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Romero, Dawn of the Dead and its political SymbolsDaniel R. Stout
 
StoutIt may not even be the tears that you have while you are in the darkness. It maynot even be the immediacy of the imagery that causes you to change what you say or what you do. In fact, it’s entirely possible that it will cause an epiphany right as you reachyour vehicle to go home. This is the power of the movie.George A. Romero’s 1978 production of 
 Dawn of the Dead 
fits neatly within thecategory of being a powerful and impactful movie. Before Romero, zombie movies were just movies. In 1968 Romero took hold of the horror industry and the use of zombies inmovie roles. Romero took the zombie and reinvented it as a “progressive symbolicfigure”
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. Romero started with
 Night of the Living Dead 
by using zombies to make political commentary on the situation of the world.
 Night of the Living Dead 
focused onthe racism and patriarchy that are rampant throughout the society as a group of individuals are locked inside a farmhouse during the very beginning of the zombiearrival.Part of what Romero did in his movies included making us feel for the zombies
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.Romero did this in several different ways. First he made us realize that the zombies usedto be human; they were parts of families, were loved, and loved other people. Second, hedressed up the zombies in clothes, just like humans wears clothes. Romero specificallyensured that he tackled all socioeconomic statuses by having rich-looking zombies andeven poor-looking zombies. The third thing is that Romero makes the zombies look likeanimals. He does not do this in the way so that the zombies do not make any sense, but inthe way that zombies are only attacking because they are hungry, and not for somemalicious intent
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. This humanizing of the undead while although paradoxal makes us, asan audience, relate to the plight of the zombies in the movie and try to take on their roles.2
 
StoutThis understanding promotes us to critically reexamine what the zombies do because theylook and act so similarly to us.It’s important to look at
 Dawn of the Dead 
as a rhetorical artifact for severalreasons. First,
 Dawn of the Dead 
has inspired remakes. Romero opened the door for other zombie movies that would be used to criticize current structures of power and society.There are many examples of this.
28 Days Later 
is a movie that goes directly after theidea of militarism and patriarchy. This movie shows a group of soldiers who are lockingthemselves up in an erected fortress. Here they ensure that no males will enter to competewith fundamentally kidnapped women by killing them. The movie shows how the will todominate, which is a fundamental ideal engrained in not only patriarchy but also inmilitarism, is ultimately self destructive as the base is destroyed.
 Dawn of the Dead 
(2004) by Zach Snyder is another example of how influentialRomero’s work has been. This version of 
 Dawn of the Dead 
goes after the very ideas thatare ruling the present day; it attacks the legitimacy and trust that people have in thegovernment. The movie focuses on TV news reports that indicate that the government hasthings under control and that we are to trust the government to protect us. These things become obvious lies as the movie unfolds and the streets only get increasingly filled withzombies indicating that the government does not have things under control. The memberswho lock themselves up in the mall realize that they have to rely on themselves in order to survive the crises as it unfolds, only to ….well watch the movie it is amazing.The second reason that
 Dawn of the Dead 
(1978) needs to be looked at is that it isone of the most successful horror movies while at the box office, as it became a favoriteat shopping mall movie theatres
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. It has created a cult-like following as a small group of 3
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