Dawn Of The Dead (1979) Image Analysis 3

 

This image from Dawn of the Dead (1979), shows Stephen and Roger both holding a phallic weapon. This scene shows a slight competition between the two males fighting over the title of the hero. This scene again shows the weak side to Stephen because this is when the zombies are attacking and Stephen aims his gun at one of the zombies who seems to be moving faster than Stephen can shoot. Roger then pushes Stephen away with his phallic symbol and shoots the zombies for him showing that Roger fits more of the hero stereotype. The lighting in this scene is natural coming from the sun which looks as if it is setting, the dusk because the dawn at the end of the film.

Romero as an “auteur” flips character stereotypes in this film because the audience have sympathy for some of the zombies for example the baseball zombie. In the mall. In this case the stereotypes are reversed because Roger gets bitten by a zombie and slowly loses his power over Stephen. Roger is shorter than Stephen again showing power in the characters. Stephen should be more powerful because of his height making Roger more vulnerable, However Roger is shorter and holds more power. Another Romero film which challenges stereotypes is “Day of the Dead” (1985) showing one of the zombies “BUB” being one of the main heroes of the film. Again showing Romero’s “auteur” theory.