Dawn of the Dead - 2004 Film Scene Analysis

The final scene from the 2004 'remake' of Dawn of the Dead, Ana - the lead heroine/final girl, is escaping alone with a few others that survived the ordeal of crossing town from the mall. Having lost not only her husband at the start of the film, Ana becomes attached very quickly (mainly down to the fear & realization that they are really alone in both the mall, where they come to terms that society is falling down around them) - to Michael, who has stories of his own. In the still we see above, the boat sails off leaving Michael behind. Reasoning for this? Michael, in his effort to escape and join the others gets infected, and rather than play down & join the others, he sacrifices himself to let them get away to 'enjoy the sunrise' before killing himself. Whilst the scene shows Ana partially "happy" that they've been able to escape, and the consistent use of the American flag, connoting "freedom", we quickly learn than they haven't escaped the terror at all.

Used at the start of the film, in a quick-montage sequence, this clip shows what appears to be a religious mosque, of what could be Muslim or Arabic 'prayers'. What does this symbolize? Well, as with most horror/end of the world type genres, religion and praying for negative things is a common connotation. Most fear that zombies and evil things sent from hell could be a "sign" from above, or a punishment. Whilst this could be true, this film is also set in America, post-9/11. It could be argued that these montage of clips, wars and general atrocities could be considered terrorist in nature, and that the zombie apocalypse bound to happen has something to do with all of these things. 

The final still, shows Ana putting what appears to be a fire poker through the eye of a zombie. Unlike the original DOTD, where Francine - the female was portrayed to be quite 'weak' and 'non-combat', Ana's character completely breaks the stereotype of women in horror films. Going on the basis of her hair colour - blonde which is typically portrayed to be "dumb" in both real life and films, as a nurse (in her character) she's tough and smart, character traits that aren't really accepted by the norm, which enables her to fight alongside the men, and her experience means she can deal with the blood & gore.