When I first sat down to write this post I had a very difficult time trying to decide what to write about. The answer came when I realized I couldn't stop thinking about the film we were required to see over the weekend "Warm Bodies". It wasn't the intriguing plot or hotness of Teresa Palmer that kept my mind at work but several questions that went unanswered. While I understand that Hollywood is Hollywood and audiences need to give filmmakers a certain degree of freedom in order to make a film flow, there were many questionable instances in the film that got under my skin.
The first example was particularly annoying and very distracting durring the film. The fact R's teeth are gleaming white make it seem like he just returned from the dentist instead of stumbling around eating brains all day. I understand the director wouldn't have been able to develop the love story if R was completely revolting, but they definitely could have taken the zombie-look a bit further. Personally I feel the filmakers figured he wouldn't be opening his mouth very often because for the majority of the film he is just shrugging and nodding. This probably gave them the best opportunity to subtly make a zombie more attractive without making it too obvious.
The next thing that really bothered me was how quickly R, Marcus and other Zombies begin to talk. They went from groaning, grunting and sputtering single words to eloquently conducting full conversations with one another in a matter of days. You could argue that they already had the ability to converse and as they began to regain agency, speaking was just like riding a bike. Other evidence in the film supports this theory; for example, Marcus is able to drive the airport car flawlessly when he needs to save Julie and R from the bonies. I can't imagine he has been practicing driving that car around in his free time, though when R attempts to drive the BMW it doesn't work out quite as well. The car moves rather like a zombie in fact, and the human in R had certainly developed more than that in Marcus at this point.
The final question I have about the film is how this seemingly happy community of zombies and humans that is portrayed at the conclusion of the film works. First of all, am I really supposed to believe that the zombies hunger really just goes away because they realize they can still love? This question leads me to another question, what do the zombies that have changed eat? I suppose this could be answered by saying they eat animals or non-zombie corpses, but personally I would have liked it if they addressed it in the film.
While I may have a few criticisms about some of the choices made durring the film's production, I appreciate the story from a zombie scholar's perspective. I also admit I had some preconceptions about the film and was not expecting to be an intrigued as I was. While I realize I am at the beginning of my zombie education, I have never before seen an ending that has the zombie horde and humans learning to live together. It was quite refreshing to see a conclusion that didn't involve the entirety of one group being killed off. For this reason I feel the teenage love story I thought I was being forced to see has earned its place among other zombie movies of our generation.
I agree that R could have been more "zombie" like. Personally, I think they made R "attractive" so that the idea of a human and a zombie being together would be more appealing. When Julie and Nora were trying to make R look more human, I didn't see much of a difference between his human look and his zombie look (minus a few skin imperfections). I wonder how R and Julie's relationship would have been perceived if he looked like a typical zombie.
Despite this (and the other points mentioned in your post), I did love the movie. I liked the idea of humans and zombies living in harmony. Prior to watching Warm Bodies, I had expected the zombies to be the bad guys throughout the film, but it was great to see the zombies and humans fighting as one against the Bonies. I feel that the movie emphasizes that in the end, zombies were/are human.
Great choice of promo picture for this post, Michael! I found myself wondering about the attractiveness thing this weekend as I was bombarded with trailers for JACK THE GIANT-KILLER. The first time I realized "Jack" was played by Nicholas Hoult (R from WARM BODIES), I started to notice that Jack didn't look as attractive as R.
And that messed me up.
I guess zom-rom-coms need a hotter protagonist than fairy-tale-adventures. Either that or I have a thing for serious eye makeup and guyliner.
There was a small moment when he tells the goats to go away when he is in the compound. Was this to indicate the turning point of his human flesh hunger as i couldn't understand why it was there. Some one may have more insite.
There was a small moment when he tells the goats to go away when he is in the compound. Was this to indicate the turning point of his human flesh hunger as i couldn't understand why it was there. Some one may have more insite.