Blog Post #3: Patriarchy in 28 Days Later

"28 Days Later..." Return to the Status Quo

Ryan Chau

28 Days Later is a film that tells of humans surviving in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested world. All survivors seek to encounter a larger group, hoping to reestablish civilization and live without fearing for their lives. But the threat of zombies seems to occupy the protagonists, distracting them from the true threat of other, untrustworthy, survivors. The first two groups of survivors we encounter are friendly and loving. They live symbiotically, striving for survival, earnestly. Slowly, and not without loss, a family of sorts is formed between the group of survivors. Although Frank never truly exerts himself as a leader, he naturally becomes an unconditional single father. Sobchack states that “If Dad must become as an innocent child to represent the hope and promise of an imaginable future for patriarchy (which, in these versions of a single-parent family, accepts paternity), he must also give up his patriarchal power, his authority, to his children, retaining only its illusion, its image (and that at their indulgence)” (Sobchack, 156). With the lack of a real patriarchy, this family comes together with equality. This family has been set against the zombies, who, at the time, seem to be the clear monster, the main antagonist of 28 Days Later. The family works together closely to survive and stay clear of the zombies, and at times it seems as though they enjoy themselves, and mainly, each others company.

As hope arises of a civilization established by a military encampment, the movie almost seems to begin to achieve closure in the very elementary return of the status quo. The sudden change from passive to sinister of a group of survivors takes the audience by surprise. The moment that Frank, the alpha, dies, the tables turn, and now that they are relatively safe from the infected, humans become their own enemies.  The entire dynamic of the film has changed. The militaristic survivors have become the monsters. Other humans have become the subject to fear, there is no unity over a common enemy. What the initial group of survivors had thought was a return to normality became just another trap. This is where gender becomes a dire issue. The true reason of the radio message was to lure women to the encampment for the sole purpose of repopulation in an attempt to reestablish the status quo through patriarchal means. The men of the military encampment fully intend to force themselves on any women that they find under the guise of repopulation. The men tell Selena and Hannah to “dress up nice”, returning them to their femininity and removing their gender-neutral clothing. In this scene where they are forced to change, Selena is forced to kiss one of the soldiers in order to get them to leave the room, forced to use sexual indulgences as leverage. In order for our protagonists to overcome these monstrous militarized survivors, it seems that the patriarchy and gender roles set by these survivors must be abolished. So says Sobchack: “There is no narrative resolution for patriarchy in the horror film—except the denial or death of the father, finally impotent and subject to the present power of his own horrific past” (Sobchack, 159). 

Gross.

Jim takes advantage of the mansion, roaming its grounds and using his surroundings to take the militants by surprise. “A man’s home in bourgeois patriarchal culture is no longer his castle” (Sobchack, 145). Jim becomes a ruthless invader in order to save his faux family, releasing zombies and killing anyone in his way. Once the patriarchy is demolished, the status quo is reestablished, and Jim, Selena, and Hannah are set to live and prosper on their own. 

 Work Cited

Sobchack, Vivian. “Bringing it All Back Home: Family Economy and Generic Exchange.” The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film. Barry Keith Grant, Ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996.