Dawn of the Dead (1979) Still analysis 1

Here we see a scene from the ending of Dawn of the Dead (DOTD) 1979. We can see the two final characters: Francine and Peter. Looking at the director George A. Romero, we can clearly see from this final scene that he is an “auteur” (as written about by Andrew Sarris in “Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962”) as he’s put in his own beliefs into this scene. Firstly, he’s challenged the stereotypical horror conventions, and has the survivors as the two people we would most expect to be killed off in a horror movie: a typical female looking victim – blonde hair, blue eyes, initially useless (not helping Stephen fight zombies at the refuel), yet as the movie goes on, the becomes stronger and more independent (learning to fly). Also Peter is a survivor, which is significant because Romero hated racism, being half Cuban himself, so challenged everybody’s expectations of those times and saved him. Romero also does this in Night of the Living Dead 1968, where Ben, played by Duane Jones, was the hero of the film. This may have caused some controversy due to the times, but Romero simply stated “he gave the best audition”.

The scene is depicted in a medium shot of Francine, with Peter being blurred in the background. This puts us into Francine’s emotional state, off the realisation they have just lost everyone they loved, and now have nowhere to go. The arrangement and mise-en-scene shows Fran’s strength, as she fills a lot of the frame and has a look of real power about her, especially since she is now in control of the aircraft. George Romero always tends to flip the character expectations. Although Peter, looking at themes, doesn’t fit into the CDI, as black soldiers were uncommon. He is also the hero of the film, and portrayed as very powerful, and the audience ends up rooting for him by the end of the film.