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Zombies in Pop Culture

October 31st, 2009 cinematic, cultural, spiritual

I’m striving to understand the zombie phenomenon. I admit my exposure is fairly limited, as I’ve only seen Dawn of the Dead (2004), 28 Days Later, I Am Legend, Red State, played the Plants vs. Zombies game, and viewed the trailer for Zombieland. I haven’t read Max Brook’s quintessential Zombie Survival Guide nor have I witnessed a zombie march. So I sit here on Halloween night making speculations about why zombies are such a popular part of contemporary culture. I’ve come up with the following themes:

Life and (Un)Death

Various movies treat the precise zombie condition somewhere on a spectrum between biological and supernatural, but in nearly all, it’s clear that zombies straddle two phases of existence. The Judeo-Christian belief in the general resurrection is an unspoken inspiration behind the macabre. Is there a realm beyond this life? Most of us would like to say yes. Is it a nice place to be? And is the transition painless? Zombies say no.

Pandemic

The constant threat of Swine Flu pays the bills for the evening news and Big Pharma. Everybody knows its going to happen someday, the question is the vector of contamination. Before pigs, it was birds, so the next logical step is fluid-exchange from flesh-eating humans. The blood motif ties closely with the recent vampire craze, possibly a future post. The “could I be next?” question plays to our deepest fear of helplessness.

The Apocalypse

We’re fascinated with doomsday. I often find myself daydreaming about what survival tactics I’ll take after it all falls apart. The uninfected people in zombie movies seem to find themselves adapting to a new status quo unlike anything we currently imagine. They coalesce in to wandering tribes of survivors pooling resources and ammunition. It’s good role-playing for civilization preparedness.

Terrorism

Zombies have no fear of death. They are on a path of self-destruction bringing down as many others as possible. Maybe that’s why people find it gratifying to see them mercilessly killed—a vengeful outlet on all the suicidal idiots of the world.