Allegorical Messages In Warm Bodies

Every film contains characteristics that were developed by the director in order to strengthen the film as a whole. Many of those characteristics are protagonists and antagonists, ideology, and allegorical messages within the film. The three of these terms are shown in films such as Crash, Warm Bodies, and Diary of the Dead. Protagonists and antagonists develop the story line and message that the director is trying to get across. The ideology within each film also helps strengthen the allegorical message. Ideology brings awareness to social issues in order to help solve problems within our society, which is also what allegory does. Although films may seem like they are only about the story the audience is watching, most of them have an underlying …show more content…
Warm Bodies has an underlying meaning besides a zombie that falls in love with a human. It’s an allegory for the downfall of society post 911. Warm Bodies displays American’s distrust in Muslims, which are the zombies, and finding what is left of our humanity. The allegory shows ideological views. Giannetti described ideology as, “The body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture.” (405). The social needs in Warm Bodies is to take awareness of the labels horrible people place on religions and ethnicities in society. The movie takes place in an airport, which shows the similarity between that and 911. R, the main character, eats Julie’s boyfriend and captures all of his memories, which makes him fall in love with Julie. R holds Julie “hostage” in an airplane because he wants to keep her safe from the other zombies. Throughout the majority of the film Julie represents the only ounce of humanity the world has left. She sees R for more than just a zombie, or Muslim, and falls in love with his true self. Even though Julie’s dad is in charge of the safe place that is meant to keep zombies out, she stands up for her own beliefs. Her father’s safe place represents America trying to keep out Muslims because they automatically see them as dangerous people. Warm Bodies covers this message with the character of the Bonies. Bonies are what zombies can turn into after a certain period of time, which represent the terrorists. R says an important quote during the film, “Oh man, they call these guys bonies. They don't bother us much, but they'll eat anything with a heartbeat. We all become them someday. At some point you just give up I guess. You lose hope. After that there's no turning back.” (Levine). When R says this, it shows the audience how cruel the bonies are, which helps them be