Dawn of the Dead Original Shot 2

This scene shows the comparison between Stephen and Roger in terms of who is a better male hero. They are using phallic weapon (the rifles) which shows their male dominance. Roger stops Stephen from shooting because Stephen is being ineffectual and proceeds to kill the zombie that Stephen was trying to shoot. Part of Romero’s Auteur style is that he liked to reverse stereotypes. In this film we have Stephen who should be the male hero because he’s good looking and he’s a TV reporter. But instead Stephen is useless at lots of things and the male hero status is shifted onto Roger and Peter.