Every where you look these days, chances are there will be Zombies...

[WCGreen]

The Living or Walking or Staggering Dead have become so ingrained in our popular culture that it hard to ignore.

I have been wondering this has become such a potent and almost omnipresent metaphor for the lifestyles of .....

And there it goes blank.

I never really bought to horror based fiction. And that is kind of weird because from my earliest memories, it was the superhero that caught my attention and loyalty to this day. I guess that would be the Id and the Ego. The id is driven by baser drives while the ego strive for recognition. At least that is what I remember from Psych 101 back at OSU when the Id ran rampant at the Horseshoe at OSU. (Woody)

But this thing about the Zombie. It can go so many ways. The Zombie like behavior can be like, for instance, a day trader living his life to only amass mounds of money. Or a person that can't get their eyeballs off of the tube or for that matter, gets so engrossed in politics that nothing else can feed that hunger.

I was just curious about how people feel or can explain why they are attracted to zombies. And why is the metaphor so ingrained in modern culture.

[Mojorabbit]

1. THis question has come up a lot lately

and I can think of several reasons why the archetype might be popular just now. I am half asleep so will bookmark this to come back to tomorrow.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Damned if I know!

I have always been repelled by zombies, and have no interest in them...

Well, except for one: Michael Jackson's "Thriller." I loved the whole thing, the terror, the girl, and the zombies...

Otherwise? You can have them.

[DollarBillHines]

9. Oh, my dearest Peg...

"Thriller"?

You never cease to amaze....

Your Secret Admirer...
DBH

[Control-Z]

3. "The Walking Dead"

AMC TV Series. The only program/time in my life that I have personally cared for or wanted to watch such "nonsense". lol Last season we had Walking Dead Family Nights with food and friends. It's just for fun. Nothing more for me. But, So Much Fun!!

(AMC - No longer provided by DISH or DIRECTV, I might add!!)

[WCGreen]

4. Hell on Wheels is my AMC show...

[longship]

5. AMC, no longer a movie channel.

* TLC, no longer a learning channel.
* The History Channel, no longer programs history.
* A&E, no longer programs the arts.
* Discovery Channel, only seems to want to discover more Bullshista.
* SciFi, no longer programs science fiction. They even call it SyFy now.

Cable TV is utter rubbish. I am glad that cable TV isn't available here. I wouldn't want it anyway. Except for maybe the Game Show Channel. At least it honors the name. (haven't seen it in years; as far as I know they may be doing 24/7 WWF replays)

[Xyzse]

16. SyFy - I just got hooked on their series.

Their movies are godawful but the series they put out are quirky and fun.

I highly suggest the 4 following shows:

Alphas - Decently serious show which has David Straithern, who plays the Professor X to a team with special skill sets. It is a different take on the Heroes concept.

Being Human - A remake of a British series, but oddly enough, it has its own charm. It is about three room-mates/flat mates who are trying to fit in to society with differing degrees of successes. It is about a murdered girl, a vampire and a werewolf trying to live together.

Eureka - A US Marshall becomes a small town sherrif to a town of geniuses. Quirky but I consider it well written. The science in it is over the top, but they do have engaging characters. It is funny, since at some point or another the main character says "If this turns in to a Zombie Infestation, I Quit!".

Warehouse 13 - It has tie-ins with Eureka, but they deal with supernatural through relics. It is more of a comedy but it does adhere closely to their concept and world rules.

They do have Sci Fi movies, but most of them are awful.

As for the other channels, I can only agree.

[MADem]

6. There are a few of 'em stumbling around DU, I'm sure!

They're tryin' to eat our brains, the bass-tids!!

[fearnobush]

7. Interesting threat. The Zombie Apocalypse.

No one knows for sure exactly how they managed to take back the House of Representatives and the Governorships back in 2010. It all happened so quick and so disastrously. Some believe it was part of a coordinated terrorist plot, others felt we simply brought it upon our selves. We mocked and picked fun at them. We called them tea baggers and the rotting flesh. Who would ever think the un dead could actually gain power. Well my friends they did and now it's time to turn the tide back on their rotting legions for if we fail, they won't stop here. The entire planet is threatened by this plague and it is up to us to stop them. If we fail, we have only our selves to blame. So get out and grab a soft Romney supporter and encourage them to vote the ticket this November. It's about the species people. Get out and vote. Grahhhh!

[DollarBillHines]

8. "attracted to zombies"?

I don't know about that.

But, tonight, I have eaten some Menudo that was cooked with hooves.

Does that count?
DBH

[flobee1]

10. Or a person that can't get their eyeballs off of the tube

pretty close!
2 ways to go on this

ever see kids walking around with headphones, checking their updated on facebook while they mindlessly cross the street without looking for cars? ZOMBIES!

and preparing for a zombie apocalypse can be a good thing. Having a plan for food, water, heat, and security is something everybody should think about.
Every time an emergency of some sort is looming, what is the first thing you see people do?
You see footage of people emptying grocery stores in a panic.
You see footage of people all leaving town at once, jamming the freeway, and going nowhere.


Best bet is to be ready, and to avoid the run on the grocery.

[Marrah_G]

11. I am a big fan of Zombie fiction

I think it's more about how people survive in an out of control world then it is about blood and gore.

[FSogol]

12. Wanna hear my theory on why Vampires and Zombies are so prevalent in today's culture?

From Jim Meddick's "Monty" of course.

[Fawke Em]

18. Hmmm... I think that hit the nail on the head.

But I don't need diagrams to explain the Kardashians. That's simple: the 1 percent vampires poisoned the blood of some of the zombies with a "banality quotient." That banality quotient causes the body to desire and crave the most banal forms of entertainment, including most reality TV and fast food.

Easy, peasy.

[Evasporque]

13. The opening minutes of "Shaun of the Dead" illustrates this...

The main characters wake to a zombie apocalypse and go through their morning routines in such a zombie like manner they don't notice the zombie mayhem occurring...

Zombie Apocalypse is an apt metaphor for the Walmartification of American society

[WCGreen]

22. That is a great Movie and that was what I thought when I watched it...

I remember going to the drive in to watch Night of the Living Dead...

It just seems to me that it is so omnipresent now a days.

[LeftinOH]

14. Metaphor, allegory, analogy...it's whatever you want it to be, and it usually

never fails to deliver a message --somehow. Take for instance:

An episode late in the 2nd season of The Walking Dead. The group of survivors on a remote farm reluctantly take in a survivor from another group (Russell). So great is their fear that he may escape to his own group and lead his his people to the farm to plunder their food stocks (and take their women), that they have a serious discussion about whether to kill him or to lead him out into the wilderness to fend for himself. That's early human civilization in a nutshell.

[Javaman]

15. George Romero did it best.

all of his zombie movies were statements on society and it's commercialization of everything.

now, aside from the survivalist post-apocalyptic end of the world kill mindless beings hell bent on eating your flesh and brains, it's a statement on the tv watching audience.

don't get me wrong, I love a good survivalist post-apocalyptic end of the world kill mindless beings hell bent on eating your flesh and brains, but I also know it's just mediocre tv tapping into my survivalist post-apocalyptic end of the world kill mindless beings hell bent on eating your flesh and brains needs.

[randome]

19. Well, he did the first three right.

[Javaman]

20. True. nt

[slackmaster]

17. I wonder how many active social networking accounts belong to deceased people

Out of a billion Facebook users surely thousands must be dropping off daily.

Many people die in isolation, without any real friends or family connections. I know of people who have been deceased for over 10 years, whose Social Security Numbers have not yet been added to the national death list. (I occasionally get collection letters for one of them.)

[porphyrian]

21. This has been discussed and analyzed a whole lot in a number of books and interviews.

I won't regurgitate it all. Instead, let me list a few of my favorite zombie movies and what messages I found in them. Remember: context is everything when determining the meaning of art.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) - In the Civil Rights Era, a black man is the lead in a movie and does not die first. He is also arguably the smartest and most level-headed person on screen in this crisis. Zombies are slow, dumb flesh-eating monsters.
Message: Pro-Civil Rights (and, perhaps, pro-feminist)

Dawn of the Dead (1978) - The zombie apocalypse is upon America. Survivors flee to a shopping mall (a new thing at the time, believe it or not) and try to survive.
Message: More pro-Civil Rights, pro-feminist elements, but very strong metaphor for consumerism

Return of the Living Dead (1985) - Disaffected 80's youths decide to party in a graveyard at the same time that a series of stupid (and funny) accidents, including the release of a zombie and its zombie-creating chemical fumes (ostensibly from those rounded up after Night of the Living Dead) from a military canister. Things quickly get out of hand ("...send...more...paramedics...&quot and are resolved by the survivors contacting the military at the number printed on the canister. Though later movies have gotten credit, this is, I believe, the first movie with zombies that run and move fast.
Message: Anti-Reagan Era, anti-authoritarian

28 Days Later (2002) - Animal rights activists release a plague infecting lab animals they try to rescue. The plague is extremely fast and virulent. The main character wakes up in a hospital after an accident that occurred before the plague and tries to survive with the other uninfected people he meets. Zombies are plague carriers ("...it's rage...&quot rather than reanimated corpses. They are fast, like the contagion they carry.
Message: Plays on fears of biological terrors: foot and mouth outbreaks, "mad cow disease," biological terrorism, etc. Warns and begs caution from all sides. Also speaks to the virulent qualities of unchecked violence and hatred.

Return of the Living Dead (2004) - Not so much a remake as an homage, the survivors here also end up in a mall. As the hordes congregate outside, the survivors decide to try to make a run for it, to a boat they will take to an island. Zombies are fast.
Message: Very egalitarian - the cop is black, the coolest and smartest character is a woman, two characters are openly homosexual, etc. The black "gansta" character gets killed after losing his mind, but the cop lives to the end, suggesting an attempt to end that stereotype.

I could do this all day. There are a bunch more that I like - [Rec}, Dead Alive (gross and funny), BioZombie (Chinese, funny as hell), The Horde, The Dead, Shaun of the Dead...