the rest of people’s purchases.
The mall itself
became a hell on Earth for the survivors. Flying into the unknown at the end
may carry an amount of uncertainty but the hell they had created for themselves
was something they were ready to get away from. Ending the film this way Romero’s
message is a bit of double-edged sword. For the viewers that identify Fran and
Peter, it is a happy ending in that it legitimizes the belief that one can
escape from consumerism. For the viewers that identify with the zombies, it
shows that one can be a happy sinful person wandering contentedly around the
mall which is exactly where they want to be. Romero shows that while there is a
massive system surrounding consumers, it is possible to remove oneself from it.
All it requires is being a consumer that does not get caught up in the
obsessive desire to own items that are unnecessary.
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