In just the blink of an eye the zombie apocalypse has started, and you are so not ready for it.
28 Days Later is the new age zombie film we needed to continue feeding our insatiable need for dystopian terror. This British thriller was directed by Danny Boyle, in collaboration with writer Alex Garland, who’s inspiration rose from the book, “Day of the Triffids,” by John Wyndham. This film was one of the first to introduce a new age of zombie apocalypse to the media by showcasing extremely agile, rage-infected humans that differed greatly from their more lethargic predecessors such as in Last Man on Earth.
Since its release in 2002, 28 Days Later has inspired successors such as World War Z, Sean of the Dead, and Train to Busan. It is largely responsible for contributing to the reinvention of what we now know as the modern day “zombie,” and therefore played a role in resuscitating the genre altogether. This new narrative is packed with ingenious components like psychological anguish, emotional turmoil, redefined gender roles, playful use of color while still selling us a vivid story about hope for survival and humanity.
When analyzing the film one can see that color plays a big role in the subtext of the film. The use of color to imply different emotions and meaning adds to the uniqueness that differentiates this film from past post-apocalyptic narrative. Warm and neutral tones can be seen throughout the film on the clothing of the characters, in the empty, abandoned streets, and even in the infected. The color red proves to be a standout color that could arguably be used to signify the immense depth of hate, rage and insanity that now plagues humanity. One example of this usage would be Frank’s tragic and sudden death. We see Frank infected by standing beneath an infected body, tragically getting one single fallen drop of blood directly in his eye which then inevitably turns him into a zombie. As the drop of blood is falling down towards Frank’s eye our view is switched to the perspective of the falling liquid as it descends directly down and once the blood has entered his body the entire frame turns red. This effectively symbolized the anger and rage that will slowly take over Frank and his body.
Another way 28 Days Later sets itself apart from its predecessors is the way it sets up its plot and characters. Like many other apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic movies, 28 Days Later opens with the image and feeling of emptiness. We find Jim alone, waking up to find himself in a deserted city with no cars, no sounds, no sign of people, or any kind of humanity left at all. Just like in the multiple versions of I Am Legend, this film explores the emotional roller coaster the main survivor of the story feels through the loneliness, desperation, fear, and moments of happiness which are enhanced by the horrible and bleak background against which they are being experienced. Jim is the hero of the story and the one the viewer feels they have the most attachment for because he is, just as we are as the audience, the most lost of them all in this suddenly dilapidated world.
Jim experiences the apocalypse like no other character because he falls asleep before the virus takes hold of the world and doesn’t wake up until the world is already in catastrophic situation. This is extremely different from other zombie films where the characters are usually aware of the virus’s continuous advancement and subsequently live through the catastrophic demise of society. Thus 28 Days Later shows the apocalypse through a unique set of eyes, the ones that wake up in the middle of it.
We see that family is an important theme in 28 Days Later, as well as many other post-apocalyptic stories.It is part of what helps to drive the these type of stories forward in a meaningful way. The idea of a makeshift family, helping and supporting one another through such a terrible and frightening incident, is an important theme in many post-apocalyptic stories. In Omega Man, Ruth has a a family of lost children who have hope to find a cure. In Station Eleven, the traveling symphony is a makeshift family of people who have had to bring their abilities to survive the unimaginable. In 28 Days Later, this is seen especially when Jim, Selena, Frank, and Hannah make the decision to travel with one another as a single caravan in order to help each other reach the safe space where there are other survivors. They become a sort of pseudo family to one another, to the point that when Jim has a nightmare about being left behind, Frank wakes him up. Jim refers to Frank endearingly, saying, “Thanks Dad,” after the incident. There is love among each of the apocalyptic families. They have suffered similar experiences, and had to put together their own version of a family.
When the family of survivors comes across a family of horses they even regard them in a favorable light, showing that in those horses is reflected a kind, familial bond they see in themselves. This theme is prevalent in other post-apocalyptic movies/books as well such as I Am Legend in which the idea of having a family becomes lost to Neville, though he remembers his own with reverence. Thus, 28 Days Later is somewhat similar to I Am Legend and other post-apocalyptic narratives because the idea of family is treated with reverence or regarded highly in the end.
The movie also introduces us to a strong female protagonist who is portrayed as the savior to the single lonely man in the apocalypse. When Jim is being chased by the zombies from the church two people were helping him, throwing molotov cocktails at the zombies and further exploding a gas station. When Jim groups up with the two although one of them is a male, we notice that the superior of the two is the female, Selena, as she is the one who does all the explaining about the Rage Virus and her posture when sitting gives off a superior posture. She is also the one making the final decision on the sleeping arrangements later on in the film which showcases her opinion as highly regarded and respected. Multiple times we see Selena saving Jim when he is alone. This is similar to the film Omega Man, when Neville is saved by the female protagonist, Lisa, when he is tied up by Matthias’s group. The theme of having a female protagonist shows that the rise of mainstream feminism in which females can be the stronger character.