The Zombie is kind of unglamorous, as far as characters from cinema go. Bereft of consciousness, personality and ambition, the zombie is more of a tragic antihero; a repulsive parody on the ideal citizen, with no other connection to lived experience than the automatic repetitions of old socialization routines. Read more
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The figure of the Zombie drifting between life and death
Submitted by zaloa on Wed, 02/11/2009 - 14:57.
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Life and death are blended into one and the same thing in zombies. Yet they have been treated as a dichotomy in modern-day society, in which failure, sadness, loneliness, etc. are not permitted. We are forced to be heroes if we wish to avoid being cut off from others. The zombie as tragic hero could serve as a ‘perfect-imperfect’ model of the significance that life acquires once death, profound failure, anguish, infinite and fathomless despair have been experienced. Read more
In the beginning of the 60s, USA started a transformation that unleashed an economic crisis worsened by the expenses of the Vietnam war. This crisis expanded between the citizens a feeling of disappointment for society and for the promises of the American Dream. As a compensation to this situation, contra cultural movements started arising which had a big impact in cinema. Many films, for example, started to deconstruct myths about sex and violence. Read more
Woke up, fell out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
Somebody spoke and I went into a dream Read more
If you have seen Romero's zombie movie "Dawn of the Dead", you will remember how the survivors of the epidemy of zombies shelter in an area of a big shopping mall. They gradually conquer this space from the zombies that keep on trying to get in the mall because "some kind of instinct, a memory of what they used to do. This was an important place in their lifes", says one of the characters. The film has been interpreted like a criticism on consumer society because of this struggle for the territory of the shopping mall. Read more 2 comments
Dressing up and disguise, the blurring of identities and boundaries, transformation, transgression; all are brought together in the wearing of masks. Masking up releases our commonality, enables us to act together, to shout as one to those who rule and divide us 'we are all fools, deviants, outcasts, clowns and criminals'.
'Carnival Against Capital' London 1999 Read more 1 comment
