![]() ![]() The unbalanced gait, sombre expression and minimalist mannerisms are as distancing as they are inviting an identification. The classical representation of the slow, bumbling zombie is concerned with the “contemplation of the horrific” : the lack of speed forces audiences to gaze upon a deformed, damaged and deconstructed human body. PACE investigates the speed of the zombie, and how it can determine the pacing and tone of the film itself. ![]() The three parts of the video essay correlate to: their varying PACE, the SPACE in which they dwell in, and their expressive yet expressionless FACE. ![]() The unity of these contradictions is the essence of the zombie and what makes them so applicable to so many cultures and genres over so many years. The video essay is structured around a central idea of paradox: the zombie exhibits a series of contradictions within their imagery and in the films they belong to. Of course, the zombie is often formerly human, but it is cinema’s personification, weaponization and eclectic representation of the iconography that renders the zombie a cinematic tool for filmmakers to exploit. As Olney remarks, “we have always had a closer kinship with the living dead than with other horror-movie monsters” : there is an intimacy between the human and the zombie. ![]() ZOM/BEING: The paradoxical nature of the living dead in cinema is a video essay that aims to explicate the pleasures of the zombie film and illustrate how its residence in the horror genre has spanned decades and continues to be alluring for audiences. ![]()
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