Welcome to the human race...
0
I have a theory that the only reason the remake of
Dawn of the Dead is named so is because the makers already had the idea of making a movie about zombies in a shopping mall but figured that remaking the film and having the original's fanbase complain about it simply because it's a remake would be better than making the film under a different name and having the same fanbase accuse it of being a rip-off. As such, the result is a zombie movie with a rather generic plot (albeit one packed with its own little references to Romero's films) that just so happens to throw in a few consumerism-based gags that come across as half-hearted obligations. The big difference is in how the third act plays out in both films...
WARNING: "DotD 1978/2004" spoilers below
The big climax of the original film involves the surviving members of the main cast staying in the mall despite them getting incredibly disillusioned about the whole thing because they don't feel like there's anywhere else to go, and if there was, would they really want to go there? This much is exemplified by the finale with the bikers where two of the survivors are willing to let the bikers have the run of the place if it means they'll leave sooner, while the third is determined to defend the mall because "it's theirs" and thus he ends up compromising everything even more as a result, even getting zombified in the process.
The remake's third act is prompted by a series of deaths - all related to the notorious "zombie baby" - which also makes the survivors in that film disillusioned with the prospect of living out the rest of their lives trapped in the mall. Instead of staying, they all cook up some half-baked plan to leave the mall in armoured trucks and find a boat belonging to one of the survivors in the hopes of sailing to a zombie-free island. While both endings make consumerism come across as an ultimately unsatisfactory concept, the "stay behind" ending served that point better by having its cast cling grimly to the remnants of their past life rather than escape in the hope of finding something better. From a narrative standpoint...granted, it's not like starting a war with rampaging bikers is a genius move either, but defending the mall makes more sense than escaping it. At least the former has a sort of cold self-preservation to it instead of the latter's vain hope. But hey, you've got to have a massive finale somehow, and having bikers storm the mall would be a bit implausible considering the fast zombies.
The big climax of the original film involves the surviving members of the main cast staying in the mall despite them getting incredibly disillusioned about the whole thing because they don't feel like there's anywhere else to go, and if there was, would they really want to go there? This much is exemplified by the finale with the bikers where two of the survivors are willing to let the bikers have the run of the place if it means they'll leave sooner, while the third is determined to defend the mall because "it's theirs" and thus he ends up compromising everything even more as a result, even getting zombified in the process.
The remake's third act is prompted by a series of deaths - all related to the notorious "zombie baby" - which also makes the survivors in that film disillusioned with the prospect of living out the rest of their lives trapped in the mall. Instead of staying, they all cook up some half-baked plan to leave the mall in armoured trucks and find a boat belonging to one of the survivors in the hopes of sailing to a zombie-free island. While both endings make consumerism come across as an ultimately unsatisfactory concept, the "stay behind" ending served that point better by having its cast cling grimly to the remnants of their past life rather than escape in the hope of finding something better. From a narrative standpoint...granted, it's not like starting a war with rampaging bikers is a genius move either, but defending the mall makes more sense than escaping it. At least the former has a sort of cold self-preservation to it instead of the latter's vain hope. But hey, you've got to have a massive finale somehow, and having bikers storm the mall would be a bit implausible considering the fast zombies.
So yeah, the
Dawn of the Dead remake tries to have its cake and eat it, too. It sort of wants to be the same blackly comic satire as the original, but it compromises itself somewhat for the sake of providing a quick, straightforward piece of zombie fiction.
Reply to Topic
