There is no denying that zombies are popular they are popping up everywhere from movies to video games and more. But why, what lies behind this braindead form of entertainment. Many of us just carry about our lives and never truly ask ourselves what makes zombies popular, what do they stand for, what are they all about. Zombies are a metaphor, they are humans who have lost what gives us dominance over the animal world, our powerful brain. Throughout the zombie narratives the authors argued that zombies represent man who has lost motivation, to achieve and how the unmotivated form bandwagons that many weak minded jump onto. Hudson suggests that zombies represent a bandwagon of the unmotivated, but it can be overcome. “Zombies stem from our similarity to the pitiable creatures deprived of its soul, forced to labor for the benefit of unknown masters…this state can be overcome with the individual agency and moral responsibility of the masses.”(Hudson 10) In this example Hudson makes the comparison between zombies and people who feel they are forced to labor. Zombies represent man who is unaware of his mental abilities. Zombies represent man who just works, but when asked why he just says he works because he has to. Zombies represent man with no ambition. Hudson also suggests that we only need to be responsible and see that in America we don’t just labor for an unknown master but rather we get to choose who we work for. By linking zombies to the people who just work away with no ambition Hudson is able to make a powerful pathetic appeal in order to inspire change in how we view our jobs, and economic system. The diction choice Hudson utilizes is very emotionally powerful here as we have deep emotional ties to words like “depri... ... middle of paper ... ... a lot of credibility simply because it goes too far. By having such an extreme link Hudson loses credibility and the reader is left questioning him throughout the remainder of the article. Zombies represent man when he has no ambition. Although we all have been there at some point it is important to know you have the ability to get out. Additionally the system where we live has freedom, and although we all don't have equal economic stance we have equal opportunity to succeed in America. Capitalism is not bad, it is actually the opposite it weeds out the inefficient business, which is good for society as a whole. Just like greed is not bad, greed is just the world we assign to economic motivation in order to create a more efficient business. We just must realize that we are always in control and there is always something that we can do, always a motivating factor.
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...
It 's also understandable that a huge number of people are worried about their jobs and their future no matter what color the collar of their job classification. Her analysis of the white-collar workers versus the blue-collar workers is very clear and reasonable. I can clearly see from what point of views she is advocating to support her claim that America is fixated on zombies because of the dire straits of the economy and that this fixation is held solely by the white-collar workers who fear they are becoming obsolete and will no longer be gainfully employed. It 's a highly plausible theory that the apocalypse could represent how the nation is suffering fiscally. However, her analysis is possible only if one simply accepts her view as illustrated in the article. It 's very difficult to understand how a failing economy could affect or impact only a specific group of workers when history has proven that a national economic recession will impact all working classes as a whole. In a major recession such as the one from which the nation is currently trying to recover, the majority of American workers will more than likely at some point worry about losing their jobs and becoming useless even
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,
...r can not be satisfied. The zombie is a consumer. Zombies are most often used as a metaphor these days for uncontrollable consumerism that plagues our generation. We blindly buy without thinking, either because of a low price, lust, or simply we just want more. We are guilty of “Zombie Consumerism”. Zombie consumerism is evident in George Romeros' film, Dawn of the Dead. In this movie, a shopping mall is where the characters take refuge and becomes the setting in which the humans stay in the battle of the zombies. They gorge themselves in free food and are delighted about having almost everything at their fingertips all to themselves. It sound's perfect. They can consume anything they want and they will be okay, forever. It is ironic then when there is nothing left and they must find new sources of shelter and food and resources, or become the resources themselves.
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
In the film, after Tom and Judy’s car explodes, Ben is left to fend for himself in the middle of the group of zombies. The zombies encroaching on Ben from all sides is reminiscent of a lynch mob. They loom in on Ben from all sides, trying to rip his flesh off. In retaliation, Ben uses a torch to fend off the zombies and run to the house. The zombies are white oppression; the mindlessness and murderous nature of the zombies is similar to the blind stupidity, violence, and sheep-like mentality of
Awakening the Zombies “Everybody was finally equal. They were not only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” This is a short, but powerful excerpt from the short story Harrison Bergeron. Not only does it make you wonder why everyone is equal, but as well makes you wonder how did everyone become equal? In the short story and the movie, Kurt Vonnegut presents a scary view of human society in the United States in the future, in which United States citizens are all uniform. This then leads to their loss of individuality, and therefore to the absolute deformity of humanness. Both the movie and the short story share these themes, they also have a multitude of other similarities, but also have just as many differences. These differences, irony and the symbolism between the two, are what I will be attempting to explore. The first apparent difference between the movie and the short story is that the short story takes place in 2081. In the story the government regulates everything, not just intelligence, but strength and beauty as well, and handicap people appropriately. The strong are forced to wear bags filled with lead balls; beautiful people are forced to wear masks so others would not feel unequal to them in looks. The overly intelligent are forced to wear radio transmitters in their ears, that are tuned to a government station that constantly bombards them with horrible sounds to scramble their thoughts. In the movie, the year is 2053 and everyone is forced to wear mind-altering headbands that rest on their temples. These headbands electronically modify intelligence, effectively decreasing everyone’s IQ to the desired “average” point. Unlike the story, in the movie, no one wears masks to conceal their looks and some are better looking than other making them unequal in appearance to everyone else. Also the only “weight bags” that are worn, is by one dancer on the television that wore a small ankle weight with no resemblance to the enormous weight bags that are described in the story. Another difference is that in the story Harrison Bergeron had the apparent status of a god among these average people. He was fourteen years old, seven feet tall, athletic, good looking, and a genius.
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.
“Because the living dead freeze solid” (122), when word starting to get out that there were zombies, people’s first instinct was to go north. Family after family packed their belongings and ventured to campsites throughout northern Canada or wherever they felt was cold enough to escape the plague. Many people were still trying to hold on to their materialistic ways and brought “hair dryers, GameCubes, [and] laptops by the dozen” (123) with them to the campsites. These families realized very quickly that these items were not beneficial for their survival. Those that did survive the cold Canadian winters were not those who brought the most belongings, but those who had the will power to survive. As days got colder, people were forced to steal from each other, kill each other, and eventually eat each other. The only way to succeed during this brutal time was to go into this ultimate survival mode. “Eventually the sun did come out, the weather began to warm, the snow finally began to melt” and those that were left were the ones that were had the determination to survive (129).
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
Did you know that the word zombies come from African and Haitian people? From the legends regarding voodoo doctors that they believe used to and might still do. Bring back the dead for a short amount of time and turn the to mindless slaves. That will follow their every order with no hesitation. Which is actually like the walkers are doing in the Walking Dead but they weren't raised from the dead. I mean they were but not literally the virus brought them back, not a person. Same goes for Kitchenette Building the speaker is not a zombie or a walker but she might as well be. The fact that she continues to live a life she doesn't want and doesn’t make changes to fix it. She just continues to do the same thing every day that, I bet anybody
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