with QUASI
McDonamTheater
Tuesday, May 25
tickets at |
Jicketswest.com 503.224.TIXX monqIlcom
.
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UO School of Music Fr Department of Dance
APRIL CONCERTS
For more information on School of Music events, call 346-5678.
Thur.
4/1
Sat.
4/3
TOBY KOENIGSBERG, Jazz Piano
UO Faculty Artist Series 8 p.m., Beall Hall
Also featuring Tyler Abbott and Jason Palmer.
$9 General Admission, $5 students & senior citizens
KOOL KEYBOARDS
Children’s Concert Series 10:30 a.m., Beall Hall
$3 adults, $2 students & children, $5 for a family
Sun. SHOGHAKEN: Armenian Folk Ensemble
4/4 UO World Music Series 8 p.m., Beall Hall
$10 General Admission, $8 students & senior citizens
Mon.
4/5
Tue.
4/13
Tue.
4/13
Thu.
4/15
April
16-17
Sat.
4/17
Sun.
4/18
DANCE AFRICA
Dept, of Dance Ensemble 8 p.m., Dougherty Theatre
$10 General Admission, $5 students & senior citizens
LES BALLETS AFRICAINS
Guest Dance Ensemble 8 p.m., Dougherty Theatre
$20 General Admission, $10 students & senior citizens
GARY LEWIS, Flute
UO Faculty Artist Series 8 p.m., Beall Hall
$9 General Admission, $5 students & senior citizens
ETHOS PERCUSSION GROUP
Guest Ensemble 8 p.m., Beall Hall
Performing “Music of the Americas."
Reserved seats $20, $15 ($12 students). Call Hult
Center (682-5000) or EMU (346-4363)
UO REPERTORY DANCE CO.
UO Dance Ensemble 8 p.m., Dougherty Theatre
$10 General Admission, $5 students & senior citizens
MASTERS OF INDIAN MUSIC with
ETHOS PERCUSSION GROUP
Guest Ensembles 8 p.m., Beall Hall
Reserved seats $20, $15 ($12 students). Call Hult Center
(682-5000) or EMU (346-4363)
UO SYMPHONY: Concerto Concert
UO Ensemble & Soloists 3 p.m., Beall Hall
$5 General Admission,
$3 students & senior citizens
o
UNIVERSITY
OP OREGON
For our complete calendar, check: music.uoregon.edu
You're always close to campus.
--» www.dailyemerald.com
‘Dead' revives horror flicks
‘Dawn of the Dead’ works
well as a zombie movie
meant to scare audiences
By Ryan Nyburg
Senior Pulse Reporter
Zombie movies hold a special place
in the canon of horror and tend to have
an aesthetic quality of their own.
There are numerous reasons for this.
One is that zombies are essentially
blameless automatons, operating on a
simple line of logic without moral con
siderations. Another reason is that, of
all the stock villains in horror films
(vampires, werewolves and the like),
zombies are the only ones that do not
come from European folklore.
Probably the most significant as
pect that sets these films apart is the
ease with which they can take on seri
ous social issues. This is where George
A. Romero and his "Night of the Liv
ing Dead" trilogy fits into the picture.
In his films, Romero used the horror
genre to comment on a wide range of
social issues, including materialism,
militarism and the ever-present theme
of human nature under extreme pres
sure. It was partly because of Romero's
influence that, for a while at least,
horror was taken seriously as a form
of cinematic expression.
Now we are presented with the sec
ond remake of one of the "Dead"
films ("Night of the Living Dead" was
remade in 1990): Zack Snyder's
"Dawn of the Dead." While it would
be unfair to expect the remake to be as
good as, or to touch on all the same
areas as, the original film, the differ
ences between the two are telling.
Gone is the sly social commentary
about consumer culture, gone is the
character development, gone is the
sustained sense of dread. What re
mains is a purely visceral horror film,
concerned only with what can scare
people moment to moment. But on
that level, the film works.
The plot follows the general outline,
if not the exact details, of the original
film. A plague overtakes the country,
causing all of those infected to die and
then rise up again as vicious zombies.
The infection is spread through bites
and soon the whole country, maybe the
world, is in shambles. A group of sur
vivors hole up in an abandoned shop
ping mall and manage to fend of the
hordes of undead. The survivors are
pretty much just stock characters who
exist mostly just to squabble, keep se
crets from one another, rescue one an
other and occasionally kill one anoth
er. With the exception of the Sarah
Polley character — whose escape from
a suburban area provides the film's
opening sequence — none of the char
acters are really explored in any depth.
1116 lack of character development
could have been taken care of if a few
characters would have been eliminat
ed with a little more haste, thus giving
room to focus on just a few key peo
ple. But this would be beside the
point, since more characters means
more people killed by the zombie
horde, which is the sort of visceral
thrill the film is aiming for. It's enter
taining, if not particularly thoughtful.
But unlike the original, this film is not
about abstractions or commentary,
just pure entertainment. As escapism,
it's well worth the ticket price.
That said, there are a few aspects of
the film that could have been
smoothed out. First are the references
to Sept. 11. While the event is never ex
pressly mentioned, the imagery and
language make it pretty obvious. The
filmmakers seem to be making some
statement about survivors in a world
rocked by tragedy, but the idea is never
fully formed and seems rather beside
the point especially given the nihilistic
ending. These references and attitudes
should have been made either more or
less prominent rather than left to sit in
the film without purpose.
Another area that could have used
Courtesy
Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames fight back a
horde of zombies in “Dawn of the Dead."
some work is the lack of emphasis
on cannibalism among the zombies,
something which played so promi
nently in the Romero films and just
about every other zombie film in re
cent memory. The filmmakers might
have been too squeamish to add it
(or more likely too worried about
trying to get an R rating) but it's the
cannibalism that makes zombies
such powerful images in the first
place, and the symbolic importance
of the act could have added some
substance to the film.
But this would be imposing sym
bolism where it is clearly not wanted.
If you're looking for something to
thrill you for 97 minutes, this is the
film to see. Just don't expert it to do
anything for you once you get out of
the theater. "Dawn of the Dead" is
currently playing at Cinemark 17, lo
cated at 2900 Gateway St. in the Gate
way Mall and at Regal Cinema World,
located at 10887 Valley River Way.
Contact the senior Pulse reporter
at ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com.
ARTWORK
continued from page 7
these are the recurring images of the
human body. These include disem
bodied ears and hands, as well as
more subtle additions.
"There are groups of balls placed
around the piece, 23 black and 23
white," Walsh said. "They represent
the two sets of chromosomes in the
human genetic structure."
Other objects in the piece address
the subject of AIDS more directly.
"Near the front of the exhibit
there is a box that contains 4,000
names of people who have died of
AIDS," Walsh said. "I've also written
names of AIDS victims on oak leaves
hanging on the walls. The idea there
is that leaves are objects without
identity, much like many victims of
AIDS. I've given them an identity by
putting names on them."
Walsh says he hopes the exhibit
will inform people that AIDS is still
an important problem around the
world. "I like how the piece com
memorates the victims of AIDS,"
post-bachelor student Vince Artman
said. "Personally though, it's not to
my taste."
The Adell McMillan Gallery is lo
cated in the EMU. There will be a re
ception for "Link" in the gallery at
5:30 p.m. tonight.
Contact the senior Pulse reporter
at ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com.
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'A swooning love letter tTTarTsT,IB,ll""IBB""l,,BI,B",
to cinema and to love."
EVENING STANDARD
A New Film by
i-P,. r Bernardo
I M t Bertolucci
:45,7:U5&9:2C
Sun Mat 2:25 pm
Michael Caine Tilda Swinton
THE STATEMENT
Directed by Norman Jewison
(THE HURRICANE, YOONSTRUCK)
5:00 Nightly Sun Mat 2:45
O^Neve Campbell Malcolm McDowell IpsTsI
W A Robert Altman Film
ZaTHE COMPANY
7:1b i 9:30 Nightly Sun Mat 2:45 pm
BIJOU LATEN1TE Fr-Sat $5 Su S4
STANLEY KUBRICK'S CLASSIC:
12001; A SPACE ODYSSEY
Fri, Sat, & Sun 11:40 pm Sat Mat 1:50 pm
Nirvana:
Live in Concert 1994
Fri, Sat, & Sun 11:45 pm tmimuDsu&uMcm
Oregon Daily Emerald.
A campus tradition-over 100 years of publication.