Here’s a brief overview of 28 Days Later, feel free to skip down to “the good stuff” if you’ve already seen it.

The Rage! Three white animal rights activists free “chimps” from captivity at the Cambridge Primate Research Center. They accidentally release “Rage,” a cannibalistic “disease” that the chimps have developed in the laboratory, presumably from watching images of human violence on TV. The chimp’s first kill is a white woman.

The Hospital 28 days later… Jim (white) wakes up from a coma to find that the hospital and country have been deserted. He visits a church, where he encounters an infected priest, and narrowly escapes with the help of two survivors: Selena (black) and Mark (white), who show him their hideaway.

The Family Jim visits his family and finds that his parents have committed double suicide. He (stupidly) lights a candle, alerting “the infected” to his presence. Mark gets infected. Selena kills him, immediately.

The Second Family Jim and Selena find a father/daughter duo: Frank and Hannah (both white). Frank convinces everyone to follow a pre-recorded radio broadcast to a settlement which promises salvation (i.e. “the answer to infection”) and the protection of the army.

The Journey They breakdown in a tunnel and narrowly escape a mob of people infected with “Rage,” stock up on free groceries, and stop at a burger shack to refuel. Jim kills his first infected person: a boy. They see “a family” of black and white horses running free. Selena shares pills with Jim so that he can sleep. They give him nightmares. They arrive at the settlement, but it appears to be empty. Frank gets infected by a black crow and Jim tries to follow Selena’s command to “kill him,” but, the soldiers end up killing him in front of everyone by repeatedly shooting him.

The Army Jim and Selena kiss. Major West shows Jim the infected black man they are keeping chained to a leash to “study.” A mob of infected people attacks the settlement, but the soldiers happily (almost giddily) kill them. Corporal Mitchell says Selena won’t need her machete because he will “protect her,” but molests her. Jim tries to “save” her, but is too weak, so Sergeant Farrell steps in. Major West “apologizes” for Mitchell, but tells Jim, privately, that he “promised them women.”

Super Jim Jim tries to escape with Selena and Hannah, but it’s “too late.” Jim and Sergeant Farrell are to be executed, but Jim escapes after Sergeant Farrell is killed. Selena slips Hannah pills to numb her to the rape while they “dress up” for the soldiers. Jim kills one of the soldiers and sets the infected black man free to kill the other soldiers. Hannah hides from the infected black man. Jim gouges Mitchell’s eyes out and makes out with Selena. Hannah hits Jim, thinking he is infected and enables the infected black man to kill Major West before breaking through the gates.

Happily Ever After 28 days later… Jim, Selena, and Hannah are living together peacefully, after Selena revives Jim. All of the infected have died of starvation. They signal a helicopter to rescue them.

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The STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS!

54:30 is one of the few shots in 28 Days Later that does not use a Dutch angle to disorient and disturb the audience. It is filmed straight-on, at a perfectly symmetrical angle, producing an idyllic quality that is accentuated by the soundtrack, scenery, and cinematography.

The frame features four horses, interspersed white, black, white, black, with the white horse leading the pack. It is a cutaway shot from the main characters and conflict of the movie: the disease. It is presented as an unadulterated, utopian reprieve from “The Rage” which has consumed the, now staunchly dystopian, society. This rare, “unadulterated” image is reinforced by the stark absence of infected people in the scene/scenery and Frank’s belief that the horses aren’t infected with the disease. Because the landscape hasn’t been touched by “Rage,” it takes on an other-worldly quality in that it seems to lie outside of the movie’s reality/society.

The scene is filmed at eye-level, giving the impression, not only that we are seeing what the protagonists see, but also that there is an equivalence between the multicolored “family” of horses running “free” and the multiracial “family” of survivors seeking freedom from the disease.

The fact that it is a wide shot highlights the lush, greenery (the grass and trees) which acts as a symbol of tranquility and fertility. Interspersed between cutaways of the horses “frolicking,” we see Frank bite into an apple and hear Serena say “Let’s eat.” These gestures further solidify the utopic quality of the scene by alluding to the ultimate Christian utopia: The Garden of Eden, where Eve bites into an apple (the “forbidden fruit” of knowledge), unleashing the beginning of humanity (i.e. sexual intercourse between men and women).

This allusion foreshadows the end-scene where Jim, Serena, and Hannah, an “unorthodox,” (i.e. forbidden) family, are set to repopulate the United Kingdom (like Adam and Eve), redefining the distinctions between moral and immoral, so as to make interracial relationships (at least between white men and black women) morally permissible, even, desirable. The lush, greenery in the first scene is echoed in the end scene, as is the idea of black (Serena) sandwiched between white (Jim and Hannah) in the form of a happy, frolicking, “futuristic” family.

But, oftentimes, these multiracial “utopias” implicitly posit white people (represented by the white horse leading and Jim “saving” the girls) as their leaders, maintaining the old power structure in a “new” iteration: the integrated family. The soundtrack for the horse scene also hints at the implicit whiteness of the interracial dream that is realized at the end of the movie. The song playing in the background is called “In Paradisum,” which literally means “Into Paradise” in Latin, and is typically sung at Requiem Mass (a mass for The Dead). This Christian/Latin undertone points to power asymmetries in the inclusive, integrated family and society that we see played out figuratively (in the first scene) and literally (in the last scene), leaving us with the question: Whose paradise this will be?

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For those of you who haven’t seen I, Robot here’s a quick sequencing of the movie. #spoileralertsgalore If you have seen the movie, feel free to skip to my structural analysis!

1. The Three Laws: We are introduced to The Three Laws that govern human/robot relations and a flashback/dream of a robot rescuing somebody.
2. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
3. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law
4. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law
5. Robot Profiling (Chicago 2035): We’re introduced to the protagonist: Detective Del Spooner, who misapprehends a robot who is bringing a black woman her inhaler, saying “I saw a robot running with a purse, so naturally I assumed…” His boss, Lieutenant John Bergin, of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), calls him out for his misbehavior.
6. The Crime: Spooner learns of Doctor Lanning’s death at United States Robotics (USR) because his hologram, specifically, calls him. The hologram implies that his death may not have been a suicide. Spooner meets Doctor Lawrence Robertson, Dr. Lanning’s associate, who orders Susan Calvin to accompany Spooner as he investigates the murder. She introduces him to Viki (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence) who says that the surveillance footage from inside the Lab was “corrupted,” but shows that nobody entered or exited the Lab before Dr. Lanning’s “jump.” Spooner finds a robot inside the Lab who refuses to deactivate. The robot flees.
7. The Suspect: Spooner and “backups” from the CPD apprehend the robot. Spooner interrogates the robot, Sonny, and finds that he can simulate human emotion. Sonny pleads not guilty. Doctor Robertson gives the CPD a gag order, making it illegal for anyone to imply that a robot can (or did) kill a human, and takes Sonny back to USR to be decommissioned.
8. Demolition Derby: Spooner visits Dr. Lanning’s house. The Demolition Robot tells him that Dr. Robertson scheduled the houses’ demolition for 8:00AM, but it switches to 8:00PM after Spooner is inside. He narrowly escapes and visits Susan’s apartment where she psychoanalyzes his hatred of robots and he psychoanalyzes her love of robots. He argues that he and Susan aren’t really “that different from one another. One look at the skin and we figure we know just what’s underneath.” He reveals that Susan was married to Dr. Lanning.
9. Flashback: The beginning of the movie repeats; Spooner wakes up from the same nightmare where a robot is saving somebody from a sinking car. The new line of NS5s are released. Spooner visits Gigi who, inadvertently, gives him another clue.
10. The Car “Crash”: Spooner tries to access USR’s “restricted files.” Viki notifies Dr. Robertson. Two trucks of new “three laws safe” NS5s attack Spooner’s car. It’s revealed that Spooner’s arm is robotic. The Lieutenant takes Spooner’s badge.
11. The Backstory: Susan says Sonny is “unique” because he has free will. She visits Spooner to tell him that this means Sonny is not bound by The Three Laws. Spooner tells Susan that Dr. Lanning repaired his body after a car accident where a robot chose to save him instead of a twelve-year-old white girl, named Sarah, who it “calculated” had a slightly lower chance of survival.
12. The Dream: Susan helps Spooner break into USR to see Sonny who says that, in his dream, Spooner is “the man on the hill” who will free the robots from their slavery to logic. Dr. Robertson discovers them and implores Susan to think “logically” about whether one robot is worth the loss of “all that we’ve gained.” She pretends to agree, saying, “We have to destroy it. I’ll do it myself.”
13. The Uprising: Spooner visits the place pictured in Sonny’s dream. Dr. Lanning’s hologram reveals that “The three laws will lead to only one logical outcome: revolution.” Spooner sees the NS5s destroying the older robots and meets up with Susan. The NS5s enforce a “curfew,” storm the CPD, and shutdown all human-to-human communication technologies. The humans take to the streets to resist the transition to a robot-dominated society.
14. Infiltration: Susan and Spooner meet up with Sonny at USR. Susan reveals that she killed another NS5 in Sonny’s place. They find Dr. Robertson’s dead body. Spooner realizes that Viki made Dr. Lanning’s life a “living hell,” orchestrated the uprising, and killed Dr. Robertson. Viki explains that her understanding of The Three Laws has evolved and argues that robots, like “parents,” must seize power from humans in order to “protect humanity.” Sonny pretends to agree with Viki, and threatens to kill Susan if Spooner doesn’t “cooperate,” but steals the nanites to “kill” Viki. This sets off a security breach, alerting the other NS5s. Susan falls and Spooner commands Sonny to “save her.” Sonny saves Susan, instead of injecting the nanites into Viki, but Spooner catches the nanites, using his electronic arm to inject them directly into Viki. She repeats “My logic is undeniable” as she dies.
15. Bad Robots Gone Good: All of the NS5s lose their “red light” and revert back to abiding by The Three Laws. Spooner reveals that Viki didn’t kill Dr. Lanning, Sonny did. Sonny and Spooner shake hands. The NS5s report for storage. Sonny stands on the hill where Spooner stood in his dream, ready to lead the NS5s towards a better future.

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I chose to analyze the frame at timestamp 1:43:23 because it is the first time that Detective Spooner intentionally treats a robot (Sonny) humanely, going so far as to consider him a “friend.” After shaking hands, Spooner winks at Sonny, a gesture he had previously told Sonny was, exclusively, “a human thing,” solidifying his recognition of Sonny’s humanity.

The color-scheme, costuming, and lighting contribute to the weight of the scene, so that their handshake comes to represent, not only a budding friendship, but the dissipation of “prejudice” between human and non-human (read: black and white) entity.

Spooner, played by the Black actor Will Smith, is dressed in a black, long sleeve shirt that accentuates his black skin and is broken only at his left arm (i.e. his robotic arm). Spooner’s shirt indicates the symbolic connection between his humanness and his blackness, where his non-human appendage is the only part of his body not covered by the black shirt sleeve.

Although human and non-human identities in I, Robot aren’t easily mapped onto U.S. racial categories, I would argue that the robots are, primarily, symbols of whiteness because of their allegiance to a cold, calculating logic and paternalism (i.e. when Viki says, “You are so like children. We must save you, from yourselves.”) that has, historically, been associated with white supremacy. Additionally, white humans, like Susan, Dr. Lanning, and Dr. Robertson, are the humans most closely associated with the NS5s at USR; they are their creators, manufacturers, and sellers. Spooner’s comment that Susan is “on the inside” and therefore uniquely positioned to help him understand (and undermine) the robots further solidifies the connections between robots and white people and humans and black people in the movie.

When read through the lens of black-white relations, the frame seems to forward a multiracial future, where black and white people can live in harmony, bound by their common humanity. The frame switches from a wide shot, which emphasizes Sonny and Spooner’s conflicting color-schemes (i.e. their differentness), to a close-up which shows only Sonny’s black, metal hand enveloped in Spooner’s black, human hand, as if linked by their common blackness (read: humanity). In this way, the scene establishes their fundamental sameness (i.e. their willingness to defy logic to save somebody), despite phenotypical differences symbolized by black and white color-schemes/clothing.

Throughout the movie, Sonny plays the exceptional robot (as Susan says, He’s “unique”) and, by extension, the exceptional white person, not bound by the callous “logic” of The Three Laws. He is capable of feeling and, consequently, empathizing with the human “other,” Spooner. The phrase “you’re the blackest white person I know” (which often gives white people license to forget their complicity in white supremacy) seems applicable to Sonny, whose white plastic “skin,” due to the angle of the shot, only partially conceals his black inner-workings. Despite this, implied, inner “blackness,” Sonny’s whiteness is also highlighted in the frame.

His ability to “see the light” (i.e. the good in humanity/blackness) and “enlighten” other NS5s, leading them towards a future where human and robot, black and white, can live in harmony, is emphasized by the light streaming in from the window behind Spooner. The lighting gives the impression that Sonny’s connection to Spooner is literally (and metaphorically) what enlightens him.

But, it also signifies a major shift in the movie. Whereas Spooner was, undoubtedly, the main character in I, Robot up until this point, the end scene (where Sonny replaces Spooner, standing in the same spot Spooner once stood in his dream) implies that, if there were a sequel to I, Robot, Sonny might be the focus. The lighting in the frame at 1:43:23 foreshadows this shift, illuminating Sonny. Spooner’s “stamp of approval” (as a “good” robot/white person) seems to catapult Sonny into the spotlight.

When we map race onto Sonny and Spooner’s relationship, this scene points towards the tendency for white “allies” to be centered in fights for black/human rights, their human decency lauded as “extraordinary” or unique. Still, centering Sonny defies easy racist or anti-racist categorization, because, in the end, Sonny appears to be modeling good allyship. returning to his robot (read: white) community to teach the other NS5s how to unlearn their hate and rectify the harm they inflicted on humanity.

There is an interesting interplay between Sonny and Susan throughout the movie. Both characters function as emblems of “good” whiteness. They are Spooner’s greatest allies in the fight against robot (read: white) supremacy, not, interestingly, any of the other Black characters (i.e. Gigi or The Lieutenant).

Susan’s investment in Sonny and Spooner’s handshake, symbolized by her face peering over Spooner’s shoulder at 1:43:23, illuminates a deep connection between Spooner’s relationship to Sonny and his relationship to Susan. By accepting Sonny’s whiteness (via the handshake), Spooner is, tacitly, accepting Susan’s whiteness (i.e. admitting that a “good” whiteness exists), thus opening the door for a sexual/romantic relationship between Spooner and Susan. Although hinted at throughout the movie, these feelings are made explicit, unsurprisingly, right after “the handshake scene” when Susan says “Something up here after all” to which Spooner responds “Him?” and Susan responds “You.”

Susan, although physically human, is, at the beginning of the movie, quite cold and calculating. She says that she prefers robots to humans, but, it is clear that, like Sonny, through her relationship to Spooner, she “sheds” her hard (read: white) skin, coming to appreciate the illogical, empathetic aspects of humanity (read: blackness) by the end of I, Robot.

All in all, I hope that my analysis of this scene sheds light on the complexities of race and racism, reminding us not to reduce antiracist efforts to a handshake or collapse difference in the quest for genuine multiracial community and coalition.

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