Blog Post #2

According to Rick Altman, “Movies belong to genres much in the way people belong to families or ethnic groups.”  28 Days Later is a movie that belongs to the genre of romance. It is not just a horror film about a zombie epidemic, but it’s also a romance film about interracial love, as seen through the film’s music, dual protagonists, and the confidence that both the man and the woman will make it to the end.

Music directly contributes to what we are watching. In romance films, the music is soft and soothing, invoking feelings of happiness and contentment in the audience. For example, Titanic incorporates the use of gentle flute and violin music during the romantic scene in which Jack holds Rose over the railing of the ship. However, in horror films, the music is harsh and jarring, causing the audience to feel unsettled and fearful.  Psycho utilizes violins in a different way than Titanic does. The screeching, high-pitched sounds of the violin heighten the suspense and terror. While the music in 28 Days Later is chilling, it lacks the harshness of the music that is typically played in horror films. A great deal of the music includes tender flute, guitar and violin music, such as the supermarket scene where the characters are gathering food and drinks. The music is very buoyant as the characters pick up items from the aisles. The music in 28 Days Later is more similar to the music of romance films than that of horror films.

Typically, horror films have one protagonist that the camera follows and that the audience identifies with throughout the film. In Dracula, the camera follows Mina. In Psycho, the camera follows Marion (until her death). Yet, romance films follow two characters, the characters that will ultimately fall in love. In 28 Days Later, the film has two protagonists that the camera follows. In the last quarter the film, when the camera leaves Jim and follows the other protagonist, Selena. In this way, 28 Days Later resembles a romance film.

With horror films, the audience is aware that characters will die. Conversely, with romance films, the audience knows that both characters will make it to the end and fall in love. From the beginning of 28 Days Later, the audience knows that both Jim and Selena will make it to the end and fall in love. We know that Jim will survive because he is the main protagonist, and we know that Selena will survive because she is tough and aggressive. She isn’t the damsel in distress, like Mina’s best friend in Dracula, or Marion in Psycho, wielding a machete wherever she goes. Comparatively to romance films, Jim and Selena end up together at the end of the film, yet another way 28 Days Later resembles a romance film.

Works Cited

Altman, Rick. Film/Genre. London; BFI Pub, 1999. Print.