Hey Wisecrack, Helen here.
When you spend as much time thinking about movies as we do, sometimes you wonder if you’re
just plain overthinking.
Is You Got Mail a fun-loving rom-com or an Orwellian masterpiece?
Is Hairspray a metaphor for the Cold War?
And what’s the super secret meaning at the heart of The Sandlot?
This is all to say -- sometimes when you read a text too deeply, you go a bit cross-eyed.
Which brings us to Zombieland, which we’ve probably watched dozens of times at this point.
On the surface, the film seems like a pretty typical mainstream horror-comedy, leaning
more on quippy one-liners than on plot or theme.
"Time to nut up or shutup"
But after watching Zombieland too many times, we began to notice some interesting... subtext.
Could there be hidden depths to the film no one’s noticed before?
Is Zombieland far more than just a fun diversion?
Or… have we gone totally off the rails?
Welcome to this Wisecrack Edition on Zombieland: Is It Deep or Dumb? and as always, spoilers ahead.
But first, a quick recap: Zombieland focuses on a world overtaken by, you guessed it, zombies.
It’s the typical zom-pocalypse, where pretty much everyone’s now undead, and the few
living folk struggle to keep themselves from becoming dinner.
The film focuses on four outcasts - Columbus (a nerdy recluse), Tallahassee (a trigger-happy
Woody Harrelson type… played by Woody Harrelson) and Little Rock & Wichita (two con-artist
sisters).
Together, the group travels west to California, taking refuge at Bill Murray’s mansion and
then letting off some steam, and a shitton of bullets, at the local amusement park.
Zombies are decapitated, shot, and smooshed -- as the dysfunctional quartet works through
their issues and becomes their own make-shift family.
Now, the first interesting bit of depth we noticed about Zombieland is how similar it
is to a certain genre.
No, we’re not talking about zombie films or comedies…
But the western!
Just look at John Ford’s quintessential western, Stagecoach.
In Ford’s film, a group of strangers from different backgrounds travel West together,
dealing with their own internal issues while fending off a different kind of threat: Native
Americans..
Sound familiar?
That’s because it’s more or less the same basic plot as Zombieland: A group of strangers
travel West together, dealing with their own internal issues while fighting off the local
inhabitants - except this time the locals are the undead.
Tallahassee is pretty much the textbook gunslinger in the tradition of a John Wayne or Clint
Eastwood.
There’s even a ‘mexican stand-off’ between Columbus and Tallahassee, complete with Sergio
Leone esque close-ups of each character’s eyes and weapons.
Zombieland uses these Western tropes to draw a deliberate parallel to our own historical
expansion further into Native land.
This expansion was justified by a concept called “manifest destiny,” which held
that it was Americans' God-given duty and right to travel west and snatch land away
from the indigineous tribes already living there
In Zombieland, four settlers led by a man named Columbus (ahem), move West, taking everything
in their path-- cars, guns and the houses of Beverly Hills..
And they snatch this land away from the not-quite-people already there, shooting, stabbing and bashing
all that stands in their way.
For that matter, the names Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock are also associated with Native
Americans.
“Tallahassee” is an Apalachee Indian word for “old town” or “abandoned fields”;
Wichita is “a confederation of Southern Plains Native American tribes”; and Little
Rock was a place where Native American lived… but then again I guess they lived everywhere,
so maybe that one doesn’t fit.
Think we’re stretching?
Well, as our motley zombie-killing crew move further to
California, their destruction crecendoes with the vandalizing and looting of a Native American
souvenir shop.
So is Zombieland actually a sly commentary on America’s Western Expansion?
Is the film using its character to critique our past sins -- eradicating an indigineous
population in the pursuit of some kind of new ‘Manifest Destiny’?
It’s kind of unclear.
The film never admonishes the crew’s actions; on the contrary, it revels in the ruin.
Also is the film really conflating mindless zombies with Native Americans?
You could interpret this comparison as a commentary on how colonizers viewed indigenous tribes.
Native Americans were often presented as mindless and uncivilized, a horde intent on just mutilating
& killing.
Not so different from hordes of brain-hungry zombies
But if the film were satirizing this mindset… where’s the satire?.
And as much as we searched for it… there just isn’t any evidence to prove our theory.
We’re always supposed to side with Columbus and his friends, never the zombies.
Shooting and killing these mindless creatures is the moral & correct solution in Zombieland.
Compare that to the satirical take on manifest destiny seen in a Western like Little Big
Man, which depicts the Cheyenne tribe as sympathetic, the American settlers as pretty dickish, and
life on the American frontier as an absurdist tragedy.
In contrast, Zombieland could read like just a celebration of murdering a ton of quote
unquote “monsters” to conquer the New World That also seems like a stretch, one
that would merit a big “yikes.”
So if this film is deep, it’s a little unclear if it’s coming from the whole manifest destiny
theme.
but there’s a second potential deeper meaning to Zombieland: As an indictment of our own
consumer society.
Zombieland indulges in the destruction of the social stratum.
In the first image of the film, the American flag breezes backwards, as the Capitol Building
burns in the background.
Symbolizing the destruction of society as we know it.
Then, in the credits sequence, we watch as a hodgepodge of regular people (a father with
his child, a fireman, a police officer) are mercilessly devoured by the zombie hordes.
Zombieland deliberately rejects all the social shackles that kept people in check.
Transgressional acts, like looting and pillaging, aren’t just the new normal, they’re laudatory
acts of defiance.
"Tallahassee firlmy believes that you have to blow off steam in zombieland or else you
lose what's left of your mind"
Even people’s own names are forsaken.
Nobody in Zombieland goes by their given name.
Instead they take the mantle of their place of origin, a rejection of old society’s
fancy rules about who gets what name.
"Wichita, Little Rock"
The only people who thrive in this new zombie world are the outcasts of society.
Columbus was a loner who spent all day at his computer playing World of Warcraft.
Wichita & Little Rock were con artists, who survived by up-selling shitty rings.
But now that the zombies have taken over and the world has fallen apart, they set the rules.
Columbus defines the proper ways to survive in Zombieland, and the film treats these rules
as absolute.
Cardio, seatbelts, and the double tap all save him and the rest of the gang countless
times, becoming their new pseudo ‘Bill of Rights.’
Now in charge, Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita & Little Rock revel in the destruction of
the commercial past.
When they wreck the Native American gift shop, it’s framed as a bonding moment amongst
the quartet.
"you gotta enjoy the little things"
Yet despite the chaos, nothing has really changed.
Sure, society’s fallen apart but it’s only ushered in a new social order.
Columbus and co.
seek out the same luxuries as their predecessors, consuming everything in their path, be it
food, cars, mansions or weapons.
The only difference: now that the rich are dead and/or zombified, these societal rejects
can just take it for themselves.
In essence, all they’ve done is become the upper-echelon by virtue of their survival
skills.
So is Zombieland actually about the inevitability of our social norms or consumer society?Even
after the world ends, will we still be mindless consumers beholden to ingrained cultural norms?
Well, yet again… there’s just not enough evidence to support this theory.
Other zombie films have explored similar themes to far better effect.
Take for instance, Dawn of the Dead.
A film explicitly about the ills of consumer culture.
In George Romero’s masterpiece, a few survivors take refuge in a shopping mall away from the
zombie hords.
There, they senselessly consume everything in the mall to their hearts’ content.
That is until the zombies show up to take the mall back.
In the end credits, the zombies mindlessly wander around the mall just as our heroes
did, suggesting there’s no difference between the two.
If their zombies mindlessly lust for brains, our survivors mindlessly lust for stuff.
In Dawn of the Dead there’s no question about the intent of the film.
But Zombieland doesn’t have the same critical edge.
In the end it seems to tacitly support these same societal norms.
Through wanton consumerism, our heroes actually do find convenience & safety with one another.
The film strays from its more critical points, opting instead to end on the importance of
‘family’ above all else, as in: the family that consumes together, stays together.
"That face?
That's me realizing that those smart girls in that big black truck, and that big guy
in that snakeskin jacket, they were the closest to something I'd always wanted, but never
really had: a family"
So on our 2nd point - nothing is adding up to deep.
Yet.
Or we’re a little dense and not getting it - also an option.
But perhaps all this family stuff leads us to the ultimate point of Zombieland -- wish
fulfillment.
Typically zombie apocalypses are presented just as it sounds… as an apocalypse.
Society has completely fallen apart post out-break: People betray and kill one another…
Nothing is safe and anyone could get eaten at any moment.
Or they’ll sit around a farm boring us to death But that’s not the case in Zombieland.
Unlike every other zombie film (where most of the main characters die or become zombified),
here none of the leads die.
Even when Tallahassee seems doomed, surrounded by dozens of zombies, It doesn’t matter.
He ends up killing them all anyway and looking like a total badass in the process.
Sure there’s plenty of danger in Zombieland, plenty of near misses with zombies lunging
at your face, which isn’t much fun.
But for our virtually indestructive protagonists, on some level, it’s a perverse kind of paradise.
You can do anything you’ve ever wanted to with zero consequences.
Destroy a minivan?
Check.
Shoot a firearm in the middle of the street?
Check!
Loot any store at any time?
Check again.
Plus, not only can you live in Bill Murray’s house, you can meet Bill Murray in person
AND re-enact scenes from Ghostbusters with him.
Until you accitendally kill him
But for the most part, every character gets everything they want-- Columbus gets to hook
up with the super hot and smart girl; Tallahassee gets to kill a whole bunch of zombies; and
they all become their own family.
The greatest tragedy in the film is that all the Twinkies get shot to hell.
But even then -- Tallahassee still gets to chow down on one final remaining one.
So is the point, for Zombieland, that the apocalypse is a kind of utopia?
If many people feel like they’re stuck in a modern hell, Zombieland topples that hell
with a funner, if slightly fraught-with-the-undead hell.
One where your whole family’s probably dead, but hey, you can’t have everything, right?
This zom-pocalypse though isn’t presented as something solely to fear, in weird ways,
it's even a welcome relief.
You no longer have to deal with who’s polling well at the Iowa State Fair or worry about
how many likes your vacation photos got.
"No facebook status updates, y'know, Rob Curtis is gearin' up for friday"
With almost everyone dead, these concerns are a thing of the past.
Now you can reap your just deserts, doing anything you’ve ever dreamed of.
Killing a few dozen zombies every now and again doesn’t seem like too steep a cost.
Hell, there’s even a foolproof guide on how to do so and survive.
And this is kinda smart.
Super deep?
We don’t think so.
But as for the movie as a whole, it’s a certified Wisecrack maybe-almost-teetering
on deep.
We have a feeling there was some unrealized depth with the film’s other themes, but
hey, it’s a fun movie.
But what do you all think?
Have we read too much into Zombieland?
Is it just a fun diversion?
Or the smartest movie ever made?
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Peace!