Dawn of the Dead (continued)
Mall montage and turning on the power
kitschy music (ironizes the space)
reckless with resources
diegetic with fun slide whistles
shots of clumsy zombies (we're not scared of them) (funny zombies on escalator) slapstick comedy
montage compares mannequins to zombies
making fun of people who go to the mall for no reason: pointless consumption
making fun of middle america and class
questions of lifelessness; approximating humanness; mannequins as PRODUCTS of consumerism and appeal to buying
emergency supplies
comfort items; TV, chocolate
What does the post-apocalypse do for sociality
no one's around, so it's wish fullfillment and a space for play (ROger in the mall)
allows Roger to go back to a childhood masculinity/boyhood
Francine and the domestic space: does Frannie get locked back into gendered roles
maybe a fantasy of post-racial politics? (Peter in charge as stark contrast to the highly racist violence of the opening act)
The Zombie Body
The Hare Krishna zombie (comments on concerns about racial other, immigrants, and global political spaces?) Does asatire/comedy make xenbophobia a laughable thing?
slap in the face about limits of capitalism and consumerism
raises questions of who has a grievable life/which lives deserve mourning
Francine
wants equal input and ability
"not going to be your den mother"
pregnancy and rights
tries to revise history of using pregnancy to lock women into biologically inferior roles
1:18:11: Francine and empathy, recognizing humanness (esp in light of her peers shooting the zombies in the mall "hunting"); reflecting on trauma
gendered implications of empathy
Peter
also empathetic and makes death grievable/respectable in gov't subsidized housing; questions meanings of violence in zombie spaces
race casting suggests difference between pleasure in committing violence
Peter and Stephen waving at the bank camera but then following the velvet lines (tongue in cheek about rules, law, and order)
what is the killing for?
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but also fantasy of free for all shopping (shopping montage post zombie deaths)
talks about forms of learned discipline
montages show the excess of the mall--IT HAS EVERYTHING
satirizes consumerism through that excess
"we whipped em and we got it all"
questions the purpose of violence: shows the meaninglessness
related to post-Vietnam concerns with the meanings of violence
Roger and questions of masculinity: fantasies of autonomy/capability
Roger's use of "wheelchair" prop and the wagon
the biker attacks for fun and pleasure: again, meaning of violence
sympathy for the zombies during the hedonistic "looting" and violence scene
Fran and Peter don't belong in that system of white, middle class consumerism, so just fly out. But the future isn't certain, still precarious