This photograph shows one of
the main characters in Dawn of the Dead (1979). Stephen appears to be
the stereotypical male hero of the film as he is white, “good looking” and is
in a relationship with Francine, However he comes across rather wimpy in the
boiler room and shoots the zombie’s shadows instead of the zombie itself, and
often show he is terrible with a gun. This scene in the film shows that Stephen
has gotten greedy when he shouts “it’s over, we took it” to the bikers who have
invaded the shopping mall and shoots one of them. In this picture Stephen is
shown to be holding a phallic weapon representing masculinity, but he is
inaccurate with his shots. The scene where Fran and Stephen have sex it appears
that Stephen is depressed which again suggests he isn’t the stereotypical man.
George Romero goes against the typical
stereotype of the male hero because as the film goes on the real hero of the
film is discovered to be Peter. Peter goes against the stereotype of the male
hero because he is black, a fact that would have been more shocking in the more
racist 1970s. George Romero pushes the boundaries in a positive way here
because in early horror films the black guy was usually made out to be the
villain. Another film where we see a black hero in a George Romero film is in “Night
Of The Living Dead” (1968) showing Romero’s auteur style.
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