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28 Days Later Paper
28 Days Later Paper
Essay Writing
4.21.04
Ceci Cravens
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he doesn't become one”.
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Wonderland (1951), social allegories in literature and film have been used as ways to
(Agnes 17).
Social allegories seem simplistic at a glance. They generally deal with topics and
issues that have been discussed repeatedly (such as time, individualism and survival),
and then branch off into multi-layered, ambiguous symbolism. They can range in tone
from sarcastic and satirical to sinister and sorrowful. Many film genres today can be
used as social allegories: the Western allegorically represents Vietnam War; but of all
the filmic allegories represented in contemporary cinema, the zombie film as social
allegory is perhaps the most pervasive and striking. 28 Days Later, directed by
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Danny Boyle (Trainspotting), and written by Alex Garland (The Beach), is an
picture. Executive producer Greg Caplan aimed to market this film for the box office
for horror-loving film junkies as well as the intellectual film enthusiast. From the
combined efforts of Boyle, Garland, and Caplan, comes a film that pleases not only
The zombie film has been around since the early introduction of the horror
genre from the Hollywood studios. Films like White Zombie (1932) and I Walked
with a Zombie (1943) paved the way for the zombie genre, but in 1968 George A.
Romero’s Night of the Living Dead really transformed the look and ideology of the
zombie film genre. With a low budget and a grainy film stock, Romero’s film
depicted a zombie filled city that seemed more believable than the works of his
predecessors. After Night of the Living Dead, many films emulated that style, but the
zombie film slowly became less and less popular after the late 70s. It wasn’t until
recently that Danny Boyle and Alex Garland decided to reinvent the zombie genre
with their haunting, symbolic film. 28 Days Later is a contemporary social allegory
(the end of the world) that incorporates the philosophies of Nihilism, Existentialism
and Darwinism.
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melodrama. A rare treat: horror movie and social fable
intertwined (IMDb).
In the film, a group of animal rights activists break into a lab to liberate animals.
Unfortunately they also release a blood-born virus that induces a zombie-like rage
Within Twenty-eight days, all of Britain has succumbed to the rage-virus. “28
Days Later could best be described as the thinking man’s zombie movie” (IMDb). It
is a postmodern, semi-nihilistic take on the genre. No longer are the zombies created
from toxic waste that we settled for in the past, these zombies are the by-product of
The establishing shot in the film begins with scenes of police brutality, global
warfare, rioting, nuclear explosions, and supreme anarchy. The shot zooms out to
show that these images are coming from a television in an animal experimentation
lab. These heavy images are symbolic of how humans treat each other. It is,
essentially, survival of the fittest. We are weeding each other out until there is no
more existence.
From there the world is overtaken rapidly by the virus that transforms people
into mindless zombies whose only intention is to kill. The depiction of the zombies is
completely original. Some of the aesthetics of the zombie must be credited to George
A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, but instead of the zombies walking slowly
and grunting, these horrific creatures are running and spitting vile blood from their
insides. One drop of the “infected” blood into a survivor’s bloodstream, and it is all
over.
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When the protagonist Jim (Cillian Murphy), a young courier, wakes up in an
empty hospital, he walks around the hauntingly quiet streets of London. Here the
director shows images of emptiness, desolation and sorrow that strike hard at the
audience. He shockingly comes to the realization that humanity has been lost. Jim
decides to visit his parents’ house, only to find them lying dead in their bed together.
At this point, Jim begins to cry and complain about how his parents died in such an
awful way. In response, one of his fellow survivors tells Jim how his family was
eaten alive at a subway station. Jim then drops his mouth and apologizes. Money,
love, and time especially; as Jim finds out are elements that all modern human beings
adopt to use as a way to live our lives. In a post-apocalyptic world, none of these
things are important. Dr. Alan Pratt, a professor at Embry-Riddle University, writes
(Pratt).
The theory of time being irrelevant is essentially nihilistic in nature. 28 Days Later
deals with nihilist theory in many scenes. In one scene in particular, an army soldier
If you think about it, humans have only been around for a blink
If one were to take a step back and realize the ephemeral existence of humankind in
terms of time, one can see how the post-apocalyptic world that is created in 28 Days
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Later is a filmic interpretation of a social allegory. For centuries, dating back to
Socrates, humans have always questioned the significance of time and what the film’s
Later in the film, the survivors or the “uninfected” find brief salvation when
they encounter a military base. There, they eat dinner with a commanding officer
who, in a stern tone, tries to make sense of all the madness that has occurred. He
says:
You know what I see? I see people killing people; and I saw
that the day before yesterday and the day before that and all of
In this speech, the message of Darwinism appears. What the officer is saying is
simply, we are all zombies who kill and destroy. Throughout history there has always
been conflict, death and destruction, and even in a post-apocalyptic society, we are
still killing. So what makes humans now any different from a zombie who eats flesh?
because they are fitter, and they are fitter because they
What Dr. Veith is saying is essentially, the stronger or fitter one is, the more likely
one is to survive. In 28 Days Later, the “uninfected” are fighting for survival, and the
only way to ensure safety is to kill. One look at our world today and it is evident, we
are fundamentally doing the same thing; killing by whatever means necessary. The
term “survival of the fittest” was coined by Biologist Charles Darwin, but the concept
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of humans killing humans for survival has been represented in literature since before.
28 Days Later at its very core questions human existence, which is primarily
an Existentialist thought. The film asks its audience, “What is the point of living if all
we do is kill and destroy one another?” Another film relevant to this same philosophy
is Larry and Andy Wachowski’s The Matrix. In this film, Agent Smith (a machine
that hunts humans) explains to the protagonist, Neo, how his robotic world views the
(Wachowski 156).
Agent Smith is saying that the only way humans know how to live is through
“suffering and misery.” Even if we knew how to live in a perfect society, it wouldn’t
happen because human beings are flawed animals that ultimately are alive for their
own survival.
Right now, we are living at the peak of civilization. Never before in history
have we been so pampered and reliant on materials and objects that will “improve,”
but eventually complicate our life. Just as the stock market crashed in 1929, once we
reach our peak in social, economic and political evolution, the only way to go is
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down. Matt Savinar, a graduate of the University of California at Davis, makes an
one generation prior to the crash, the bacteria will have used up
But humans are smarter than bacteria, right? You would think so, but the facts seem
to indicate otherwise. The first commercial oil well was drilled in 1859. At that time,
the world's population was about 1 billion. Less than 150 years later, our population
has exploded to 6.4 billion. In that time, it has been projected that we have used up
half the world's recoverable oil. Of the half that's left, most will be very expensive to
extract. If the experts are correct, we are less than one generation away from a crash.
Yet to most of us, there appears to be no hint of a problem. If we are one generation
away from our demise, then we are as clueless as bacteria in a Petri dish.
universe are both topics discussed in social allegories. This idea is a theme in The
Matrix , as well as 28 Days Later. On the first day of realizing that the world as he
knew it was over, Jim asks a survivor about the status of the British government:
JIM
Where is the government?
STEVE
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There is no government, everybody’s dead!
JIM
What do you mean there is no government? There is always a
government! (Garland 32).
fathom a life of disorder. When society fails, the basic human instincts become more
relevant. In order to survive, Jim must fight, eat, and find shelter. Essentially, he has
In the social allegory Animal Farm, George Orwell questions the necessity of
characters question the legitimacy of government and the vague obligations of the
military. The query of government and politics is again another form of a social
allegory.
28 Days Later is simple and powerful. It was made on eight million dollars
(fifteen times less than Pirates of the Caribbean's one hundred twenty five million
dollar budget). What 28 Days Later lacks in effects, it makes up for with a mind-
altering story and excellent acting. There are a few arm-chair gripping, jumpy
moments but it is the intellect and intricacy of this movie that make it so powerful.
The set design is unique and creative. In fact, for a whole day, the cast and crew had
to block off many popular sections of London to create a desolate, disturbing vision
of a post-apocalyptic England. The acting is top notch and the lighting, for their very
If you were to rent 28 Days Later at the movie store, you would find it under
the horror section; but this movie is way more than a simple horror film. It is a social
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allegory reflecting aspects of our society combined with a unique zombie plot. From
the writing, directing, acting to the cinematography, all the elements that help
distinguish this film are made to open the eyes of the masses in order to realize if we,
as a society, do not choose to change the way we live our lives, then supreme
28 Days Later is a clear warning sign for the past, present and future. In
Victorian Literature, H.G Wells, “the father of science fiction” (The Time Machine,
The Island of Dr. Moreau), warned the world that scientific experimentation would
eventually lead to a societal collapse. In that same mentality, director Danny Boyle
and writer Alex Garland are trying to explain to the masses, through a zombie film,
that if we do not change the way we all behave towards each other, then who knows?