Ruble 1 Ruble, William Cushing LBST 1102 17 April 2013 (1).

I chose this film because I have seen the film several times and really enjoyed it every time I saw it. This film also seemed like it had great examples of things we discussed in class that would make it easier to discuss in my paper. Although when someone says they enjoyed a film there are certain things one must take into account. Some of these things include perspective and even simply whether or not someone likes the types of films they are watching. Something that exemplifies this would be say if someone does not like western films, their critique of a western film may be biased or skewed simply because they hate the genre as oppose to someone who loves them. Thus because of the fact that personal opinion and vigor affects how some one views or even responds to film this affects my reasons for not only choosing this film, but also liking this film. I really enjoy romantic comedies, gory movies, and love stories. Because of this fact I really enjoyed this film as oppose to someone who may despise romance movies. (Corrigan 16). (2). The theme of the film Zombieland was hard to decide on, but sometimes the theme is not the moral lesson or overall value of a film. The theme can be also be an accumulation of random ideas and things shown by the character and their actions. I thought the theme of this movie was to enjoy the little things in life, live life to the fullest, and keep close to the ones you love. Despite the awakening of a zombie apocalypse there are still a few survivors also known as the main characters. The characters still learn to

Ruble 2 have fun and make the best of their situation. Each character relates to one another in the aspect that they all have loved ones that they are missing from before the zombies arrived. The theme actually seemed anti white patriarchal capitalism because at one point in the movie despite the tragedy and destruction of the world around them the main characters end up in Bill Murrays house. This shows the typical male white person that is wealthy and privileged compared to other races and people. Then Bill Murray eventually is shot by one of the main characters, which to me symbolized the destruction of white patriarchal capitalism. (3.) The plot of the film Zombieland is fairly simple, there is a disease that broke out causing people to be turned into zombies. Gradually the epidemic begins to kill off the majority of the world leaving few survivors that must fend for themselves. As a result of this these few survivors end up banning together to try to make it through the new dark world while each having a specific destination in mind to go to see. These destinations are based on either areas where loved ones are believed to be located or a specific happy place they would like to go back to and relive. This narrative piece turns a dark situation like a zombie apocalypse into a love story with comedic feel. The plot of this story is designed to show the journey each of the main characters undergo together as they try to make their way through the new messed up world. The plot ends with them not reaching all of their destinations, but instead finding happiness in other things and having new ideas on life. (4). When looking at historical and cultural context within a movie certain things affect how a movie is made. For example some things that affect the making of this movie were previous diseases that have actually happened that the movie compares to

Ruble 3 such as mad cow disease. Historically the movie is also supposed to appeal a certain audience, for instance it showed quotes from the movies Ghostbusters which shows previous generations and what films they watched as well as what was going on at the time around the world. One of the younger characters in the film had no idea what Ghostbuster was, which also shows the culture of the current generation because she discusses current things she watched on television such as Hannah Montana. (5.) In the film Zombieland major ideologies are revealed constantly, especially related to gender that not everyone would notice. There are many implicit things shown in the film (Corrigan 92). For instance this film exemplifies the concept of patriarchy showing the traditional roles of women as less powerful or important. Social construct is challenged in this film when traditional womens roles are reversed with the men in the film at times. Women are generally seen as sweet, innocent, and pure, but in this film the two main female characters are actually con artists that steal and cheat and manipulate their way through things. This is switched with the traditional male role because they end up getting swindled by the girls taking away their masculinity and taking it as their own in a way. Men are generally viewed as strong, dangerous, and with free will. Although buddy films were traditionally only in films with two male characters this films also shows that with the two main female characters also. To me this film is a buddy film in a way because before the sets of male and female character encountered each other they had strong friendships with a member of the same gender showing homo social bonds. Masculinity is a major ideological issue in this film, one of the characters named Columbus made a list of rules he must abide by and one of them was dont be a hero

Ruble 4 showing the traditional white male patriarchal ideology that men are suppose to be the strong heroes (Benshoff 281) (6). According to (Corrigan 45) the definition of characters is that They are individuals who populate narrative and non narrative films. When someone is looking at a film you must explore what exactly makes each character different from another and why. For example in the Film Zombieland one the main characters named Tallahassee wears a western looking hat, cowboy boots, and jeans. You can tell a lot about a character just by the way they dress. You can also tell a lot about a character by other things such as how they talk and what they talk about. An example of this would be when Tallahassee found a hummer with a giant bag of guns and says Thank God for rednecks, this shows his views on life and his quite apparent use of stereotypes of rednecks as hicks with guns and big cars. Not everyone that is a redneck owns guns and a big car (Benshoff 51). (7.) The film zombie land was told from the point of view of the protagonist named Columbus in which he explains his thoughts and feelings aloud to the audience of the movie. The films camera angles were generally from the point of view of either Columbus or the situation Columbus was in at the time. This puts the viewer of the film in the shoes of the main protagonists showing how they view things. Columbus continuously talks about one of the other main characters named Wichita showing the love story portion of the movie. Without this point of view explaining how he feels about the other female character the film would not have the same affect on the audience that it currently does. Columbus explains at the beginning of the movie how it has been his life long goal to brush the hair out of a girls face in a romantic way. By showing his point of

Ruble 5 views and what his thoughts and feelings are it adds to the story by showing the transformation and steps he takes to eventually make that goal happen by falling in love with the female character Wichita. The story is mainly told from a subjective point of view because of the continuous explanation of feelings and actions by the main character (Corrigan 46). (8). The mise-en-scene of a film affects all films in many areas. In the film Zombieland the setting of the film was set up in random places around the United States that the characters travel through. The destruction of the world from the zombie apocalypse is shown very clearly in the film which one might think would set the mood of the movie as dark, but actually the setting generally had nothing to do with the feel of the movie, it was more things the characters said and how they acted that portrayed this movie more as a comedy than anything dark and gloomy. There were cars blown up and roads completely destroyed with blood running through the streets showing a previous struggle in the world that seems dark, dangerous, and scary. When considering realism with this film you must take into account the types of clothing the characters where wearing and the situation they were in at the time. To me the film did not seem realistic because the characters were actually dressed quite nice and did not seem dirty despite the dissolved world around them. As a result of this some portions of the clothing and set props did not seem realistic (Corrigan 49). (9). In the film zombie land the camera shot would often be quick and sudden in an attempt to quickly scare the viewer of the film trying to thrill them. The shots in this film were also generally fixed in different areas, the camera would separate Columbus and Wichita together because they were the love birds of the film, while the other two

Ruble 6 characters were also grouped together in shots. Sound was also a major aspect in the feel of the film, for example the camera would be focused on two people one minute and then the viewer would hear a gun being cocked back as if to shot trying to add suspense to the film. The music of the film really set the mood, for instance during one scene the main characters were in a abandoned shop destroying things, but they music set the mood for the audience showing how much fun the characters were having as well as the lack of severity in the situation (Corrigan 65).

Ruble 7 Works cited Benshoff, Harry M., and Sean Griffin. "America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies, 2nd Edition." Wiley:. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.?> Corrigan, Timothy. A Short Guide to Writing about Film. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.