knights
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New Dawn of the Dead thoughts/analysis/essay for Dead Rekindled - from writer Zach Recth
Read this, and when you’re done thank Zack Recht.
In return for doing some banner graphics for his online zombie saga ‘The Morningstar Saga,’ he did me this. Call it a mini-essay, a bloody good one too. Along with abaddon’s help, Zach certainly has helped Dead Rekindled just as much. This will appear on the main site on Saturday.
Check his site out here - http://www.themorningstarsaga.com/home.html
quote: Someone who enjoys a movie like this, rational folks think, must be the kind of person who would climb a belltower with a rifle. That's true.
quote:
Dawn of the Dead, why do I love thee? Unlike Shakespeare, I have trouble figuring out the answer to this one. Any rational person would recoil at the thought of the gritty, gory, depressing premise and storyline of George Romero's classic actually causing someone to feel pleasure. Someone who enjoys a movie like this, rational folks think, must be the kind of person who would climb a belltower with a rifle. That's true. I would climb a
belltower with a rifle, because everyone knows zombies can't climb, and I'd be safe up there.
I saw Dawn of the Dead on cable at some point early in my life. It had to have been HBO, because it wasn't edited. TBS isn't exactly known for showing the fountains of blood and ripped-off limbs during their movie showings that Romero is famous for. To me, something about it immediately struck me as magical. Maybe it was the whole idea of trying to survive--having an overriding purpose, a goal, that you could focus on, one that put the mundane concerns of our consumer-ruled day-to-day lives to shame. Maybe it was the underlying theme that pointed out the hypocrises of that same consumer culture that drew me in. Or maybe it was the zombies. Often, I find, the simplest explanation is the most relevant. All I know with dead certainty (haha--I am the punmaster) is that this film has IT. The same IT that makes any phenomena the singular experience it is. The actors and actress, all unknowns, helped create an atmosphere of the anyman, the thought that it could be YOU in that situation someday.
The film opens in the midst of the zombie invasion. Law enforcement is being overrun, both by the undead and unruly citizens. Martial law has been declared. Confusion, chaos, and violence reign in the cities and countryside alike. Fran and Stephen, employees at a television broadcast studio, have decided that they're going to make a run for it. They're joined by police officers Roger and Peter, and escape the city in the studio's helicopter. As they struggle to cope with watching civilization crumbling around them, they come across a mall. "Looks a shopping center. One of those big, indoor malls," they say. This was obviously before malls could be found in every single population center in the continental USA, naturally. Anyway, they hole up inside. It's the Monroeville Mall, Monroeville, PA, if anyone is interested, and it's a very nice place to shop to this day. I bought a pair of khakis there, once upon a time. I think the location was an integral part of the movie's magic--this is a place no one associates with horror. They associate with day-to-day life, and instead of shopping, we're treated to horrific zombies bent on the consumption of our heroes' flesh. Culture shock, if you will. Then there's the looting aspect.
Once the group clears out the mall, they help themselves to whatever they want in a kind of vain attempt to return to normalcy. They deck out their hiding spot in the mall with the latest in electronic record players and rabbit-ear televisions, even stacks of cold cash from the bank, and find that they're miserable. Whether they choose to acknowledge it or not, they're trying to hide from reality. Beyond the basic theme of survival horror, this movie has very real morals and lessons lurking just below the surface. Fran seems to be the one who realizes this first, arguing with Stephen over continuing to monitor the television for broadcasts when there have been none for weeks. While they've been hiding inside, outside civilization has finished crumbling.
During a helicopter-flying lesson, the group is spotted by a platoon of heavily-armed biker/raiders, the leader of which is played by Tom Savini himself, gore expert and special effects aficionado. The raiders stage a, well, raid on the mall. They break in rather heavy-handedly, and begin to loot the place of anything remotely valuable while Peter and Stephen try vainly to fight them off. Behind both living groups, the undead filter in the broken-down entryways and wreack a havoc unique to zombies (it involves tearing people apart and chewing on intestines. I'll say no more.) In the end, our heroes are forced to flee, sans half their group. They're low on fuel, with little to no ammunition or supplies, and no idea where to go next. The movie ends on a down note, but it leaves us with a vague sense of hope. Maybe--just maybe--they survived their harried flight. But we'll never know for sure.
The one constant, easily identifiable theme I noticed in this film is the conflict between the living. The heroes argue amongst themselves. The experts on television argue over what should be done. In the opening minutes, the police and civilians kill one another in a gunfight. In the ending minutes, the heroes and raiders kill each other in a gunfight. The dead, meanwhile, silently cooperate, working as a single unit, never arguing, never bickering amongst themselves. They're slow, they're stupid, they're decaying--and yet they manage to bring a 'superior' civilization to its knees. Or do they? Are they merely incidental to the plot? Are we being told that the dead have more sense than the living? Perhaps. I have never known a corpse to kill...I leave that to the living. I suppose only George Romero knows for sure.
------
Z
Last edited by knights, 9/24/2004, 5:23 pm
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9/22/2004, 8:28 pm
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knights
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Re: New Dawn of the Dead thoughts/analysis/essay for Dead Rekindled - from writer Zach Recth
two days and noone replies!? Any of you there?
Just thought you'd be pleased with this new essay.
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9/24/2004, 5:24 pm
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abaddon1215
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Re: New Dawn of the Dead thoughts/analysis/essay for Dead Rekindled - from writer Zach Recth
Oops. Usually I receive automated email stating that there are new posts on the board. In the last two weeks, this hasn't been happening.
Back to the subject-it's a good thoughts/analysis/essay. The broad strokes of the film are pretty much covered here. And thanks to Zack Recht.
--- They said it could not be done....with integrity. Already
I hear the Oscar buzz, and I realize it's time to put him back into his
cage.
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9/25/2004, 4:21 am
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knights
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Re: New Dawn of the Dead thoughts/analysis/essay for Dead Rekindled - from writer Zach Recth
I owe this guy a lot now. I guess I'll do some more graphics for him, a poster or perhaps help him with his own site graphics. I dunno, but it has to be equal to what he's done here. Well, it's a solid review, and pisses over what I've done before.
btw; check out the guestmap for dead rekindled and leave your mark!!! http://www.freewebs.com/deadrekindled/guestmap1dr.htm
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9/26/2004, 1:26 am
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knights
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Re: New Dawn of the Dead thoughts/analysis/essay for Dead Rekindled - from writer Zach Recth
‘Dead’ thoughts by Zach Recht is now online on the Dawn page. I've also corrected some (a lot) of the mistakes and errors from my own written work on the site, so some stuff is now a lot more readable than before.
Cheers,
Alex
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9/26/2004, 1:31 am
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ZRecht
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Re: New Dawn of the Dead thoughts/analysis/essay for Dead Rekindled - from writer Zach Recth
Thanks for the plug, bub.
No, no, we're even now. The banner you made for me is far beyond anything I could ever hope to have Photoshop spit out.
However, I would certainly not be averse to future transactions of this sort. God knows my text-image buttons and such aren't all that attractive, and I'm always willing to exchange writing for work I'm not skilled enough to do myself.
Glad you've enjoyed the article so much. It was a first draft.
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9/27/2004, 1:15 am
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knights
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Re: New Dawn of the Dead thoughts/analysis/essay for Dead Rekindled - from writer Zach Recth
Sure.
I guess I could help out with your site graphics as well, again just tell me what you want and I'll do it. This should be simple really, though I'll ask you to change a couple of things so whatever I will do, will work. Can't say I think much of your colour choices at the moment. That dark grey background hurts my eyes, so maybe there's something we'll have to change.
quote: Glad you've enjoyed the article so much. It was a first draft.
Bloody good first draft too. Cheers again.
-Alex
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9/27/2004, 3:36 pm
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ZRecht
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Re: New Dawn of the Dead thoughts/analysis/essay for Dead Rekindled - from writer Zach Recth
quote: Can't say I think much of your colour choices at the moment.
Really? Damn. I thought I was making an improvement from the lightish gray I had before...more reasons why I suck at visual stuff. Feel free to ask me to change anything. Site design has never been my forte. Content, on the other hand...
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9/27/2004, 4:09 pm
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knights
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Re: New Dawn of the Dead thoughts/analysis/essay for Dead Rekindled - from writer Zach Recth
What you want is a simple colour scheme, i.e. black on white, or white on black.
Well, I guess there's one thing you could do to keep your current colour scheme, and that would be changing the written content colour from black to white - that should make it more readable on such a dark background for visitors.
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9/27/2004, 4:54 pm
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