Fido

After almost five months of anticipation, I’ve finally had an opportunity to watch Fido, and I wasn’t disappointed. Admittedly, I don’t think its humor was quite as successful as Shaun of the Dead, but it was still pretty damn funny, and it took on the zombie genre with some fresh ideas.

*Warning* Spoilers

[SOURCE OF OUTBREAK]

The first topic of interest that I’d like to briefly mention is the origin of the zombie plague. In this scenario, Earth’s orbit has the misfortune of intersecting the path of a massive cloud of space-born radiation. The science behind this incident isn’t explained in any real detail, but I’m willing to accept that there are likely many varieties of radiation, and other energies, throughout the universe that we have yet to discover. Who knows, maybe some have the potential to turn us into mindless, flesh-craving, ghouls.

Honestly, mysterious energy from the depths of space isn’t exactly at the top of my list of concerns, but I’ll try to stay open minded. If this scenario were to actually occur, I think we’d be SOL. Sure, with enough warning, we could dig our underground, lead-lined, bunkers, and make the like the Cold War actually brought about doomsday, but is there really any chance we’d get the warning early enough? I doubt it. Personally, in the event of zombie-radiation-from-space, I think we might as well just make tinfoil hats, throw a cocktail party, and let the radiation do its work.

[ZOMBIE PHYSIOLOGY]

Aside from my doubts about the radiation-from-space scenario actually occurring, I’m also having a bit of trouble seeing how it would bring about a classic zombie apocalypse. Specifically, I am referring to the widely believed theory that zombie bites will spread the condition to the previously uninfected. If one is infected with a virus, it is easy to see how bites, or any other form of fluid-to-fluid contact would spread the contagion. However, radiation doesn’t cause an infection, I believe it just produces changes in the body’s cells. With a bit of imagination, it isn’t hard to fathom some bizarre energy that initiates a physiological change in humans, resulting in zombies. However, I don’t see how that change could be passed to others who had not suffered the mutation.

In the film’s defense, I don’t think they explicitly said that zombie bites created more zombies. I think the only zombies created by other zombies were people who may have been outright killed by the attacking undead, not simply bitten (I only watched the film once, so please correct me if I’m wrong). This would tie in with another attribute of this zombie scenario, that being that anyone and everyone who dies (by whatever cause, natural or otherwise), soon rises as an undead ghoul. This, I believe, works reasonably well with the radiation scenario. While I don’t think a radiologically produced zombie could transmit its state of being to another, it is possible to imagine a scenario where the entire human species has simply undergone a physiological change that dooms all of us to reanimation after death.

After some reflection, another possibility occurs to me. Perhaps this cloud of radiation didn’t have any effect on humans, but simply mutated some pre-existing virus into a zombie contagion. I imagine that scenario has some possibility of occuring, and would tie in more neatly with classic zombie theory. However, then we don’t have an explanation for why people who die of natural causes are rising from the dead.

[LONG-TERM DEFENSE]

Another point of interest was the defensive strategy of the people in Fido. It appeared that the vast majority of the planet had been lost to the undead hordes, and that humanity was surviving in large fenced in communities. Little was shown of the farming and manufacturing efforts that must have been underway, but it was undoubtedly just out of site, as these people seemed to have the luxury of devoting generous stretches of real estate to neighborhoods, parks, and schools. Granted I am a bit skeptical about the prospect of any survivors keeping their lawns and houses so meticulously manicured, but I believe it made for a successfully humorous juxtaposition of 50’s idealism and the zombie apocalypse.

[CRIME]

Tieing in with how the film suggested this mirage of 50’s fantasy was made possible, was how these people dealt with crime. While they didn’t go into much detail about the punishment for crimes of varying severity, the general concept was that anyone who got out of line was banished to the zombie infested ‘wild-zones’, effectively executing them. As you can imagine, this resulted in minimal crime, and no need for prisons.

Now, while I do believe that crime will have to be dealt with strictly, I also believe in justice, due process, and compassion. Throwing anyone who gets out of line to the hungry zombie hordes is simply ruling with fear, and not making an effort to hold on to any of humanity’s more admirable attributes. It’s also simply adding to the zombie problem. If someone is determined to be too great a threat to let live, just put a bullet through their head and be done with it. Don’t add another soldier to the undead horde.

[CORPORATE INTERESTS]

Fido also presents an interesting perspective on corporate involvement in a zombie apocalypse. Large corporations have vast resources, connections, and information at their disposal, and it is easy to imagine that one may take advantage of this scenario, and even prosper throughout. As we can read in the news, private military contractors are being used for more and more purposes, and are growing rapidly in power. If a zombie outbreak were to occur, these private soldiers would undoubtedly be utilized. Next, if one imagines what these organizations may be like in the future, perhaps as part of an entity like Resident Evil’s Umbrella Corporation, it is easy to see how whole communities of survivors could be under the direct protection, and control, of a corporate entity. Granted, I’ll take survival over being eaten alive any day, but corporate government is not the most pleasant of prospects.

Aside from that small nagging fear of being thrown to the zombies for stepping out of line, life in Fido seemed to be going pretty well for these folks. Zomcon (the corporation providing protection) seemed to be making this all possible by means of their zombie collars. As anyone who’s seen a Fido trailer knows, the whole film revolves around domesticated servant zombies, which is made possible by Zomcom’s collar technology. Zomcom rounds up anyone who’s recently died, snaps on one of their patented collars, and voila, you’ve got a tireless, uncomplaining, undead servant.

Wow. Yeah, I’m not too sure what to say about this one. I know I shouldn’t respond with ‘not a chance in hell’, for if the dead are walking the earth, I’ll definitely be rethinking my perspective on reality, but I have my doubts. That doubt aside, there is no question that it is ridiculously dangerous. No technology is infallible, and having a servant to wash my car is in no way worth the risk. Additionally, who in their right mind could live with one of those things walking around the house? Perhaps they could be utilized in some means for manual labor, as suggested in Resident Evil: Extinction, but even still, I really don’t see us being able to give orders or train the undead. Not to mention that the practice would be an act of horrible disrespect to our fallen fellow humans, and also brings up questions about the concept of slavery.

[SURVIVOR PSYCHOLOGY]

The final component that I would like to mention is this film’s exploration of the human-zombie bond. Yes, if you’re like me, that last sentence doesn’t make a lot of sense. “Human-zombie bond”, huh? Well, one of the primary story elements in Fido is the bond that the zombie, Fido, develops with both the mother and the son. The son finds a companion, and perhaps father figure, and the mother finds a companion, and perhaps lover. Yeah, kinda scary.

In the context of this story, I suppose it seems possible, but given that I don’t see this collar idea panning out, I don’t think we need to worry about housewives falling in love with zombie servants. I can easily imagine people retaining feelings of love and attachment for friends and family who have fallen victim to the plague, but I can’t imagine new bonds being formed. Any undead that you didn’t know in life will simply be another nameless face to the horror that has taken away everything you held dear.

Well this has dragged on long enough, so I think I better wrap things up. All that need be said is that I got a real kick out of Fido. I didn’t love it as much as some of the other zombie flicks I’ve seen in the last few years, but it is definitely worth watching. I can only offer my compliments to any film that both raises issues of consequence and hilarity at the same time. Check it out.