I'm dreaming of a world without fences
I watched the zombie movie "Land of the Dead"
yesterday. The premise of this movie was that a small privileged group
of people gets to live inside a luxurious walled city while the rest of
the world has collapsed and is suffering. These people mostly think
about money and business in their naive trust that the walls and the
big river keep away the hordes of primitive subhumans who are
constantly trying to get in, as their simple minds are attracted to the
lights and the promise of the city.
Of course, eventually the smug and self-assured sense of security of the inhabitants of the city totally collapses, mostly due to the corruption and selfishness of the corporate leaders who rule things in their suits high above the multiethnic common folk that does their dirty deeds but gets only crumbs for this effort. The subhuman horde that has come to realize its oppressed position realizes that it can swim across the big river, and starts rampaging through the immaculate streets of the city. The horde runs after and catches the fleeing middle-class weaklings one at the time, turning them into one of them, and will not stop until the whole city is gone. Of course, even at the time of this total collapse the moneyed elite can only think about money and privilege, leading to its explosive downfall.
Gee, I wonder if this movie was supposed to symbolize something. It's almost like it had some important sociopolitical message, which was... god damn it, somebody help me out here! It's practically on the tip of my tongue...
All kidding aside, the way that Toronto's BCE Place was used to create Fiddler's Green was quite amusing, though. I guess the film crew snuck in each night after the place closed down, which would explain why it seems to be nighttime all the time in this movie. Toronto and Vancouver are the Hollywood North, as they say. Another recent big budget zombie movie, "Dawn of the Dead", was also filmed in Toronto.
Of course, eventually the smug and self-assured sense of security of the inhabitants of the city totally collapses, mostly due to the corruption and selfishness of the corporate leaders who rule things in their suits high above the multiethnic common folk that does their dirty deeds but gets only crumbs for this effort. The subhuman horde that has come to realize its oppressed position realizes that it can swim across the big river, and starts rampaging through the immaculate streets of the city. The horde runs after and catches the fleeing middle-class weaklings one at the time, turning them into one of them, and will not stop until the whole city is gone. Of course, even at the time of this total collapse the moneyed elite can only think about money and privilege, leading to its explosive downfall.
Gee, I wonder if this movie was supposed to symbolize something. It's almost like it had some important sociopolitical message, which was... god damn it, somebody help me out here! It's practically on the tip of my tongue...
All kidding aside, the way that Toronto's BCE Place was used to create Fiddler's Green was quite amusing, though. I guess the film crew snuck in each night after the place closed down, which would explain why it seems to be nighttime all the time in this movie. Toronto and Vancouver are the Hollywood North, as they say. Another recent big budget zombie movie, "Dawn of the Dead", was also filmed in Toronto.
Hmmm, sounds like a description of Constantinople ... 1543 anyone?
Posted by beenaround | 11:26 AM
Constantinople of 1453 was a pitifull and diminished shadow city of it former self harbouring some few thousand inhabitants. It is a wonder that she could put up even as much resistance as she did.
Posted by Catilina | 2:39 PM
Give me a zombie taking a nice bite out of my brain any day over today's multiculturalists with their reasons why brains are racist, dangerous and -- if they work well -- a product of an oppressive system.
Both the zombies and the multiculturalists may want me out of the way, but the zombie, at least, shows a sense of taste, putting them one up on the multiculturalists.
Steve N.
Posted by Anonymous | 2:39 AM
I'm dreaming of a world without feces!
Posted by non Scatalogical | 2:59 PM