Roger in the Arcade

[jim102016]

Come to think of it, seems like Flyboy lost the game of "Gunfight", and he did end up losing the gunfight he started with the bikers. How about that. Philly, you have an amazing ability for this stuff, it takes everything I have not to piss on myself in the morning! The arcade....an extension of consumerism? Or maybe another example of the group taking advantage of everything at their fingertips? He does lose the game right before that spooky part where Peter talks of voodoo....Roger looks horrible by that point. I beg to differ on connection between Stephen playing 'Gunfight' and him 'losing the gunfight with the bikers'. He only got shot in the shoulder, it was the zombies that finished him off...

[Philly_SWAT]

I beg to differ on connection between Stephen playing 'Gunfight' and him 'losing the gunfight with the bikers'. He only got shot in the shoulder, it was the zombies that finished him off... That is true, but it was Stephen who started the fight with the bikers, they were supposed to just close the doors, "They'll never even know we're here". And if he hadnt started the fight, he wouldnt have got shot, and he wouldnt have had such a hard time climbing up in the elevator. In fact, he wouldnt have been in the elevator at all, he would have climbed up the same rope ladder they had been using after they made the wall. So by extension, Flyboy was killed because he started the gunfight, if not neccesarily because of the gun wound itself.

[MaximusIncredulous]

Come to think of it, seems like Flyboy lost the game of "Gunfight", and he did end up losing the gunfight he started with the bikers. How about that. I think too much symbolism is being injected into this, not that that's bad as it provokes discussion. Now if Flyboy had a Spaghetti Western style duel with one of the bikers and lost or if Roger got behind the wheel of a sports car that exploded in or around the mall, then yes, I would say there's something to those arcade scenes acting as a portent of things to come. Besides Peter had to have lost the games he was playing unless he was an arcade wiz.

[Philly_SWAT]

Just for the record, I only thought about the "gunfight" during this thread, and dont actually think that was an intention of GAR to corolate the two, just perhaps that the Roger thing was.

[_liam_]

it would be seriously cool if we could have a couple of the arcade games from dawn in the hpotd arcade... i remember years ago someone said that when roger crashes in the game you see blood and explosions and this is indicative of his descent into zombiedom maybe not! almost as funny as the "is roger eating olives or kumquats from that jar" debate - that got pretty fierce as i recall!

[OddDNA]

I always thought it was a well written scence but I never thought of it like you did Philly. I just thought if was a good was of showing logical regression as you turn undead. Kind of like he was going mentally retarded or becoming childlike. Think if a 4 year old was playing a game and lost, he would be instantly sad but if the game restarted and he got to continue playing he would smile...someone so young wouldnt be able to think in the context of being able to play the games unlimitedly anyway. So I dont think GAR was showing Resurrection as much as mental regression.. Of course my opinion is no more valid than anyone elses. BTW msg me...what was the Roger drinking the olive juice debate...I dont remember...

[DEAD BEAT]

almost as funny as the "is roger eating olives or kumquats from that jar" debate - that got pretty fierce as i recall! roger swallowed kumquats?

[Philly_SWAT]

roger swallowed kumquats? What the hell is a kumquat? I assumed they were olives.

[Paradigm]

I think some of you are missing Philly's message, it's one that has certainly puzzled me too. It's not the fact he's playing the game; that's natural. Given unlimited acess to a 24 hour arcade is anyone's dream, but it's the fact that the screen crashes, goes black and some explosion occurs onscreen. For those of you who say we are awarding Romero too much credit, I disagree, we aren't awarding him enough. That was placed intentionally, but what does it mean? Was it simply to show a hallucination brought on by the large influx of painkillers? Or did it mean something deeper? Personally Philly I think your insight is pretty accurate, at that moment his mind itself was out of control, perhaps the crashing of the car or whatever it was (I'll have to watch the scene another time to be totally sure) is his lack of control over what will happen to him. The car returns to normal and keeps on driving. When he is dead, that is what will happen to him - he will continue on regardless.

[capncnut]

It's the little smile Roger flashes when his 'next life' on F1 begins that convinces me.

[DEAD BEAT]

not important but the other night i was watching "AIRPLANE 2 THE SEQUEL" and noticed that when there in the cockpit and they say she's really racing the panel shows the same game rodger was playing in the arcade!

[ProfessorChaos]

After watching Dawn again the other day, I noticed that they show the car crash, followed by a character in th shoot-out game being shot, then Roger's face, and then the car just comes back. Roger smiles, and then the shot of the driving game goes on for an extended time. I agree with Philly that this is probably intentional on Romero's part, to foreshadow what we all know is going to happen to good ol' Roger.

[Chaos]

That could have been a little bit of foreshadowing on Romero's part.

[rawrOTD]

i think it was just a look at how Roger was falling apart he did act like a child in response to the crash personally i took it as more of a "hes starting to lose his basic abilities such as motor skills and depth perception" but thinking about it he proly wasnt some videogame nut like there is today simply cos they didnt have them... it would be funny to hear roger talking all "teh l33t haxorz lol" and crap like that anyhoo i can definately see that being a symbol for his rising again, but not one Romero put in all sneaky like hes not thatttttttttttttttt subtle