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Lynda Haas Writing 37 27 October 2013 Dawn of the Dead: A Horror and Zombie Genre (Title is a little too dull. I will need to revise it and relate it to my thesis statement.) The term genre plays a significance role in understanding the meaning and interpretation of a horror and zombie genre. Although these two genres share a few similarities, the ideas of these differ as their style and development evolved dramatically over the period of time. In regard to Noel Carrolls definition in The Nature of Horror, a horror genre can be easily understood since the responses of characters often seem to cue the emotional responses of the audience (52). Likewise, both of these genres have the intention of playing with the audiences emotions, where we are most likely to feel a sight tension or even fear in reciprocal to what the characters would react. (Need to make it more formal and rephrase any sentence that has we.) On the other hand, according to Kyle Bishop, a Southern Utah University professor and film expert, the zombie genre tends to emphasize certain causes for the end of the world (22). (Elaborate and go into more depth on the zombie genre or give some examples of end of the world causes.) In such cases, Zack Snyders remake of George A. Romeros original Dawn of the Dead portrays the idea of this term by being identified as a horror and zombie genre because of the plot itself: a group of individuals are stranded in a deserted Wisconsin shopping mall, surrounded by an increasing population of flesh-driven zombies. (I did not include any additional rhetorical situations from the previous draft. I will probably include details on the direction or how critics reviewed it.) By looking closely into its context, Dawn of the Dead

Vu 2 illustrates numerous conventions such as the outcome of what the protagonist sees and the location that help it take its identity as a horror and zombie genre. (Thesis is strong but I should change the location to something different.) Although conventions are widely used in the story, the outcome of what the protagonist sees before her eyes stands out the most as a horror and zombie convention. (Topic sentence is confusing. I should consider changing the outcome of what the protagonist sees.) When Ana is suddenly attacked by her husband, Louis, who inevitably turned into a zombie, she ultimately escaped and as a result, she stood before the outcome of the zombie apocalypse. By using a point-of-view shot, the audience can experience what it is like to be in Anas place and see all that is happening before her eyes. After Ana successfully escapes from her husband, the placement of the camera is placed behind her so that we sense the danger and devastation that she sees. (I should probably include more Yale film terms here. Perhaps I could use diegesis or another one that fits the scene.) According to Bishops Dead Man Still Walking: Explaining the Zombie Renaissance, he portrays that the chaos, disorientation, fear, and destruction [Ana] witnesses are disturbingly similar to the initial news footage broadcast on September 11, 2001 (22). Given the definitions of Carroll and Bishop, we can see that Dawn of the Dead can be identified as a horror and zombie genre because of our emotional reaction to what we see. Because the outcome of the September 11 attack made zombie movies much more popular, the use of this setting and message creates a paranoia feeling to the audience, thinking that they are seeing the outcome of the attack before their eyes. The scene depicts such full view of accurate and horrifying images to the audiences head that we can almost believe that were experiencing the September 11 attack once again. Given this, the camera placement is used in such an usual way that it conveys a hidden meaning to what Ana actually sees. In a way, this is similar to what

Vu 3 horror movies are designed for: to leave the audience feeling paranoid and frightened. (Cannot really assume that people will feel frightened because people watch horror movies with different intentions. I should probably reword it.) Thus, because we fear what Ana sees is possibly true, we normally react with anxiety and terror, similar to Anas reaction. (No scene is analyzed in this paragraph. I will need to find a scene that displays this convention and explain it.) In comparison to all the usual conventions that are widely used in horror and zombie films, the location sets Dawn of the Dead apart from a few well-known texts. Centered in a Wisconsin shopping mall, the specific location of this conveys another deep meaning to the narrative. In contrast with an earlier zombie horror film, Danny Boyles 28 Days Later, the setting is presented in central London, where Jim wakes up from a coma and finds himself in a city with nothing but himself and infected individuals. Throughout the course of Jims journey, he wanders into abandoned areas and sees all of the disaster around him. (A little too general on the description of Jim. I should probably include what disaster he sees.) Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later both present disturbing sequence of imagessimply [to] shock audiences with its foreignness (Bishop 22). Even though 28 Days Laters vivid images were seen to describe the September 11 attack, it did, in comparison with Dawn of the Dead, draw international crises. Although these two films evolve around the idea of an end of the world theme, they both present this concept in a seemingly different manner. Because the location in Dawn of the Dead is in a deserted shopping mall, the use of zombies surrounding the mall indicates that the zombies themselves are consumers since they literally do nothing but tear down and consume everything they find (Satomko). These zombies are all congregated at the mall for one main purpose: going after something they obviously cannot get their hands on. Additionally, the zombies portrayed are also trying to attempt to justify their existence by devouring the material

Vu 4 world, the shopping mall. The location of the story has a significance impact on the overall message because it takes on a different meaning than what we expect. Dawn of the Dead illustrates numerous horror and zombie genre conventions that show how it connects to the overall horror and zombie genre. By examining the different conventions such as the underlying meaning of a scene and the location, we can grasp the idea of how it fits with the zombie and horror genres. With other zombie films being played, Dawn of the Dead shows just how it relates to the many other conventions that are used in previous and following films. The use of the September 11 concept definitely puts it into the category of cultural anxiety because of the resulting terror and fear, affecting our cultural consciousness and mind. These conventions and ideas of Snyder and Romero greatly illustrate how the Dawn of the Dead is exposed as a horror and zombie genre. (Conclusion paragraph is not strong enough to exemplify the ideas of Dawn of the Dead and how it portrays our cultural anxiety.)

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Works Cited Bishop, Kyle. "Dead Man Still Walking: Explaining the Zombie Renaissance." Journal of Popular Film and Television 37.1 (2009): 22+. Heldref Publication, 2009. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. Carroll, Noel. The Nature of Horror. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 46.1 (Autumn, 1987): 51-59. The American Society for Aesthetics. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. Satomko. "Understanding Zombies as Metaphors in George A. Romero's Dead Trilogy." HubPages. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.