Zombies and Gender!!!!

On Monday, I had the good fortune of seeing the 2003 film 28 Days Later which surprisingly, was fairly intellectual for a movie about zombies and the apocalypse.  The general premise is that a virus has struck England, a virus that ultimately infects people and makes them blood sucking zombie types, but not the kind that we usually think of.  These are fast acting speed zombies, and once infected, there is no cure, and the infected have to be killed to prevent further blood thirst.  Now, there are 4 main characters whom we are following, one of whom accidentally becomes infected and has to be killed.  The 3 characters are driving to a military base which claims to be safe from the virus.  When they get there, they instead discover a "Lord of the Flies" type situation in which the military men are somewhat insane, cruel, and highly sexist. As thing progress, we find out that the corporal has promised women to his men.  Therefore, 2 of the visitors, the women, are expected to have sex (i.e. be raped) by the soldiers.  The third companion is a guy, who they are trying to kill because he is protesting the rape.  he then comes back to rescue them, basically having them defeated by the infected.  The thing that is most shocking though is that the humans are worse than zombies.  It's the humans that want to pillage and rape, whereas the zombies just want to kill.  It also reminds me that in times of crisis, people are no longer human- they lose the ethical/moral principles that they might normally have.  The redeeming element in the movie is that the female characters are never helpless- despite the threat of rape, the two females are fierce, fighting their attackers viciously.  The women were also able to save Jim, their male companion, at the end of the movie, proving their awesomeness and equality.  

    The movie was directed by Danny Boyle, famed director of Slumdog Millionaire, and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with his consistently positive portrayal of women.  While I wish he had more female protagonists, he tends to portray women as strong and capable, if not more capable than men.  This movie, as well as parts of Slumdog, really portray the darker side of masculinity, and I appreciate his sensitivity and intelligence towards gender depiction.