Let’s talk zombies

Zombies are all the rage right now- those slow growling reanimated former-humans that can only be killed by destroying the brain. We’ve got The walking dead, Fear the walking dead, Word War Z (read the book, forget the movie) Dawn, Day, Diary and all kinds of dead rising. We’re overrun by zombies. But in this strange time where get our entertainment from apocalyptic visions of the reanimated deceased we tend to forget how important the zombie genre is for humanity. We generally (or at least the elite does) disregard the zombie-genre as humbug –often with a wonderment why people flock to this desire for the zombie-apocalypse.

If we’re going to go, we are going to go zombie-style

Let’s start with this one, our current fascination with the world falling apart. Be it by meteor, earthquake, solar-flares, aliens or –indeed- zombies, in the last twenty years we’ve seen the world being destroyed on a regular –summer blockbuster- basis. Why is our current time so preoccupied with the destruction of our world? 

Well, we aren’t. We’ve always been fascinated with the destruction of earth or death in general. In the fifties giant ants destroyed the world (and ‘normal’ aliens). In the late 1800s H.G. Wells destroyed the world. And before that we had organized religion telling us that our time here was temporarily. Across all cultures in all religions there has always been a sense that ‘one day’ it is all over.

Combine this with the realization we had in the last fifty years or so. Our world can end in the blink of an eye. We’ve pretty much let go of the biblical (I’m not too knowledgeable about the Koran or the other holy books) explanation that the world was created a mere four thousand years ago (on a Sunday). We learned that the world is millions of years older. And each time a new species of life evolved on the planet it was pretty quickly –on a geological timeline- destroyed once again by a meteor, volcanic eruption or whatnot. The ‘white cliffs of Dover’, all deceased ancestors if you will. So knowing –for a fact- that we can die any minute - be it by car accident, old age or something on a global scale- feeds our fascination with death in our popular culture as a means to ‘deal with it’. 

And then there’s science that can nowadays tell us for a fact that we are not alone in the universe; yet –due to the distance- we will probably never be able to visit the other inhabited planets. This increases our loneliness as a species. And from this comes the knowledge that if an aliens species would –hypothetically- visit our planet it would be like a man coming across a bunch of ants. This ‘man’ would neither be kind or cruel, just indifferent to us, much like the zombies. 

You see, zombies aren’t evil. They are predators that feel a need to feed.

So we’ve always had this fascination for death. But what makes zombies nowadays such a ‘preferred way to go’?

First and foremost, like aliens, we’ve got something of a fighting chance. A zombie is basically a man with cannibalistic tendencies. We wouldn’t be able to take on a tripod alien.[1] Let alone fight back against a volcano or meteor.

But zombies we can deal with. And those flesh-eating buggers also allow to have ‘some fun’ with the things we know. 

Men against zombie, men against men

Men has always killed men in the most varied ways possible. Just read any book about the inquisition or the holocaust and prepare to be fascinated about the sheer cruel imagination that people applied to destroy a fellow human being.

Why we do this? I wouldn’t be able to tell you. Thankfully we still live in a world where ‘being a murderer’ is considered a bad thing.[2]

Now, should I make an action movie and let the hero kill the villain in a spectacular fashion that’s fine. Just don’t overdo it because then the audience’s morality comes into play. The hero tosses the baddie out of the window of a skyscraper (or preferably –the Disney method- the villain causes his own demise). You can’t have the hero take his time to torture the villain because that would be inhumane and the audience would rebel against the hero. Yet, in zombie fiction, this happens all the time. The hero decapitates the zombie and –for good measure- stabs him in the eye. Why? Apart from that it looks cool on screen. The hero can kill something that looks human in the most brutal way possible because the zombie isn’t human. And thus the audience won’t feel sorry for the victim.

As a side note here is the rise of animal protection. We pretty much know most of the animals on the planet. We still distrust some (crocodiles, snakes, sharks) but overall accept them as animals on the planet. Partners on earth if you will. So yes –again the movie example- the hero can blow up the great white shark at the end of 'Jaws'. But don’t let this guy keep the teeth as a souvenir that’s tasteless. In the same sense, don’t kick a dog. But if it’s a zombie dog…

Because zombies don’t exist –and because they are already dead- we, the audience, feel no sympathy for them. Somehow –in this sense- it is (almost) better to see the hero mow down a hundred zombies than ten terrorists in 'Die Hard'.

True we are a bit abhorred when Daryl in ‘The Walking Dead’ makes a necklace out of zombie ears. But the last thing that crosses our mind is ‘aw poor zombie’. No, we’re wondering what the heck is wrong with him to make such a thing. But sympathy to the undead, no!

A good zombie fiction acknowledges this fact. Those stories play around with the -for instance- father character incapable of killing his zombie-son because it still resembles the boy it once was. Often the fiction punishes the father character by letting the zombie-boy eat him. Thus reestablishing the fact to the viewer that zombies aren’t people.[3]

The zombie fiction is one of the defining genres that spotlight this insane lust of us humans to kill on another. If there’s one thing the zombie fiction does well is that it brings society down to the core. Governments fall like flies. People whose moral-compass has problems killing those former humans often follow the government soon after. Should the zombie apocalypse happen then the entirety of humanity is brought back to ground level. Whether you are the president or a homeless-person. And from this ‘ground level’ the fiction examines how your character deals with the situation. In short the zombie fiction is the ultimate democracy. All men being equal (ly delicious).

Those who survive, however, have to worry about more than just the zombies.

Tossing several characters in a zombie apocalypse and suddenly the main danger isn’t the zombies with their one-point-agenda of eating you but your fellow man with several agendas. The zombie fiction in its core allows this –nee, demands- this to happen. Zombie fiction is a magnifying glass on human nature. Take away the safety and all human’s real character start to rise.

The zombie fiction plays around with this not because it has any intention of putting the heroes on a pedestal but because it wants to show the truth of those humans left behind in the dead world. And it is often the case that those humans are far worse than the zombies outside.

Zombie religion

Another way to look at zombie fiction is a result of the release of organized religion. In the last hundred years Christian religion in the western world lost a lot of its footing. Science grew, knowledge grew. People started to wonder whether everything the church told them was accurate. And –let’s be honest- it was about time. Now I’m not saying that God does not exist. Being agnostic is a great way to live. Questioning organized religion doesn’t automatically makes you an atheist.[4] You just wonder whether those people in the church were actually doing God’s work or whether they were making things up along the way to serve their own human needs.

Religions all over the world have spoken of a life after death or even resurrection. Jesus of Nazareth came back to live. So did Osiris, Dionysus and countless others.

The Bible even speaks of the dead rising from their graves at the end of times. Again this aforementioned apocalyptic interest. The zombie fiction –I argue- herein is a way of dealing with seventeen hundred years of scripture.  What would it be like if the rapture came? What would it look like? Would those left behind really lie down and roll over? Or would we fight back the undead hoard?

For hundreds of years we’ve been told in religion that resurrection is possible. Zombie fiction takes this tale by the hand and whist showing it what it would look like also criticizes organized religion a bit.

Zombie parody

Talking about criticism. The zombie genre is filled to the brim with critique and parody. Something as silly as the dead rising from their graves and attacking human beings is a fantastic way of spotlighting the weird ways of contemporary life in western civilization.[5]

Sheep for the slaughter. 

‘Shaun of the dead’[6] starts off by showing Shaun as an everyday workingman in a bus with all kinds of other everyday workingmen (and women) all staring solemnly into the distance not a single dream or life-ambition left. They are all already zombies; they just haven’t been bitten yet.

Consumerism and capitalism. 

The western civilization (especially during the cold war) relished in the idea that ‘you are what you own’. Buy now, pay later (buy, buy, buy). Naturally this was the culture of those days to counter the Soviet idea of Communism (share, share, and share).[7] But it is something that stuck with us for all those years.

There’s a reason why ‘Dawn of the dead’ takes place in the mall. The critique is that we are all mindless consumers who only value life by possession. Throw a few zombies in the mix and all life’s possessions become meaningless.[8]

Zombie apocalypse 1500 likes.  

In ‘Diary of the dead’ the zombie fiction highlights the current focus to record everything. We do it on our smart phones nowadays. Shooting everything and sharing it with the world. Basically, the phone couldn’t care less who is recording and that’s the interesting part of the movie. The main character is the video camera. The characters holding the camera all shoot the film to give their own life meaning. But the camera could be held by anybody. Its purpose is for the greater good/ the hoard of humans. So diary of the dead slyly points at the fact that we humans aren’t much different than the zombies. Again, it doesn’t matter who holds the camera we’re all the same. And the movie criticizes our need to be special. Our need to share with the world our little insignificant lives (like this blog :-)). Because, let’s be honest, on a geological scale we don’t matter. 

Oooo…what does this button do? 

A final aspect that returns often enough is our meddling with science. I’ve already argued that the zombie fiction is a bit of a critique against organized religion. But that doesn’t mean that science is the ‘to-go-to-good-guy’. ’28 days later’ (not really zombies but still), ‘resident evil’ and ‘I am legend’ all warn against meddling with science because you might unleash something you can’t control, like the zombies. The zombie fiction doesn’t discriminate in its critique.

To sum up: The next time your parents or teacher tells you that zombie fiction is a bad thing, remind them: zombie fiction asks us directly to think about science, religion, morality, society, consumerism, individualism and our own mortality. Heck, even Moby Dick only managed two of those.

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[1] I honestly believe H. G. Wells painted himself in a corner in his book ‘The war of the worlds’ and decided on the flu as a efficient trick to get out of it. 
[2] You wouldn't believe it if you watch the news. 
[3] In the remake of ‘Dawn of the dead’ the director took this idea that zombies aren’t human a step further by showing us a zombie baby thus blurring this line between sweet and horrific (like a baby tiger and a baby tarantula). 
[4] Though some can't seem to grasp that... 
[5] Or older civilizations when you look at Pride and Prejudice and zombies. 
[6] A parody of the zombie genre which –I thus argue- is in itself a parody. 
[7] …or else. 
[8] Also fun to note that the mall was one of those places people strangely enough felt safe.