"Our responsibility is finished."
A world gone to hell. God, I feel this way sometimes. Romero is onto something. The nation I live has never been more divided or fractured. Just six minutes into the extended version of Dawn of the Dead (1978), I couldn't help but see where we are as a nation, I watched a city news station fraught with anxiety, fear, anger, confusion, infighting, bickering, shouting over each other, deaf ears, disorientation, and sheer angst. It is coming apart at the seams. No one, or pockets of folks anyway, seems to be on the same page, and proper communication and tone erode because differences of opinion trump coming together to solve a crisis. Sound familiar? Romero has the dead coming back to life, but they are just a mechanism to show us that when crises truly uprise among a nation of individuals unable to get along they light a fuse certain to devastate.
That's what I saw immediately as I was watching this.
What a way, though, to kick the movie off. He takes us right into the crises as a news station is under duress. Those responsible for content and presentation are so at odds, the effort of an expert to tell the public what needs to be done in order to stave off apocalypse is met with him being cursed, insulted, mocked, and mistreated. What he says is accurate, but it isn't what they want to hear or accept. His interviewer tries to conduct a dialogue, but the commotion of those behind the cameras and throughout the studio, as attempts to uncover safety locations are becoming unsuccessful, interferes and impedes upon their conversation. The uneasy situation inside the station was an inside look at one location, but it's clear that hysteria and distress at such a hard-to-comprehend development isn't confined to here.
Francine (Gaylen Ross), a station producer, is told by a camera operator that fleeing with a chopper pilot of her news employer (boyfriend Stephen, played by David Emge) is encouraged as they are about to shut down. The chaos of trying to organize rescue efforts and failing has rendered the news station obsolete.
A world gone to hell. God, I feel this way sometimes. Romero is onto something. The nation I live has never been more divided or fractured. Just six minutes into the extended version of Dawn of the Dead (1978), I couldn't help but see where we are as a nation, I watched a city news station fraught with anxiety, fear, anger, confusion, infighting, bickering, shouting over each other, deaf ears, disorientation, and sheer angst. It is coming apart at the seams. No one, or pockets of folks anyway, seems to be on the same page, and proper communication and tone erode because differences of opinion trump coming together to solve a crisis. Sound familiar? Romero has the dead coming back to life, but they are just a mechanism to show us that when crises truly uprise among a nation of individuals unable to get along they light a fuse certain to devastate.
That's what I saw immediately as I was watching this.
What a way, though, to kick the movie off. He takes us right into the crises as a news station is under duress. Those responsible for content and presentation are so at odds, the effort of an expert to tell the public what needs to be done in order to stave off apocalypse is met with him being cursed, insulted, mocked, and mistreated. What he says is accurate, but it isn't what they want to hear or accept. His interviewer tries to conduct a dialogue, but the commotion of those behind the cameras and throughout the studio, as attempts to uncover safety locations are becoming unsuccessful, interferes and impedes upon their conversation. The uneasy situation inside the station was an inside look at one location, but it's clear that hysteria and distress at such a hard-to-comprehend development isn't confined to here.
Francine (Gaylen Ross), a station producer, is told by a camera operator that fleeing with a chopper pilot of her news employer (boyfriend Stephen, played by David Emge) is encouraged as they are about to shut down. The chaos of trying to organize rescue efforts and failing has rendered the news station obsolete.
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