RSS…zombies
May 03
daily life, film/movie/tv, pop culture break-down, FINlos, horror, society, zombie 10 Comments
I love monsters. As a literary person I understand that monsters are used in stories as tools to examine the failings of society and human nature. Monsters such as vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein, and most others serves as metaphors for the evil potential that all people possess. But only zombies exist as true reflections of the weakness and depravity that we as humans express on a daily basis.
I think the true purpose of monsters is to scare you into thinking about what they symbolize. Ok, the good monster stories do that, but in this age of dumbed down horror, the monsters are probably smarter than the writers who “borrowed” the ideas. But the good monster stories all deal with larger issues in our culture like morality/immorality, living life without emotion, fear of death, the power and abuse of technology, spiritual emptiness, the breakdown of society, etc. But as I said before, the monster covers the human face and therefore distances the human from the issue by becoming a metaphor.
Zombies are different. By being simple, reanimated corpses whose sole motivation is the hunting of live humans to devour, the zombies then become nothing more than a force, a tool of adding tension to a situation. This is what makes a zombie such an amazing tool to use a story. Because a zombie doesn’t speak, doesn’t emote, doesn’t negotiate or moralize, doesn’t do anything but shamble and eat, they can instill true fear into the humans of the story and this is their secret. Unlike other monster stories, zombie stories aren’t about the monster, they are about the people who exist in the same world as the monster.
In other monster tales the observer can rationalize with the evil that the monster does because there is that inherent distancing between human and the monster. You can root for the baddie because it isn’t human. But Zombies aren’t the main characters in their stories. The humans take center stage. And it’s much harder to root for humans who do evil things, whether it’s creating the monsters in the first place or committing crimes in the aftermath of society’s breakdown.
And even more poignantly, the zombies are us: apathetic, driven by consumption, and lacking in compassion. Humanity’s omnipresent drive to grow, to dominate, to destroy, we are the infection. I don’t mean to be melodramatic, but lets be honest with ourselves. If we were honestly concerned with promoting compassionate, peaceful, sustainable life, don’t you think we would have accomplished it by now? No, we aren’t corpses. No we don’t eat each other (regularly). But if we did create some disease, or cause some mutation by nuclear holocaust, or if some supernatural curse were laid upon us and we all became zombies, things on this planet probably wouldn’t be that much different than they are today. People would still consume, still be apathetic, and still be heartless.
Eh, maybe I’m looking too far into this. Maybe a zombie is just a walking, moaning, infected piece of meat. But sometimes that hits a little close to home.
Ask yourself, if a zombie outbreak happened tomorrow and all societal boundaries were thrown out the window, how would your leaders react? How would your neighbors react? How would you react? That’s the question the zombies are asking us, the question they represent. And I don’t know how I would see myself when I looked in the mirror if I answered it honestly.
Rated five stars for horror, cultural relevance, and the fact that I am one sexy zombie.
May 03, 2008 @ 15:40:49
Sometimes it annoys me that people, English teachers in particular, push you to assume that everything in a novel has some metaphorical meaning and that the author meticulously places each word in the story after sieving through the hundreds of other words which might be less worthy of that spot.
I do not mean to degrade what you have written here, in fact I agree with it. I agree that authors use rain in certain places to represent the cleansing of a soul, or a crosswalk for an important choice in the character’s life. I just think that, sometimes, the author might have it rain because it sounded like it belonged, or maybe he just wanted to do it.
Anyway, I write too much. Zombies are awesome, and a great tool to denigrate humanity at that. Uh, I had some final sentence here, but I forgot what it was when I was looking up denigrate to make sure I used it correctly. HARRUMPH!
May 03, 2008 @ 15:52:07
Steffy: in general i would agree with you in that many “educated” people try to find meaning in every written or spoken word. But monsters are tools to convey either a tone, a meaning, or a message. I think, at least in good stories and not the junk that gets spewed out so frequently in modern film and literature, that when a writer uses something so blatant as a monster, they are trying to get you to see something.
and getting back to what you were saying about simpler background things like the rain or lightning, sure those things might just be thrown in for atmosphere. but doesn’t atmosphere convey tone, and doesn’t tone make you as an observer feel something. so even if it was intended or not, the writer is eliciting a reaction.
May 03, 2008 @ 16:07:38
FINlos: I agree, and I think my last sentence was going to be something about the lame horror films of today and how they just use monsters to have something scary.
I suppose it is inevitable to have some meaning in most things, especially the dominant figures of a story. It is most likely my wish to enjoy a book for the book and not see each minute metaphor within each event, character, and whatever else that is causing this aversion.
May 03, 2008 @ 16:51:10
Steffy: again, i agree in reading a book just for the pleasure of it. but there are different levels of reading. theres the pleasure you get from just reading the story. but as anyone who studies the reading process will tell you, the higher your reading ability, the higher your intrinsic ability to draw more meaning from the reading. and those things just happen naturally. you don’t have to spend the same energy on analysis like you would for an essay. but to say that even when reading for pleasure your brain isn’t picking out themes and motifs, making predictions and drawing connections, well, it just doesn’t work like that. you don’t have to think about it as it happens.
May 04, 2008 @ 10:35:24
On the other hand… zombies have been used specifically by directors to convey their perspective on the state of “the union” in society as a whole.
George A. Romero, the father of zombie films has stated at all levels that he was specifically using the cheap and decaying props and corpses to depict what he saw as the deterioration of our own society. That the world we lived in was “falling away” in pieces. That was the 60′s, of course- and we have come sooo far from those days right? Where we have no reason to question what our leaders say as truth.
Oh wait, there’s a resurrgance of zombie films right now… coincidence? Probably not.
Good topic FINlos-
May 04, 2008 @ 15:10:47
FINlos: [re=31] I’m not trying to argue or debate anything. I was simply commenting on my grand illusion of ignorance in which there is no bigger picture and I am eternally living in the moment. In other words, I concede to the truth of the world. For now.
May 04, 2008 @ 20:41:55
I have to admit… that when I used to write (once upon a time) that I fully expected and often times tried to elicit a response with an allegory or a metaphor.
And now, so many years later… when I have to force myselfr to say anything people seem much more naturally drawn to what I say. Less is more? I don’t know… my brain has never stopped forming the words… just stopped saying them I guess.
The big picture is no grand illusion… we LIVE the big picture…. when we start to isolate small packets of it is when we really start to lose perspective. I personally cannot focus on the small pieces…. I choose to live life on life’s terms- and that usually means all at once.
and now I am babbling… sorry!
May 05, 2008 @ 00:28:44
William Lantry, a favorite zombie of mine, was a “walking hate”– and his role in “Pillar of Fire” certainly aroused the sympathies of his target audience, the readers! (Though, to be fair, Lantry doesn’t exactly count as “infected meat” as you described, as he was the talking, rationalizing, and emotive kind of meat that humans are.)
May 05, 2008 @ 11:57:00
avyas: Lantry is one of the greatest characters ever put to paper. and while he doesn’t qualify as a zombie in the sense that i talk about here, but he still manages to convey similar themes that are present in zombie stories.
Feb 09, 2009 @ 19:40:48
What i like about your little “Speech” was that deep
down inside the human soul we can all see ourselves
doing that same thing for survival but what another thing that zombies resemble is fear in numbers,
the way you will die, and the loss of overall humanity
if zombies actually came the would actually win
even if they didnt cant you imagine someone suing
another human being for killing their zombie relative?
humans today we are in a overall passion heartless
I think only the people who fend for others will last longer than those who dont. Heres an idea if zombies actually did some wouldnt they create some utopia or shelter for those who werent infected and seal it in a self sustainging life support system the only logical solution for surviving zombies but we think of them as immortall what some strive to be , humans are zombies but only on a lower level sorry i took up so much room thanks 4 reading