Katherine Graves
Katherine Wagner
American Zombie Narratives
17 August 2014
Zombieland: A Comedy Horror That Uses Entertainment to Engross & Inform
“I keep a little notebook of things that I can do to the zombies that might be silly and fun.”-George A Romero (Nemiroff)
As the father of the creation of everything zombie, Romero clearly sees that his zombies are not one-dimensional and should not be put in only one genre. When people think of zombies, their minds automatically place them into the category of horror and that their main purpose is to be fear provoking. However, because of zombies’ unique ways of being metaphors for today’s societal problems, Romero shows they are able to fit in any category, even “silly” ones and still represent
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His first rule to survival is cardio. Placing cardio as the number one rule to survive a zombie apocalypse sends a powerful message and one that should not be taken lightly. The fact that this is his number one rule is significant in itself. The movie poster (Shown in Figure 1.) demonstrates how someone who suffers with obesity will be the first to turn to the other side. The obese man represents the problems with obesity by being near death because of his obvious breaking of the rule, “Cardio”, as you can see by the facial expression of the man and the hoard of zombies chasing him. He, and the significance of rule number 1 bring light upon the problem of obesity in America. Even though the movie brings up the need for cardio by doing so in a humorous way, this problem of obesity in America is far from laughable at all.
In the scene where they are in the grocery store, Tallahassee calls the zombies out and starts ridding of them, but he meets one zombie where he says “Come here big fella, just going to take a little off the top” in which he reflects after the decapitation of this man “wow, these fellas really let themselves go” commenting on how society, if people stop using their brains and become more “zombie-like”, will start to slowly lose the importance of good health as not only a way of living, but a need to survive
Torie Boschs “First eat all the lawyers” appeared in Slate october 2011. Her piece was to reach out to horror fans and to explain to them why zombies are a great monsters in current media. Zombie fanatics who read this short essay will love her vast knowledge of zombies while others who still do not understand why zombies are horribly terrifying can get behind her argument. Bosch explains that the current zombie craze has to do with our current society and how white-collar workers would be left defenceless in a world over run with a rampant horde of zombies. While blue-collar workers can flourish in this current state as they have more skills suited for survival.
Both White Zombie and “Dead Men Walking in the Cane Fields” represent the early zombie and both of them embody Cohen’s first thesis “The Monster is a Cultural Body” Both the story and the film have zombies and both of these works make their zombies appear scary with dead like characteristics, however the real reason why they are scary is that, at the time, they tried to change society and that scared people. The people that liked society the way it was didn’t want another group to gain power or righ...
In the article "Movies that Rose from the Grave" by Max Brooks, he delves deeper into the reasoning of where, why, and when zombie horror flicks
Max Brooks explains in his article ‘’The Movies That Rose From The Grave’’ [2006], that zombies and the supernatural forces have impacted and have become popular in the world today. The first main idea that Brooks points out is the way society has changed the meaning and glimpse for the supernatural creatures like zombies causing them to become increasingly popular. To support this zombie movies have changed from darkness and mystery to violent and bloodier scenes therefore making them more prevailing. The second main idea that is discussed by Brooks is how the media has helped to increase the popularity of zombies, vampires, ghosts. Highlighted by the author particularity both ‘’resident evil,
The film gives its viewer the opportunity to see how obese individuals are treated and viewed in today’s society. Bonnie is a very obese woman who rarely moves from the couch. She hasn’t made it to her bed upstairs in years, the children have to set a dinner table up next to her to eat a family meal, and she hasn’t left the house in seven years. She is so embarrassed of herself and refuses to have anyone but family around her. The film shows children sneaking to the window making fun of her and taking pictures of her on the couch. Gilbert even refers to her as a “beached wale.” One day Arnie gets into a little trouble and ends up in the police station. Bonnie is beyond disbelief and demands to be taken to the station. With great bravery and strength she walks her way into the station to save her beloved son. A crowd gathered at the station as they whisper to one another and took pictures during one of Bonnies most courage’s moments. At this point Gilbert started to have faith in his mother, seeing the true strength and love she has for her family.
James Parker essay “Our Zombies, Ourselves,” informs readers that the zombie has almost outranked the vampire, and why they’re so popular. This undead monster originated from a Caribbean folk nightmare and was adapted over time by, the Halperin brothers, William Seabrook and George Romero and numerous others. Much like the vampire, zombies owe their fame to the progressiveness of technology, allowing them to consistently invade various media forms. The zombie has infested countless tv shows, movies, video games, and books, throughout the 21st century. Zombies themselves are soulless corpses who were regurgitated back into the world of the living. This making them rejects from the underworld, this presents the zombie as rejected yet inexpungable. What makes the zombie so popular, however, is that symbolizes everything that is rejected by humanity. “Much can be made of him, because he makes so little of himself. He comes back, He comes back, feebly but unstoppably” (Parker). The zombie represents humanity itself as well as what is rejected by humanity. Much like individuals today, the zombie is burdened by life’s demands, converting to nothing but a rotting, groaning human shell that stumbles through life without a purpose. The zombie is symbolizer of the real world, and all things irrepressible, whereas the vampire is a symbol of an alternate world and all things
Obesity and opposition are the two main issues of this film. The issue of obesity, treated lightly in the beginning of the film and then severely by the end, reflects society’s approach to weight loss. To ...
As said in the previous discussion regarding the second chapter of Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human, zombies and their culture are examined and broken down in order to understand their motives for the progression of zombies globally. Through different perspectives from individuals based around the world, the discussion of the zombie culture debates over the idea that zombies have not just evolved within the narratives that have brought them to life, but they have evolved in such a way that ultimately transforms the narrative itself. However, in this specific chapter, “They are not men.they are dead bodies!” : From Cannibal to Zombie and Back Again, Chera Kee breaks down the introduction of zombies into mainstream consciousness, and eventually cinema.
George Romero's reinvention of the zombie in night of the Living Dead (1968) is clearly a critique of elements of the American society, and the film as a whole is easily twisted into a warped view on the 'American Dream'. Themes throughout Romero’s film, dealing with controversial topics during the time that the film was made, are still, to this day debated by critics and film historians. Themes of racism and war are defined within the movie, hidden underneath the idea of carnal, cannibalistic zombies and over the top heroes who, eventually, succumb to the reanimated; despite their every effort. These themes are colored over and painted to hide beneath subtle references to the typical American Dream during this time, and Romero does quite the good job at it too. This dream, whilst continuously changing in the everyday lives of modern Americans, can be loosely defined as a national ethos of the United States, or a set of ideals dealing with freedom and the opportunity for success - an upward social status that can be achieved through hard work and effort.
Not once in the film did they distinguish between bad calories and good calories. In fact during the film they talked about how if you take in so many calories, you need to burn almost all of those off. This would be ideal if you were eating all junk food, but what if we thought in a responsible manner and ate the same amount of calories in healthy foods? The film generalizes all calories and basically ignores the personal responsibility of
The film starts with what the government and many food companies say: that people become obese because do not exercise as much as they eat, and that obesity is caused by lack of effort. As the film suggest, exercise can moderate
Zombies have become very popular due to their depictions of being easy to kill and being communal. Zombie apocalypses are also very relatable due to the fact that they are set in lives similar to our society and seem easy to overcome. Zombies, themselves, can be identified with because we see ourselves when we look at a zombie. Zombies drudge on through the same task of finding human flesh to consume every day just like we drag ourselves to either class or our job in order to sit through another boring lecture or perform the same menial task every day. Just like the zombie, R, in the book, Warm Bodies, said, “I am Dead, but it’s not so bad. I’ve learned to live with it,” we have learned to succumb to our daily routines and just live with
In the article, “A Zombie Manifesto: The Nonhuman Condition in the Era of Advanced Capitalism” by Sarah Juliet Lauro and Karen Embry, the authors’ evaluate the idea of the zombie and its connection to capitalism and post-humanism. According to the authors, the zombie represents much more than just a fear, it represents a loss of oneself to many different things, primarily to a capitalist society. The authors have come to the conclusion that humans have a fear of what they cannot control, and that is why the zombie is so big in entertainment. We see zombies everywhere, in movies, books, tv shows, fundraisers, marathons, and so much more. They have been around for decades, but recently they have become very popular. The authors believe this is
Now a high-school senior, I still remember my freshman year with a shudder; it was the year my friends and I joked about as the "Year of the Zombie." It wasn't that I had contracted a rare medical disorder that transformed me into one of the walking dead. I had done what many diligent students do: sacrifice most of my sleep time for the sake of academic success.
It seems as though zombies are coming increasingly more popular in pop culture as time goes on. Countless movies, books, video games, and even TV shows based on zombies have dated back to 1932 when the first feature length zombie film, White Zombie, came out. But many people wonder where the images and ideas of the reanimation of dead people came from: rising from the grave; rotting, pasty, green skin; an uncanny taste for human flesh and brains that can all be ended with a blow to the head. As far as how exactly the people came to be zombies varies, but the characteristics described usually stay pretty constant. Most cultures believe that zombies are not real; however, there is evidence to prove that the idea originated on the island of Haiti.