A Perfect Scene in Dawn of the Dead (1978)

[deadhead412]

Hello fellow Romero nerds: First post here. After discovering a long fan cut of Dawn I rekindled my love for the original Romero trilogy and went on a binge of them all including every cut of Dawn I could get my hands on. While admittedly some things didn't hold up as well as I remembered (some minor characters' acting, Roger's "what the hell is it?" line at a shopping mall, and very minor nitpicks like the SWAT M16 rifles appearing to be .22 replicas.) I still loved every second. I do want to give Romero props for the opening scene in the WGON news station. I'd even call it a perfectly executed scene. Consider what the opening's job is. Exposition. To thrust us into this world and give us the information we need in a speedy manor. Without the benefit of a big budget or 21st century style technology that could show civilization's breakdown à la the 2004 remake, George picks a simple news debate. Common with today's 24 hour cable news talking heads but visionary for the late 1970s. Without seeing a single zombie in this sequence we get the picture. The news staff is tired, Fran was even sleeping in the studio and wakes from an apparent nightmare. We see what we expect to be a professional operation devolved into chaos, staff are screaming at each other, their cursing on air, people are abandoning their jobs en masse. Then we cut to the news anchor debating a government scientist in a scene that could have been cut for the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we get a refresher of the rules set up by Night of the Living Dead.We learn that the heart of the panic is a mysterious phenomena brining the recently dead to life, that a blow to the head can destroy them, that this is 3 weeks into the crisis, and most importantly that people are clearly divided on the issue or how to solve it. The government scientist, Dr. Foster reasonably asserts that people must recognize the threat, destroy the dead before reanimation, and that people's emotions are hindering the federal emergency response. This sets up the SWAT sequence in the building project as well. Romero nails everything in about five minutes. Anyway I just wanted to share my thoughts and would love to discuss the scene's implications or the movie overall!

[EvilNed]

I agree 100%. It's a perfect scene and just as you say, not only is it relatively "cheaply" made it also manages to act as a microcosm of society as a whole. People being torn between their work and home. This is the night when people just start to give up. Society has fallen to the point where this is the point where people are finally starting to realize - there's no point going to work anymore. I'm better off trying to get the hell out of here. Jesus, man. Creeps me out.

[deadhead412]

Absolutely! This is the point of no return in Romero's zombie apocalypse. The government won't be able to check the spread and those who aren't running for the hills like our protagonists are seemingly stuck fighting each other. The scientist debating the talk show host is no different than the police battling the people in the building project. Fran said it. We blew it ourselves.