How Have Zombies Changed American Culture

Zombies, the ghoulish creatures who creatures who once represented widely spread fears are no longer fear causing monsters. Zombies have changed with our culture just as we have needed to them to change. Zombies now serve as the happy hour to most people since they allow humans to indulge in apocalyptic fantasies and create outrageous ways to glorify slaughter. The legend of zombies started as a Haitian slave tale. Zombies served as the embodiment of fear of being a prisoner, even while being dead. The fear of being trapped in your body was worse than slavery. Zombies then changed as Romero used them as social commentary. His zombies represented many fears Americans have had throughout time. Zombies were scary because they represented everything of which people were afraid. Zombies have now changed yet again. They are no longer scary. Zombies’ purpose now is to serve as an hour and

While under brutal French occupation, the Haitian slaves made up zombies as a reflection of their misery and hopelessness. Haitians believed once they had died, they would be returned to the homeland. But if a slave was to commit suicide then he would be trapped as a soulless member of the undead. After French slavery ended, Haitians adopted zombies in to their folklore-twisting them more in evil monster than a cautionary tale. Zombies mostly stayed out of Hollywood until Romero’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. Romero changed the way people thought about zombies. His zombies represented everything people were afraid of at the time. Romero’s zombies represented American fear of communism, fear of races mixing, and fear of the youth revolting against their elders. In his second and third movies, Romero’s zombies represented fear of consumerism-being a mindless consumer and being consumed- and fear of losing our humanity through violence. Zombies were always scary because they used to perfectly represent the wide spread fears of