University Essay: Reflection on 28 Days Later and Zombie Politics

This essay reflects on the film '28 Days Later' and its connection to Henry Giroux's concept of zombie politics. The essay begins with a summary of the film's plot, which revolves around a global pandemic turning people into rage-infected zombies, and introduces the core themes of authoritarianism and societal breakdown. The essay then explores how the military group in the film embodies Giroux's zombie politics, highlighting their actions and ideologies. Furthermore, it examines how individuals are treated as disposable objects within the film's narrative, providing specific examples such as the killing of Frank and the intended exploitation of female survivors, and relating these instances to analogous events in the real world. The essay concludes by summarizing the main arguments, emphasizing the film's depth as a commentary on modern culture and political systems, and questioning the parallels between the film's zombie culture and contemporary society.

Running head: REFLECTION ON 28 DAYS LATER
Reflection on 28 Days Later
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1REFLECTION ON 28 DAYS LATER
This week in class we discussed the concept of Zombie politics, a concept developed
by Canadian scholar Henry Giroux and its dynamic existence in the modern day political
system affecting millions of people around the world. Along with it we watched 2002’s
zombie apocalyptic movie 28 Days Later directed by Danny Boyle (Boyle, 2002). The movie
revolves around the main character named Jim and his struggle to survive against the
worldwide spread of the rage virus that has created havoc globally. The movie shows
metaphorical resemblance to present day’s existence of zombie politics. Even though the
central theme of the movie revolves around the zombie apocalypse, the various shades of
authoritarian society and its brutal impact sucking the life out of the mass population can be
linked with the concept of Giroux’s proposed concept of zombie politics. The movie has
several alternate climax scenes, however, the theatrical cut ends with Jim and other characters
named Selena and Hannah surviving the massacre and welcoming the new world of
survivors.
In this film there are many such scenes that reflects the core concept of Giroux’s
zombie politics that define and shape today’s political system and culture. Giroux’s concept
proposes that the current system of governance and administration is controlled by a
machinery that execute the so-called democratic ideology that have been dead a long way
back (Giroux, 2010). In the movie the scene where the military head named Major Henry
West informs Jim that the only way of escaping this catastrophic infection is to wait for the
zombies to starve to death whereas keeping the non-infected female survivors for
repopulating the world once again. This ideology that the character Henry West showcase in
the movie resembles with that of today’s cultural and political system. The governance of the
so-called democratic rule have turned the population into merely a basic entity that knows
nothing but only to survive the apocalyptic impact of the politics (Boluk & Lenz, 2011). In
the movie the military head thinks that taking the advantage of female survivors they would

2REFLECTION ON 28 DAYS LATER
be able to repopulate the world once again similarly according to Giroux the term of casino
capitalism states that the only goal of such practice is to get benefit for the purpose of
survival.
The movie does not only depict the stereotypical theme of zombie apocalypse instead
has resembled the real world metaphors. The movie has excellently showcased how in
today’s world the value of an individual has diminished significantly. People are merely the
worth of a disposable object where the strong individual takes advantage of the weaker ones
and then throws away when his or her motive is fulfilled (Canavan, 2012). One of the scenes
that clearly reflects this ideology of people being treated as disposable object is when the
military group reveals their idea of eradicating the world from infection and conserving
humanity once again. The military head says that the female survivors shall be utilised for
reviving the human race by exploiting them sexually (Jones, 2013). Another depiction of this
ideology can be seen in the scene where the military soldiers kill Frank without giving a
second thought since he was infected by the virus. The human life is sacrificed in a blink just
like a disposable product as it has no further use for others as well.
From the above discussion it can be enunciated that the movie 28 Days Later is not
merely a generalised zombie apocalypse movie but has a lot more depth to it. The themes of
authoritarian culture and Giroux’s concept of zombie politics is clearly depicted in distinctive
scenarios of the movie. The movie further showcases the wild metaphors of real life instances
such as people treated as disposable objects and others. By analysing these integrated themes
of the movie has triggered many questions in me and has made me think about the
modernised culture and political system that can be rightly compared to a zombie culture.

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References
Boluk, S., & Lenz, W. (Eds.). (2011). Generation zombie: Essays on the living dead in
modern culture. McFarland. 113-129.
Boyle, D. [director]. (2002). 28 Days Later [motion picture]. United Kingdom: DNA Films
Canavan, G. (2012). Review of Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino Capitalism
by Henry A. Giroux and Monsters of the Market: Zombies, Vampires and Global
Capitalism by David McNally. Science Fiction Film and Television.
Giroux, H. A. (2010). Zombie politics and other late modern monstrosities in the age of
disposability. Policy Futures in Education, 8(1), 1-7.
Jones, S. (2013). Gender Monstrosity: Deadgirl and the sexual politics of zombie-
rape. Feminist media studies, 13(3), 525-539.