{"id":5674,"date":"2020-01-12T16:32:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-12T21:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=5674"},"modified":"2023-03-26T12:08:04","modified_gmt":"2023-03-26T16:08:04","slug":"jim-jarmuschs-the-dead-dont-die-is-an-unaffectionate-homage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/jim-jarmuschs-the-dead-dont-die-is-an-unaffectionate-homage\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die is an unaffectionate homage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I guess it shouldn\u2019t be surprising that Jim Jarmusch<\/a> would make a zombie movie, since he\u2019s already cycled through idiosyncratic interpretations of westerns (Dead Man<\/em>), vampires (Only Lovers Left Alive<\/em>), samurai (Ghost Dog<\/em>), and thrillers (The Limits of Control<\/em>). But unlike these, The Dead Don’t Die<\/em> reads as an unaffectionate (or to coin a word, disaffectionate) homage to its genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directly quoting Night of the Living Dead<\/em><\/a> and Return of the Living Dead<\/em>, The Dead Don’t Die<\/em> initially seems to be taking a nostalgic poke at contemporary interpretations of the genre: be they the frenetic 28 Days Later<\/em> rabid variety, or the mopey end-times soap opera of The Walking Dead<\/em>. But Jarmusch takes the inherent nihilism of the zombie horror subgenre to its logical end: there is no “post-” after the apocalypse, and zombie movies<\/a> are dumb and you’re dumb for watching them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Iggy
Iggy Pop as Coffee Zombie, with whom I think many of us can relate.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The cast is notably diverse in race, age, and gender (at times looking like the most Jarmusch that ever Jarmusched, with just enough room for delights like Iggy Pop as Coffee Zombie, Carol Kane as Chardonnay Zombie, and Tom Waits<\/a> as Hermit Bob). But while The Walking Dead<\/em> has vague themes of the apocalypse being the great socioeconomic leveler, here it’s part of a cynical joke. It’s hard not to interpret the casting of Tilda Swinton<\/a> as a scotswoman in samurai kitsch as an allusion to her role in the Disney\/Marvel appropriation of an asian comic book character in Doctor Strange<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fittingly, her subplot builds to a glancing swipe at sci-fi\/superhero blockbusters, with the iconic Star Wars<\/em> Star Destroyer reduced to a tchotchke keychain wielded by its star Adam Driver<\/a>, and then inflated back up into a dinner-plate flying saucer straight out of Plan 9 From Outer Space<\/a><\/em>. Zombies and spaceships are taken seriously by millions as part of a modern mythos, but from the condescending perspective of Swinton’s woman-who-fell-to-earth, it’s all naught but “a wonderful fiction”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I guess it shouldn\u2019t be surprising that Jim Jarmusch would make a zombie movie, since he\u2019s already cycled through idiosyncratic interpretations of westerns (Dead Man), vampires (Only Lovers Left Alive), samurai (Ghost Dog), and thrillers (The Limits of Control). But unlike these, The Dead Don’t Die reads as an unaffectionate (or to coin a word, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[1872,1919,1704,1918,90,1917,1916,636,141,1466,756],"class_list":["post-5674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-stars","category-movies","tag-1872","tag-adam-driver","tag-bill-murray","tag-carol-kane","tag-horror","tag-iggy-pop","tag-jim-jarmusch","tag-star-wars","tag-tilda-swinton","tag-tom-waits","tag-zombies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dead-dont-die.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-1tw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1628,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-george-a-romero-zombie-cycle-part-5-diary-of-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":5674,"position":0},"title":"The George A. Romero Zombie Cycle Part 5: Diary of the Dead","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This is not an opinion you're likely to find anywhere else on the internet, but we are prepared to argue that Diary of the Dead is one of the best of the entire George A. Romero zombie cycle. It sports the best special effects, is the least repetitive or trigger-happy,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Diary of the Dead","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/diary-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/diary-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/diary-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/diary-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/diary-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1597,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-george-a-romero-zombie-cycle-part-1-night-of-the-living-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":5674,"position":1},"title":"The George A. Romero Zombie Cycle Part 1: Night of the Living Dead","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't had the pleasure of seeing what is now recognized as the first zombie movie ever made: White Zombie (1932), starring none other than Bela Lugosi. But arguably, George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) is the actual zombie urtext. It preceded the first of its four\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Night of the Living Dead","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/night-of-the-living-dead-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/night-of-the-living-dead-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/night-of-the-living-dead-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/night-of-the-living-dead-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/night-of-the-living-dead-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1612,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-george-a-romero-zombie-cycle-day-of-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":5674,"position":2},"title":"The George A. Romero Zombie Cycle Part 3: Day of the Dead","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Day of the Dead (1985) is the third episode in George A. Romero's continuing tale of civilization's collapse in the event of a global zombie epidemic. This and the big-budget Land of the Dead (2005) are tied for the worst entries in the series. What makes the first two (Night\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Star"","block_context":{"text":"1 Star","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/1-star\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Day of the Dead","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/day-of-the-dead-1985-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/day-of-the-dead-1985-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/day-of-the-dead-1985-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/day-of-the-dead-1985-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/day-of-the-dead-1985-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1623,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-george-a-romero-zombie-cycle-part-4-land-of-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":5674,"position":3},"title":"The George A. Romero Zombie Cycle Part 4: Land of the Dead","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"George A. Romero's sporadic zombie flicks are sometimes decades apart in production, but nevertheless form a chronological sequence telling the story of the downfall of society from every angle. Night of the Living Dead (1968) is set in the early days, with a few random civilians trapped in a farmhouse.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Star"","block_context":{"text":"1 Star","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/1-star\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Land of the Dead","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/land-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/land-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/land-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/land-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/land-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":306,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-three-burials-of-melquiades-estrada\/","url_meta":{"origin":5674,"position":4},"title":"Tommy Lee Jones’ almost unbearably gruesome The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Tommy Lee Jones' The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada joins Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man as one of my few highly-rated westerns. Like Dead Man, its tone meanders from the darkly comic to the melodramatic, and is at times almost unwatchably gruesome. Which does nothing to explain why I liked it,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/three-burials.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1605,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-george-a-romero-zombie-cycle-part-2-dawn-of-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":5674,"position":5},"title":"The George A. Romero Zombie Cycle Part 2: Dawn of the Dead","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Zombie godfather George A. Romero waited more than a decade to create Dawn of the Dead, the first sequel in his zombie cycle that would eventually number five (soon to be six) installments. Night of the Living Dead was marketed under the tagline \"They won't stay dead,\" which beautifully told\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dawn of the Dead","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/dawn-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/dawn-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/dawn-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/dawn-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/dawn-of-the-dead-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5674"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7565,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5674\/revisions\/7565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}