Who’s the Zombie?

Each year, I sigh wistfully as I flick through the program of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) before pushing it aside knowing that my university student budget will never stretch to allow such frivolities. This year however, things are different. This year, my idol, George A. Romero, is showcasing. And this year, I have a boyfriend with a credit card and a shared lust for zombie mayhem.

Most people are slightly unnerved or disgusted by my choice of weekend activity with zombie fans usually being stereotyped as nocturnal Goths with questionable mental health (cue my mother telling me there’s something seriously wrong with me if I have to watch such gore at ten in the morning). Not True. Romero fans were out in droves over the weekend to see the legend speak at ‘In conversation with George A. Romero’ at the Forum theatre. These fans ranged from aging cinema lecturers to convincing transvestites to well dressed young couples. I have to admit here though, that the majority of attendees bore a striking resemblance to comic book guy of The Simpsons fame.

What is it then that makes Romero’s films a standout in the genre, or as some fans are inclined to say, puts him in a genre of his own? Romero is a visionary. The zombie genre belongs entirely to him and has since Night of the Living Dead screened in 1968. Considering that the fifth installment of the ‘Dead’ series, Diary of the dead has just premiered at MIFF, that gives him a good 40 years of zombie films (plus a string of other fabulous films including stories of confused teenage vampires and a jousting motorcycle troupe) that people are still queuing up to see.

Those not familiar with Romero’s films perceive the idea of the undead  as a series of senseless gore, action and special effects reminiscent of a video game with little storyline or relevance. This may be true of some low brow zombie films but all of Romero’s films have an underlying theme that was intrinsic to society at the time of production. He basically takes an important issue and throws in reanimated corpses and examines the consequential human responses. As bizarre as it sounds, he succeeds in highlighting the ridiculousness of things like consumerism, corporate greed, the military and media by putting them in context when humanity is facing the apocalypse.

Romero tries to involve his audience as much as possible. He likes to claim that his films are ‘cubist’ and encourages viewers to draw their own conclusions. He has also rejected Hollywood as much as possible, preferring to be independent, and working on small budgets with friends. His 2005 film, Land of the Dead, was his first and only major Hollywood production (the ideas for which he accredits solely to the Bush administration)  he feels, was slightly wrested from his control. His ideas and spontaneity were limited by the hierarchy of Hollywood, and that bureaucracy got in the way of the passion of the film.

Thus he returned to his roots for Diary of the Dead, which I personally found is his most relevant (most probably because I was too young when his first three dead films came out). Diary focuses on emerging media which gives survivors more access to ‘true’ events via Blogs and Youtube than what they are being given from the mainstream news. Romero weaves downloads from the internet through the movie whilst the entire movie itself is presented from the prospective of a young film student with a camera and the intention to upload so that he too can tell everyone the ‘truth’ (think Cloverfield but with a steadier hand and without the queasyness).

When questioned about his motives for this theme, Romero is quick to criticise the ‘blogosphere’, accusing it of making people more tribal as they tend only to read and comment on forums with which they agree leading to “less info and more opinion.” Romero admits that he has an old set of values and that this contributes to his objection to the increase in subjectivity in today’s emerging media.

Unfortunately, the Q&A session ended before I could ask Romero my question regarding the future of the Dead series and whether or not he saw a defeat of the zombies and would thus address the issues involved with rebuilding society, which I believe, would draw human nature even more into question. Personally I’d like to see Romero tackle climate change in his next film. He could call it ‘Inconvenient Truth of the Dead’.