The Zombie Formula

Assignment 1-4-5: Written Analysis 4

In every film ever made, there are certain expectations or formulas for that genre of film. For instance, when you’re watching a movie in the romantic comedy genre, you expect that there will be a love story with a happy ending. The formula for the romance is: guy meets girl, they fall in love, and live happily ever after. The same holds true for adventure films—where the formula is a hero goes on an unexpected journey and at the end, a large payoff awaits (like a treasure). This same principle, or formulaic equation, can be given to any film genre, even horror films that feature zombies.

Zombie films have long had the same formula: plague overtakes the world, and a hero saves the world from plague. The old ‘save the world’ plot. Every zombie movie starts with scenes of a normal town, with normal people. Suddenly, within the next day or so, a virus has hit the town (the world) and turned everyone into flesh eating undead. There will be survivors, but only one or two will stand out as the hero. The hero will then protect the remaining survivors, and find a way to either rid the world of the zombies or provide a safe environment away from the zombies, thereby saving ‘the world’.

Even in the film, Warm Bodies—that puts a different spin on the typical zombie formula—still includes the same zombie formula, but it goes one step further. The hero of the film is a zombie named R, but he helps save the world against other, more evil zombies. An added formula of young love and a happy ending are added to the film.

I have always known what to expect from zombie movies, even knew how they would all end before I viewed them. Nonetheless, I still enjoy going to see each and every one of them. Our fascination with zombies, and how the film-makers put a different spin on the normal formula, keeps audiences interested and intrigued.

After learning about the formulas given to different genres of films, I see now why some moviegoers continue to love the expectation of those genres. On the other hand, I also see why some moviegoers are aggravated that they already know the plot and ending before they even see the movie. It all comes down to taste and what is popular at the time. For now, zombies are a popular culture icon, and even though we all know how zombie films will play out, we still enjoy them.

-----
References 

Hoberman, D. (Producer), Lieberman, T. (Producer), Papandrea, L. (Producer), & Levine, J. (Director). (2013). Warm Bodies [Motion picture]. USA: Summit Entertainment.