MovieChat Forums > Dawn of the Dead Discussion > This movie's message is obsolete.

This movie's message is obsolete.

posted 9 years ago by M_Exchange
11 replies | jump to latest

"It's about Romero's message to the world about our consumerism, maaaaaaaan. He took one look at the mall culture and said, 'we're all just zombies now, maaaaaaan.'"
Right. There might have even been a time during the '90s when I felt like malls were herding pins for slaves of consumerism, but now...
Now they feel like quaint reminders of good times when people weren't zombies to their Apple TVs and/or computers and/or iPhones.
.........which might even be sick in itself-- seeing people moving around malls is a refreshing and healthy sight today whereas when Romero was young there was a more communal sense with ma and pa stores
We might all be devolving, but I feel as if this movie's underlying message is now obsolete. It's one of the many things that make it the weakest film in the Romero trilogy.

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[–] balthazar_bee 9 years ago

Unless you're tied to a very on-the-nose interpretation of the movie, I'd say it's as relevant as ever.

And FWIW, there are still plenty of people wandering around malls where I live. The difference is they're staring down at a little screen, completely oblivious to their surroundings.

In restaurants, coffee shops, on park benches -- two people will be sitting next to one another, heads bowed, absorbed in their ritual devotion at the temple of their own ego.

The slavish pursuit of the trivial, the blind and thoughtless culture of acquisition, the loss of, like, so, well, um, articulate speech, etc.

Sounds like zombies to me.

[–] ElectricWarlock 9 years ago

I was wondering if people even go to malls anymore. Seems most people just do everything online or with an app and never leave the house unless they absolutely have to. I think the message of consumerism still applies though. People still want and chase after material things. The only difference is now it's the newest and best, most expensive iPhone they want just because it's there. They don't necessarily need it. And there are more ways of getting the material things they want as well with all the websites and apps out there. So people are still greedy consumers; that will never change. The only thing that changes is what exactly they want and the ways they go about getting it. I think the underlying message still applies, just in a different way.

[–] M_Exchange 9 years ago

I was wondering if people even go to malls anymore. Seems most people just do everything online or with an app and never leave the house unless they absolutely have to.

Well.... hence my lines that malls are "quaint reminders of good times before the technology zombies" thingies.

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[–] ElectricWarlock 9 years ago

I understand. I just meant I was wondering if people still go to malls or not. I figured they probably don't but maybe they do. I don't talk to many people so I don't know where they go or don't go and I don't shop much myself. The malls could always be jam packed for all I know. I'm not sure.

[–] M_Exchange 9 years ago

I go to my local mall monthly. It's not nearly as packed as it was when I was a kid in the '80s and '90s, but there are sizable crowds there.
Unlike one of the previous responders to this thread, I personally don't see many people who are staring at their phones (unless they're seated at food courts).
It's one of the few places in L.A. where large crowds of people aren't phone-zombies. They're too immersed in the experience of
....well, buying sh--,
which is (sadly) a step up from being a digital zombie.

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[–] PreachCaleb 9 years ago

They're too immersed in the experience of
....well, buying sh--,

So then Romero's message still rings true.

Let's be bad guys.

[–] salemstwat 9 years ago

So Black Friday and the mobs that run in and trample people for a flat screen TV aren't acting like mindless zombies?

Dawn of the Dead (78) is the best horror film ever.

[–] wantutosigh 9 years ago

This movie's message is as relevant as ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBYznVnNTI4 RIP Bob Probert

[–] duklec 9 years ago

Hell, in this day and age this movie predicts a similar but different message. It can be interpreted as displaying the income gap problem we have today. The survivors are the elite 1% while the zombies are the rest of us. Right after they purged the mall, the survivors get full reign of the mall and all its material goods as well as necessary goods, while the zombies can only look in from the outside and try futilely to gain access to this world of humanly desires. But the privileged do everything they can to keep it all to themselves.

[–] fugazzi49 9 years ago

Romero's so called social commentary was a cliche before he even made the film. I only laugh at it.

[–] PreachCaleb 9 years ago

Romero's so called social commentary was a cliche before he even made the film.

Such as?

Let's be bad guys.