‘World War Z’ Zombies Reflect Pool of National Anxieties
Vampires have always represented rather specific sources of
fear — sex, blood (especially post-AIDS) and, of course, the loss of one’s
immortal soul. Zombies, on the other hand, are a blank canvas — whatever you’re
afraid of, be it immigration, disease, terrorists or the Tea Party, zombies are
ready to serve as metaphors.
In Marc Forster’s “World War Z,”
the zombie population is a reflecting pool of national anxieties. Unlike, say,
George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968), in which atmospheric
radiation was blamed (vaguely) for awakening the cemeteries, and turning
corpses into subs for the Vietnamese, the allegorical parallels of “WWZ” are
far less precise. In fact, the movie seems calculated to appeal — if that’s the
word — to every phobia afflicting contemporary society.
Which producer and
Plan B president Dede Gardner thinks is a good thing — audiences can impose
their own interpretations on what Forster is giving them: “I think the best
kind of entertainment has that malleable and elastic quality, and allows
audiences to impose their own values.”
But she laughed
when we cited one scene (semi-spoiler alert) in which Brad Pitt’s U.N.
investigator Gerry Lane is flying first-class on a plane bound from Israel to
India and a zombie outbreak occurs in coach – which seems to mirror the way
flight attendants view economy customers anyway, no? Gardner laughed out loud.
“I never thought of that, but it’s funny.”
Open to far grimmer
interpretation is the film’s sequence in Israel, which has spared itself
zombiefication by getting its healthy population behind its walls. You want to
see zombies as Palestinians? The movie seems to be saying “OK.” But then the
grateful Jerusalem survivors start chanting and praying to God, and the
deafening sound — zombies, at least in “WWZ,” are aroused by noise — provokes
another offensive by the undead against the fortified city. If you want to see
this as a critique of religion, “WWZ” seems to be saying “be our guest,” but
the reality is that no matter what you’re afraid of, including fast-moving
zombies, the movie is going to be happy to oblige.
“World War Z” hits theaters June 21. Our review roundup of the film is here; our interview with composer Marco Beltrami is here.
