Zombies – An Inconvenient Truth

With the Walking Dead, created by Robert Kirkman for Image Comics, premiering on AMC on Halloween, I’ve decided to watch a selection of Zombie films over the next few weeks to prepare myself for what will hopefully be a terrific addition to one of my favorite sub-genres.

Routine: a : a regular course of procedure b : habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/routine

Routine is something that happens to all of us. We fall into it and don’t even realize we’re there. In the midst of researching a new screenplay, I decided to take a few routines in my life and turn them on their ear.   Since I was thirteen I’ve shaved my face from right to left. I’ve never gone in the other direction. Even when I broke my wrist, and had to do it left-handed, I kept to the same pattern. Last week I went from left to right. It was sooooooo weird. When I was done I practically needed a blood transfusion. Since then, I have only gone from left to right. It seems like a small change, but it really isn’t. It’s monumental, because I am doing exactly the opposite of what come naturally.

How does this relate to zombies? I’ll get to it.  I’ve never faced a zombie horde. I’ve never had to shoot a dead person in the brain in order to stop them from barreling forward to eat my flesh.

I would know how to though.

I understand the basics of zombie dispatching because I’ve seen everything from Night of the Living Dead to Dance of the Dead to Shaun of the Dead.

Last night I watched Dawn of the Dead (2004), (re)directed by Zack Snyder. Dawn was originally written and directed by the zombie king himself, George Romero in 1979. In it’s original incarnation Dawn was a satire of American consumerism.

Romero makes it all sound so simple in this quote from a retrospective interview:

“I wanted to do a satire about consumerism; a friend of ours owned that shopping mall, and he was fool enough to let us come in and bust it up. That is where the idea came from. I told Dario Argento about it. He’s a great friend; we’ve worked together a few times. I had the story laid out, but he invited me to come over to Rome, so—hey!—I wrote the script there, eating good pasta.” –From an Article by Steve Biodrowski

This new version written by James Gunn was less satire and more straight horror. The fact that the zombies wandered to the mall because of some faded primal urge to spend money, buy shoes, etc. was merely mentioned in passing. As a result, this film lacked the blunt social commentary, and without it Dawn fell a bit short for me.

A zombie is the perfect enemy when a writer wants to articulate something about humanity. Why is this? Simply because a zombie completely lacks character. A zombie is a mindless force of un-nature that simply wants to eat. A zombie will never get in the way of the storyline that you are developing about the survivors. There is no zombie subplot as they scheme to take over the world.  The zombies have no elaborate plans.  Unlike, say Dracula, who is all vain (vein?) personality and steals the spotlight in any vampire film.

There's a Macy's one day sale preview event!

With this characterless zombie enemy, the filmmakers were free to play with the humans. We should get to see how they deal with their world being flipped upside down. How do these people react? Who has the strength of character to survive and do what needs to be done? Which of them can find the resolve to keep going in the face of global calamity? Where can the story possibly take the viewer when the scale of the conflict is global, and their unofficial leader is a TV salesman from the local Best Buy? In Dawn of the Dead, it brings them to the Mall. The characters fall back on their routine.

When our routine is interrupted in an inconvenient way, we get frustrated. As I re-learn shaving from left to right, I have accepted the fact that I will cut my Adam’s Apple every day. This frustrates the heck out of me. Now imagine that all of your routines, i.e. shopping, dog walking, laundry,  your job, fill the car up, holidays, cooking, un-pack the car, cleaning, sleeping, showering, etc. were all interrupted by zombies. Zombies! It is a wonderful tool for showing characters at their best or worst. The true character of the survivors shines through when faced with such an enemy.

With the Walking Dead being an ongoing series, the opportunity to tell a story that delves into the emotional and psychological impact that people would face with such a terrifying break from their routine is quite exciting. I for one can’t wait.

More Zombie thoughts to come—-