Dawn of the Dead (2004) second image analysis

Although Dawn of the Dead (2004) is not necessarily directed by an auteur, Zack Snyder has his own style in terms of creating a film. Zack Snyder’s films are known to have fast paced action with a dark feel. When focusing on the auteur theory by Andrew Sarris (“Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962”), this scene illustrates this immensely. The fast paced action of the quick montage and the close up shots of the large, unattractive quick moving monster enable detail to be analysed and the zombie to be portrayed as something revolting. As the final girl, Ana, attacks the zombie and kills her by a large pole, the use of a phallic symbol connotes themes of power and dominance. Ana is a blonde female who is classed as the final girl and hero. Although caring, Ana comes across as physically and mentally strong and due to being a nurse, she deals with body horror with stoicism. Body horror is a feature of mise-en-scene that is used profoundly during Dawn of the Dead (2004). Due to censorship being much more open, audience’s almost expect there to be disturbing, explicit body horror and  when focusing on Janet Staiger’s “Audience Studies”, auteurs relate to their target audience and produce films with all of the correct elements to make their audience happy.

When concentrating on creating a horror film that will affect its audience, Zack Snyder intertwines modern day fears into his film that relate to the audience. People tend to be scared of mass diseases such as swine flu and bird flu. By cause of this, the idea of zombies and a mass disease that spread from the Middle East, audiences relate this to the context of the Iraq War in 2003 and 9/11 in 2001.