What happened to political film?

[makhno]

With little to do tonight but waste some time, I watched an old favorite of mine, George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. I haven't seen it in ages. Much fresher in my mind was last year's remake, a tight little zombie flick that I enjoyed when it came out, just as I did 28 Days Later. Enjoyed, and then quickly forgot.

Boy, did I also forget just how brutally awesome and political the original was. From the title - with two years to go before Reagan, it was Dawn of the Dead indeed - to racial and gender tensions all wrapped up in a scathing critique of the rising consumerist culture. Every other shot is filled with more symbolism than a Tarkosvky wet dream - zombies grabbing coins from a fountain, the "it's not too late and I know how" pre-Roe v. Wade abortion talk, the humans robbing the zombies, it's all there. And it's there in a way that a normal viewer can grasp, acknowledge and relate to, with populism that rivals Jerry Bruckheimer's.

So, where is today's politicized, anti-establishment cinema? What happened to those fun, populist movies, so much more enjoyable on a Sunday night than a depressing documentary or some politically correct art house circle jerk? Why is it that all the remakes that are coming out - Dawn of the Dead, Assault on Precinct 13 - have been stripped of their political essence, the very thing that made those otherwise cheapass movies so memorable?

[NMDemDist2]

1. this weekend I watched "Supersize Me" and the "Manchurian Candidate"

both were VERY political :)

[makhno]

3. The Manchurian Candidate

Yes, that was an awesome movie. I was actually surprised at how sharp the satire in it was - right down to the constant radio voice over going on about terror and perpetual war and all the other wonderful gifts of late stage capitalism.

One of the few remakes that did justice to the original.

[FreedomAngel82]

2. Good question

I wonder too. I've seen some of the orginial "Dawn of the Dead" and enjoyed what I saw. I'll have to see all of it sometime and notice that. I think now days people who do horror movies, for the most part, are in to scare people and for myth's like the boogeyman and whatnot.

[solinvictus]

4. The Romero "Dawn" is the best..(Warning: Spoiler)

Romero's anti-consumerism is a rampant theme of the movie. Stephen, the news copter pilot, lets his greed get the best of him and initiates a chain of events that leads to his own death. Romero's movie simply states that even in situation of pure survival, we'll still be distracted by shiny and worthless things and likely endanger ourselves to pursue them.
The remake was pure crap. I hated it.

[makhno]

7. "We took it. It's ours"

Powerful message - to think that in the end, it's human v. human in a battle over material possessions. Come to think of it, the remake didn't touch on that angle at all. The conclusion was set up through solidarity with the guy at the gun store, a complete opposite of what Romero was trying to say about our times.

Also, contrast the endings - one, hopeful, the other, cynically nihilist.

[walldude]

5. Well if you think that was something

wait till later this year when Romero's latest Land Of The Dead hits the screen. I wondered if it was going to be as scathing as Dawn. Then I thought about the new title. I was expecting something to go with the old theme. Night, Dawn, Day, I was expecting Twilight or Dusk of the Dead. Hmmmm.. Land Of The Dead. Can't wait to see it.

[solinvictus]

6. I think it's a commentary on the outcasts of society..

In the new one, the living try to ignore the walking dead as best they can, sort of like our own homeless.