In this episode, we dig deep into George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978). A blood-soaked critique of consumerism, collapsing institutions, and the eerie numbness we’ve built around violence. But beneath the gore and the ghouls lies something even darker: the real-world horrors of the Vietnam War.
We explore how Romero channeled the chaos and brutality of the war, not just in his depiction of zombie carnage, but in the way, Dawn mirrors America’s media-saturated descent into desensitization. From the opening scenes in a panicked news studio, to the militarized police raids, and the cold efficiency of televised death; Romero’s zombies are us.
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