Zombies and Our Natures

Rozelle argues in chapter 4 of Zombiescapes and Phantom Zones that "Kirkman’s zombies pose a challenge to this easy (and false) dichotomy separating humans and so-called lower beings". Although, like the Walking Dead zombies created by Kirkman that the chapter is focused on, the 1978 Dawn of the Dead can be read as arguing that there's no cut and dry distinction between man and nature besides the lines we draw in the sand in its own way. Much like natural processes humans fall into regular patterns and complacency and they also can trend towards territorial tendencies.

Zombies enter the mall from habit
Stephen turns the TV back on to only static

In the film, a group of human survivors of a Zombie apocalypse hunker down in a shopping mall. As they become accustomed to their position they get comfortable and settle into patterns and habits. Similar patterns can be seen when they fly over a rural area with the inhabitants shooting zombies just out of habit almost. Nature itself follows cycles, which the film shows through the zombies' repetitive actions, and the characters themselves fall into their own similar cycles. Both become frustrated when these cycles are interrupted (zombies having humans disrupt them, Fran trying to turn off the TV showing dead air engaging Stephen, the biker gang seeing someone they think is hoarding). In this way, man is not so different from nature, and not necessarily because of how consumerism compels them. Instead the humans are naturally inclined to these natural sensations which the relative safety of the mall allows them to fall into.

Zombies reacting to provocations
Stephen aiming at the bikers

Territoriality also plays a large role in the film. When the group is discovered by a biker gang, Stephen is so driven by a desire to protect what "is [theirs]" that he places all of the other survivors in jeopardy through the ensuing firefight and zombie resurgence. Even as a much more primitive zombie he still feels this connection to the place, leading all of the other undead up to the sealed off hiding place. His territorial attachment mirrors the zombies' own (and directly depicts it after he's turned) as they initially resisted the survivors' attempt to wrest control of the mall.

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