Dawn Of The Dead (2004) Image Analysis 1

 



This picture is from the opening scene of Dawn Of The Dead (2004). The opening scene of the film gives the audience an insight to where the zombie virus began and relate to fears of swine flu. This image appears to come from satellite phone from a mosque in the Middle East linking to 2004 context of the Iraq War and of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. This suggests that the virus started from religious people as we can see a numerous amount of people praying in there mosque. The way in which this image is black and bleak makes it look old and adds to the emotional effect the director is trying to convey.

The opening title introduces the audience to the zombie virus and informs them about it. The contrapuntal music which is playing played “The Man Comes Around” linking to biblical Armageddon. We hear the people praying slightly which again suggests the virus has started, as well as the end of the world.

The critic Janet Staiger who wrote about “Audience Studies” looked at how audiences responded to films in her famous book “interpreting films” (1992) due to this I think the film would have been more powerful to audiences in 2004 because the attacks of 2001 would have been more fresh in their minds.