Thoughts on Teamwork & Bonding

[Trin]

I believe that what makes a zombie movie great is teamwork and bonding between the protagonist characters. If you look at the undisputed greats they all had a core group that worked together at some point, bonded with each other, and looked out for each other. To me, that helped me relate with them and root for them.

If you look at the lousy ones you see just the opposite. No teamwork, no bonding - and no viewer empathy for anyone.

My personal order of favorites matches up nearly identically with the level of teamwork and bonding between the main characters.

Dawn - The ultimate teamwork movie. You cannot help but love how the core group pulled together.

Day - In the end the core 3 of Sarah, Bill, and John bonded and united against Rhodes.

Night - Ben, Tom, and Judy worked well together.

Dawn '04 - Teamwork developed throughout the movie. Definite bonding. Even with Andy who was not in the group.

Land - Virtually no teamwork or bonding at all. Riley & Charlie kinda bonded before the start. Riley showed compassion for others but never bonded with anyone. The villains (Cholor and Foxy) seemed to have more bonding going no than the heroes.

Diary - Little or no teamwork - little or no bonding. They seemed to stay together out of convenience rather than desire. I barely cared about any of them.

I'll grant that Night probably had less teamwork than Dawn '04, but I still like Night more. I don't think this violates my theory, though, because Dawn '04 brings itself down in other ways.

I wonder if Diary 2 will have more teamwork and bonding? It almost seems inevitable that they would. Being the first direct sequel and all with characters who've already been through quite a lot together.

Well I'm hopeful.

[SymphonicX]

I think the whole series is totally based on man's inability to unite against a common threat and throw aside allegiances and material gains...

[bassman]

I think the whole series is totally based on man's inability to unite against a common threat and throw aside allegiances and material gains...

What he said. Teamwork isn't the strong point of the films, that's for sure.:D

And do we know for sure that the sequel to diary will be a direct one? With the same characters and all.

[Mike70]

*sighs*

here we go again.

i'm just waiting for the talk of murder and mayhem to start.

i'll just say that one of the main themes i take away from the movies is that you either cooperate with the people around you or you die.

[SymphonicX]

I mean it's pretty much the only theme of those movies, one that follows all of them - and even their slightly less enjoyable rip off counterparts....

[Trin]

So that's what made Dawn great? People not getting along for 139 minutes?

Sure, there's an overriding theme in the movies that humanity architects its own downfall in the crisis. But is that why you love the movies? That's the part that makes you come back and watch them again?

[SRP76]

Well, there really wasn't all that much "getting along" in Dawn of the Dead.

Fran and Stephen did more fighting than "bonding", and Roger and Peter stayed distant from them the whole time (as if they didn't want to get caught in the middle). Then Roger died, taking him out of the equation. The rest of the movie, you had Stephen and Fran not getting along, and Peter pretty much avoiding them.

[Ov3rlord]

*sighs*

here we go again.

i'm just waiting for the talk of murder and mayhem to start.

i'll just say that one of the main themes i take away from the movies is that you either cooperate with the people around you or you die.

Let me help you with that one. I M GONNA GO SO UBER PWNAGE ON ALL UR ASSES IF UR ON SOME PERSON ELSE'S TEAM. I'LL POISON YOUR WATER SUPPLY AND BURN YOUR CROPS AND DELIVER A PLAGUE UNTO YOUR HOMES.
:elol::elol::elol::elol::elol:

[Bub666]

Nobody ever wants to work together in these kind of movies.

[DubiousComforts]

Sure, there's an overriding theme in the movies that humanity architects its own downfall in the crisis. But is that why you love the movies? That's the part that makes you come back and watch them again?
It's this conflict that makes it interesting. It's not so much that Romero's films don't have a strong teamwork theme, but rather they demonstrate what happens when there is lack of teamwork. In comparison, the living dead are shown to have no problems working towards a common goal. Kinda ironic, ain't it?

[strayrider]

I think the whole series is totally based on man's inability to unite against a common threat and throw aside allegiances and material gains...

I think Romero is wrong about this. Mankind is quite capable of uniting against a common threat. If it were not so, there would be no civilization at all. Not in the past, not now, not ever.

:D

-stray-

[sandrock74]

I guess Dawn (original and best) is the one film in which the protagonists work together the best of any of the films. They didn't always get along fabulously, but they did pull together and get a lot done.

[SymphonicX]

I think Romero is wrong about this. Mankind is quite capable of uniting against a common threat. If it were not so, there would be no civilization at all. Not in the past, not now, not ever.

:D

-stray-

Well there's never been a more common threat than Man themselves....man is the biggest threat and we've done a hell of a lot of work trying to cull this horrible species before it's too late. Trouble is we keep pro-creating.

Or take a look at Global warming - one could argue that we're not exactly uniting ourselves to save humanity from THIS common threat....and it's set to wipe us out....!

[Trencher]

I think the dead trilogy strongly recomends that people should cooparate and it shows what the consequenses are of not doing so.
The works of Romero is pro cooparation in my book.

[EvilNed]

i'll just say that one of the main themes i take away from the movies is that you either cooperate with the people around you or you die.

And I want to add that Teamwork does not equal Communism, as some people around here seem to believe. Teamwork equals survival!

[Wyldwraith]

Something I'd like to point out,
Ever notice how there's only really ever *1* single "everyman/jack-of-all-trades" type like Michael in Dawn '04, or Ben in Night? They're just regular guys, without any special training, but what makes them great is that they stay calm in a crisis and use common sense and compromise to develop a rapport with the others they encounter.

Why oh why is there never more than one of these guys in a movie? I mean, people with these personality characteristics are EXACTLY the type to survive the crazy chaos-filled early hours of the zombie uprising. They're also the ones most likely to want to/work towards trying to reach out to other survivors.

Yes, I realize that from a movie plot standpoint that it doesn't serve the interests of making the point about how mankind is its own worst enemy, but to be honest, in my lifetime I've met a LOT of people just like Michael and Ben.

I'd just like to see a scriptwriter take a chance on a different "message" than the pessimistic "Man is incapable of uniting for the common good" and see if it could work. It could be explained in the plot easily enough. With so many thousands of people displaced and on the run in the early hours of the crisis sheer dumb luck could bring a majority of unusually reasonable/cooperative individuals together.

::shrugs:: I just think it might make for an interesting change. Seeing the survivors making good decisions and pulling together during this hopelessly grim situation. Maybe such a movie would lack the popular/trendy air of painting humanity as a pack of self-destructive idiots, but it could have other entertaining aspects, couldn't it?

I mean, look at how much time all of us spend debating the optimal means of handling a zombie apocalypse. Yes, the chances are exceptionally long against more than two people who've ever given such an "impossible" eventuality extensive thought meeting up, but people win the lottery and get struck by lightning multiple times. Events that are absurdly improbable DO happen. Maybe it would be interesting to see how two such improbabilities interact. (The dead returning to life to attack the living, and 6-10 sensible, cooperative and adaptable individuals finding each other during such a crisis)

Just a thought.

[RustyHicks]

As Romero once said in an interview,
he likes putting his characters in
exterme conflicts and makes
for a more interesting movie

[Trin]

It's this conflict that makes it interesting. It's not so much that Romero's films don't have a strong teamwork theme, but rather they demonstrate what happens when there is lack of teamwork. In comparison, the living dead are shown to have no problems working towards a common goal. Kinda ironic, ain't it?This is an excellent point. I'm with you that the conflict makes it more interesting, but I don't think the movies are successful because of the conflict. Imho if there's nothing but conflict the movie just runs flat. There's no one and nothing to root for.

Dawn would be a snooze-fest if there were no conflict. They take the mall and live happily ever after. I agree there's no fun in that. But contrary to some of the opinions expressed here, the core group pulled together amazingly and did some incredible things to get that mall secured. Those were the best moments in the movie for me - watching them work together.

In contrast Land and Diary showed little or no teamwork. Everyone was pulling in different directions and in the end I just couldn't get behind any of the characters. I kept wanting to shout, "Why can't you lift a finger for each other!?!"

As Wyldwraith says, you're going to find people who are level headed and willing to pull together. I'd love to see a movie where the zombies provided the main conflict and the humans worked reasonably well together. I think that movie could work.

I don't begrude Romero his take on man's failings, and he has scored hits with his take on man vs. man. But in the earlier movies he seemed to hit the nail on the head moreso than lately.

[Danny]

all i can say is its gonna be interesting when all the 360 owners on here get together online in left 4 dead lets put it that way.

[bassman]

all i can say is its gonna be interesting when all the 360 owners on here get together online in left 4 dead lets put it that way.


*looks over at the 360, remembers there's no internet connection and sighs*

[JasonEdw]

What i do like about these living dead movies is the whole social breakdown thing that happens, in both micro and macro.It's not that I'm a nihlist or an anarchist, but it's been fascinating to see all the building blocks come tumbling down in the face of some horrific zombie apocalypse.
The institutions that are supposed to protect the public fall into disarray, from the police to the government, and all they care about is saving their own asses.
All our social values we learn deteriorate into selfish survival actions...I dunno, maybe I get some sort of morbid entertainment in watching people lose it...