1990s. Lam’s main claim is that the production of the jiangshi movies was served as a medium to advertise China’s culture and nationality. One of the sub-claim is that the original jiangshi movies were the combination of monsters, kung fu, supernatural elements and horror; while those were the elements that were prevalent globally, therefore using those elements, the original jiangshi movies were easily interested by western people. Furthermore, Lam claims that late jiangshi movies used different geographic spaces to attract their audiences. To support his claim, Lam examines three typical jiangshi movies that were produced in the time period to demonstrate the influence that they caused. The warrant of this article would be the production …show more content…
The author Luckhurst’s main claim is that Zombies have no psychology, and their instinct is distinct from other monsters such as Vampires. Zombie’s origin can be tracked back to Haiti, where voodoo was common, in the beginning of the 20th century. One sub-claim that the author makes in this article is that, the very original zombie was people whose spirit was dominated by the vicious Voodoo priest, American writers took the concept and brought it back to the mainland United States. Luckhurst supports this sub-claim by examining the first movie in the United States, “White Zombie” (1932). The movie tells the story that a young lady’s soul was captured by a Voodoo user in Haiti and then turned into a zombie. Another sub-claim is that the transition of zombies from individuals to groups was affected by the World War II. The author backs up his sub-claim by describing American soldiers’ horror during the war while they have to kill thousands of peasant soldiers sent by the Chinese government just to overrun the numbers. The warrant of this journal is that the original zombie was just an unconscious one, but the American culture, audience’s preference or even war caused it to transit and start acquiring new abilities and characteristics, and eventually turn into modern
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.
Victor Harplin’s black and white film, White Zombie, and W.B Seabrook’s short story, “Dead Men Working in the Cane Fields”, both were produced in the early twentieth century and were among the first works to capture the nature of the zombie. The zombie being a unique monster, it originated in the folkloric and ritual practices of the New World, specifically in the Republic of Haiti (The Sub-Subaltern Monster). They both centralize around Zombies, however they do differ in the way that they are portrayed. Both were set in Haiti where the zombie originated. Also around this time the U.S. occupied Haiti and American businesses were moving to the island. America was going through serious social change in this time as well. Both women and African Americans were trying to get more rights. Women were also acting more provocative and doing things that would have been seen as inappropriate at the time. The social mold was being shattered. America was in a boom period with big business and new technological innovations. Also both the story and the film relate closely to Cohen’s first thesis. These two literary works have similarities and differences to them, however both tend to play on social and political differences of the 1920’s and 1930’s.
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,
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
We are in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Every time we hit “retweet,” a bullet is shot through a zombie’s head. Each email we delete is another zombie down. Finishing last night’s haul of homework is surviving a whole mob of zombies. This is the picture that Chuck Klosterman paints in his article published in The New York Times, “My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead.” Having published many books and essays concerning pop culture, Klosterman attempts to uncover the reason why zombies are so popular right now. He concludes that their popularity is a result of the current zombie-like state of our society. Killing zombies is repetitive, and it is no different from the monotonous tasks we engage in every day. Although Klosterman’s claim that zombies are popular because they are relatable is an interesting view, he does not bother to consider a more optimistic perspective: that zombies are popular because they are unrelatable.
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 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.
Ever since the establishment of cinema in the early 1900s, Hollywood has continuously recreated elements of history to reenact for its future generations. In order to clearly broadcast a specific theme or message to relay to viewers around the world, Hollywood executives tend to embellish real life events, in order to provide a “fairytale” aspect to a seemingly not so “happily- ever-after” story from history. As part of this “fairytale” aspect, Hollywood tends to delegitimize as well as provide a more disrespectful and more comical version of societies and cultures in the specific time frame that the film is being set. Through the art of story telling, the movies Mulan and Kung Fu Panda, depict the two sides of Hollywood, the falsifying and mockery making of Chinese people, their society, beliefs and true events of history and that of an accurate portrayal.
The idea of a zombie is made up and it comes from nzambi, the Kongo word for the spirit of a dead person. In states such as Louisiana, or the Creole culture they believe zombies represent a person who has dies and brought back to life with no speech. Kings psychological argument on how we have an urge to watch horror movies because it helps to re-establish our feelings and feel natural again. Klusterman’s sociological essay helped us see the comparison of zombies and humans in real life. In conclusion zombies are not real, they are make believe but help bring a sense of normality to
In Hollywood today, most films can be categorized according to the genre system. There are action films, horror flicks, Westerns, comedies and the likes. On a broader scope, films are often separated into two categories: Hollywood films, and independent or foreign ‘art house’ films. Yet, this outlook, albeit superficial, was how many viewed films. Celebrity-packed blockbusters filled with action and drama, with the use of seamless top-of-the-line digital editing and special effects were considered ‘Hollywood films’. Films where unconventional themes like existentialism or paranoia, often with excessive violence or sex or a combination of both, with obvious attempts to displace its audiences from the film were often attributed with the generic label of ‘foreign’ or ‘art house’ cinema.
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
In the field of philosophy, zombies are imaginary creatures that are used to illuminate problems regarding consciousness and its relation to the physical world. As compared to those in witchcraft or films, zombies are exactly like human beings in every physical aspect but without conscious experiences. However, zombies behave like humans and some of them even spend considerable amount of time discussing consciousness. While few people believe in the existence of zombies, many state that they are at least conceivable, and some argue that they are possible. Consequently, there are arguments that if zombies are increasingly a bare possibility, then some kind of dualism is true and physicalism is false.
Modernization in the 1980s paved the way for the Hong Kong New Wave, as the studio system set up in the 1950s was dismantled, the film industry experienced more freedom. Since decolonization was heavily present 75% of Hong Kong’s box office revenue were home grown movies, while the meager 15% was left for the foreign market. As one can see the political context of Ho...
In 2014 both Apple and Samsung sold a combined total of about 108.2 million units of their products! Samsung sold about 71 million units while on the other hand Apple sold 94.75 million units. For the past few years, the competing and comparison between Apple and Samsung was at its maximum. Fights started between people to prove an idea about which company is the best but they did not know that they were only comparing their smartphone. That is not the only thing a person should concentrate at while comparing two of the biggest multinationals in the world. People should look at the sales of all of the company’s products, their profits and losses, the history of the company, and the reviews of the people about their products. Samsung has proven itself to the people in the past few years of being better than Apple especially when it came to smartphones and laptops.