Journal Article Analysis

The article, Terror in Horror Genres: The Global Media and the Millennial Zombie, written by Nicole Birch-Bayley is about our unnatural fascination with zombies as well as the shift in global media causing a change in pop culture.  After the global media shifted, zombie films had to do with a crisis culture.  “In lieu of this cultural revolution, zombie films came to reflect the worst-case fears of an apprehensive media culture, entertaining the same anxieties about world events, in this case, a fear of terrorism and epidemic in the zombie form.  …  As zombie films evolved over the years, their objectives changed; in many cases, the politics of the time period disappeared from zombie films altogether.  …  This stylistic shift on zombie films suggests that the way in which society interprets social and political tensions, such a global anxieties over terrorism and disease had changed since the turn of the millennium viewers now watched zombie films experiencing an intensity that was not only the product of a millennial manifestation of popular culture but also the result of a changing global media.”  (Birch-Bailey, 2012, pp. 1137-38)

At the turn of the millennium, zombie films changed and entered into a different chapter of filmmaking.  These films questioned whether we have become immune to violence and global crisis as well as whether we react differently to it.

In this article, Birch-Bayley discussed various zombie films and what she believed they reflected.  First, she discussed Danny Boyle’s 2002 movie, 28 Days Later.  This film launched a new definition of zombie.  A violent virus caused rage in the carriers (zombies) instead of the carriers rising from the dead.  Additionally, the zombies could run, sprint and destroy everything they came into contact with.  According to Birch-Bayley, “28 Days Later became the first and most marked film to imitate global anxieties both in the respect of terrorism and epidemic.”  (p. 1142)

Second, Birch-Boyle discussed Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead which depicted “a modern society of suburban sprawl and a twenty-first century shopping mall honoring a similar critique of American capitalism and materialism”.  (p. 1143)  Again, these zombies were different from the tradition slow moving ones as they could run, jump, bite and scream.  “These highly hyperbolized zombies are a part of a film culture that suggests that since the media is often exaggerated since newscasters feed images of violence and urgent threats on a regular basis, why not create zombies that mimic that same cultural urgency?”  (p. 1143)

Third, Birch-Boyle discussed Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s film 28 Weeks later.  This movie was a sequel to 28 Days Later.  In this film, the zombies were even more extreme.  The film depicted how the military is ineffectual in its endeavor to maintain order as well as stop the catastrophe.  Burch-Boyle felt the film focused on “the fear of society’s inability to suppress a global crisis; it is the fear of the ineptitude of society, of social or governmental institutions that propels these films forward toward a contemporary form of media skepticism.”  (p. 1144)

Finally, Birch-Boyle discussed George Romero’s 2007 film, Diary of the Dead.  This film followed a group of students who became disrupted when they were filming an assignment for class.  The students decided they would film a documentary titled “The Death of Death” to show the nature of the crisis.  The students seemed more concerned with how the media was handling the events than what was transpiring.  “What is most important in this particular zombie film is the message that is being sent through the media outlets, through film, through television, and through the internet.”  (pp. 1145-1146)

For me, this article was definitely thought provoking as I have never really watched any zombie film with the notion of it addressing violence and global crisis.  In my opinion, people can, and do, take something, twist it and interpret it how they wish.  With that being said, I am not so sure I agree with everything Birch-Bayley is trying to convey in this article; however, I do agree with her point that “The more voices there are, the more spin there is.  The truth becomes much harder to find.”  (p. 1146)

I do not feel this article is important.  While it is interesting, it is one person’s take of the

hidden meaning of zombie movies.

References

Birch-Bailey, N. (2012). Terror in Horror Genres: The Global Media and the Millennial Zombie. The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 45 (No. 6), pp. 1137-1151