The thing about Shaun of the Dead is that it transcended "genre" - that's the key. It wasn't a zombie movie. It was a comedy ... with zombies. Transcending is always worth big bucks.
I have been told by aficionados that shaun of the dead's zombies are pretty good, authentic even.
In modern times there is a biozombie trend, when they aren't really "undead" so much as a sick human (eg I am Legend, 28 days later etc). I am not sure if it co-incides, but these biozombies seem to have enhanced reflexes, strength and hearing and speed etc... (whereas the old school ones were slow, sad things).
I'm an enormous fan of Simon Pegg as a writer. He wrote an incredible article in defense of zombies and convinced me a lot. (His article was actually about how the slow model of zombie is the only worthwhile kind.) And Edgar Wright is a brilliant director: Shaun of the Dead is a very scary movie at the same time as it's incredibly hilarious.
That said, I'd love to compare it to Night of the Living Dead. I'm just scared that it'll be a letdown.
It would be interesting to see a left-wing values zombie movie:
"In a world where where a new disease ravages the body and mind of those affected, modern medicine and epidemiological responses isolate and manage the impact. Financial and social assistance is given to those displaced, encouraging social interaction and minimizing crime and suffering."
I don't know if I'd describe it's take as 'notably clever' but the focus wasn't on hordes of zombies / insane cults / etc but groups of people coming together and trying hard to rebuild some sort of life after a massive epidemic that kills most people. There were clashes between different groups, some resolved amicably, some with violence.
I'll be honest - Shaun of the Dead is the only one I've seen. I've always felt weird about zombie movies, because like Westerns, without having seen any they all feel very samey. So I wouldn't know where to start watching.
I'm not saying that movie in particular had that subtext. Rather, the zombie trope quickly took on a life of its own in the years after Living Dead (and split into the fantasy/cursed and scifi/infected subtropes). It's hard to say why it resonated but there are definitely some interesting parallels with other cultural trends.
I've always wanted a zombie/apocalypse/disaster movie where everyone works together and rebuilds civilization and the struggles therein, instead of it being about how humans are really evil when the shit hits the fan. So cynical!
What always bugged me about zombie movies is that no one seems to figure out a way to take advantage of it beyond total anarchy.
I would expect enterprising individuals to see zombies as a potential tool. Like maybe figure out what makes them tick (they never seem to possess intelligent thought) and leverage them for a labour force or army. What are they fuelled by? Can they be taught to perform complex tasks through reward / punishment?
Seems like the next logical distopian step to take, and brings up all sorts of complicated mechanics, economics, and morality questions.
Personally, I think zombie movies reflect 'fear of societal collapse' more than 'fear over the absence of technology'. (The absence of technology is certainly part of a societal collapse, but societal collapse is more than just the absence of technology.)
Sudden, unpredictable, uncontrollable events - large stock market fluctuations, 9/11, the housing crisis, almost certainly the upcoming sovereign debt crisis - have made people very uneasy.
Zombie movies give people an opportunity to think about what they'd do in a societal breakdown, reassuring them on some level - since unlike a sovereign debt crisis, the zombie apocalypse isn't going to happen. Thinking about barricading the windows and aiming for the head is fun; thinking about total market failure is horrifying.
There's also a certain segment of the population, the underclass that's being left behind, who sees nothing in our society for them and would love a hard reset. For them, zombie movies feed into happy fantasies about their rugged gun-toting individualism. (The hero-protagonist in a zombie movie is never, say, a stockbroker from New York.)
Actually, there's plenty of philosophical works that analyze zombie movies from various perspectives. They are still a product of human mind providing various excuses to kill humanoid creatures en masse, and we can use them as a mirror to peek behind the facade. You happened to see it without the candy wrapper of “it's just entertainment”, and the reaction was natural. In fact, trying to keep the face because “people around are having fun” would be the inhuman choice, just as the idea that people whose relatives are dying should better stay in hospitals and their own homes, and get some special “treatment” to keep others comfortable.
In the same manner, those who've seen the war may not react well the “Top Gun” style ass kicking with a happy end. There problem here is not within them.
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