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Defeating the Zombie Movie Curse
The summer of 2003 gives us two films that test movie curses:
Pirates of the Caribbean and Danny Boyle's zombie movie,
28 Days Later. The film opens with a few Insane Militant
Liberals breaking into an animal testing lab full of screaming
monkeys. The monkeys are being fed, Clockwork Orange-style,
images of human atrocities. Subtly, we are informed that the
monkeys are "Infected With RAGE!"; one bites a Militant
Liberal, who spits blood and zombifies. 28 Days Later...the
virus has wiped out the British Isle, leaving a few stragglers
amongst the ruins. I might be misreading this, but I think
Danny Boyle sees the Liberal Response to modern atrocity as
worse than the atrocity himself. As for the Conservative Dogma
of Social Darwinism—well, lets just say that the British
military never, ever wins in the movies. The virus conceit
is scarily relevant, affirming the fragility of the human
race, so Boyle ultimately argues for a humanism that says
existence merely to procreate the species is savagery.
Yet Boyle has more on his mind than pat philosophy. Jim (Cillian
Murphy) wanders the city during the daytime (the infected
thrive in the dark), stumbling upon legions of dead in a sanctuary,
apparently seeking a salvation that the virus ignored. To
survive, Jim scours the modern landscape, scavenging from
vending machines and such. Jim downs a Pepsi like Tom Hanks
drinking from a coconut in Cast Away, yet the idea
remains the same: Progress doesn't obsolete the basic elements
of our existence. But is that all there is? As Jim's companion
Selena remarks, "You got plans? What, you think we'll
find a cure, save the world? Or maybe just fall in love and
fuck? Plans are pointless - staying alive's as good as it
gets."
Is it? Eventually, man is faced with the issue of propagating
the species. For a view of feminism in 28 Days Later,
I give you Miss April Woods, former student of mine and current
film student at Hollins University:
Ironically, most American filmmakers never really understand
what a woman's power is, despite their far flung attempts
at showing powerful women. The G.I. Jane figure is far from
being an honest representation of feminism. Had Danny Boyle
decided to recreate this Hollywood stereotype in 28 Days
Later, the film would have simply been another of many.
What Boyle understood and reflected in his film is that a
woman's power doesn't lie in how much she can lift, how well
she can fight, or how many "bad" guys she can kill: A woman's
strength lies in her ability to persevere and make the best
of a situation.
In the film, Naomie Harris's character Selena, and her younger
friend Hannah, are going to be raped by four men. Selena doesn't
decide to try to fight them; instead she tells Hannah to take
some of her prescription pills so she won't care what is happening
and can make it through the experience. Selena is being realistic
and honest about a woman's capabilities. Yes, it is possible,
though not probable, that she could fight off the men, but
this action would be unbelievable to real life, and undermine
Boyle's attempt to make his film seem believable itself.
It's true that women are, typically, physically weaker when
it comes to fighting; however, this does not translate into
women being the weaker sex. Human physical power is divided
among the sexes. Women endure, can handle more pain, and live
longer, while men have their power in a more immediate way,
such as muscle strength. "Power" is glamorized in
action films usually by male dominated activities; but by
showing women beating men at typically male empowered things,
such as fighting, one is not supporting feminist cause, one
is killing it. Films such as 28 Days Later help dispel
the myth about power, by showing there are different kinds
of strengths and that both are equal. Though man, of course,
wins the battle with might, it's given meaning by the woman.
Women care for, and men protect. Both relying on one another.
Women are pragmatic: "Mark had plans. You got plans? What,
you think we'll find a cure, save the world? Or maybe just
fall in love and fuck? Plans are pointless—staying alive's
as good as it gets." Selena is the cynic and Jim is the romantic,
and even while trying to survive to just "stay alive" as we
humans must, merely living is pointless for us. Selena doesn't
want to feed false dreams, though they do fuck, fall in love,
and save part of the world. Essentially, Boyle plays with
our expectations of cinema, and thus, our notions of gender
roles. The line is shocking because it's counter-intuitive
to what we would expect a woman to say. Ultimately, every
movie is about those things, including this movie, but by
having Selena say this, somehow he pulled off a bit of surprise
and irony. Boyle was able to mask the fact that it all comes
down to those simple things by toying with our notions of
gender.
Help a sister out and click here to see some of Ms. Woods'
student films at http://www.hollins.edu/undergrad/film/filmstu.htm
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