Skip to main content

What’s the Deal with Zombies?




I have never really been much into zombies. I mean what are they really? Dead people brought back to life who can infect more dead people to bring them back to life. In other words, sort of like vampires, except way less sexy and with way fewer powers. Who would you rather watch, sexy vampires who can fly and perform mind control, or a half-decomposed creature who can’t walk very fast, let alone run, let alone fly? Zombies have to be some of the most uninspired horror creatures ever invented. Certainly, they have a creep factor, but if a zombie is coming for you: walk away. You don’t even have to run. Whereas, if a vampire is coming for you, or a velociraptor, or an orc, or a thing from outer space . . . see where I’m going? Yes, when you are dealing with massive numbers of zombies it can be a problem, but still, monsters with brains are far more interesting to me than monsters without brains. Yet zombie films and TV shows continue to be popular. I am not sure why.

The origin of zombies is to be found in Hattian voodoo folklore. The existence of zombies in the Hattian world is part mythology and part chemically induced by witch-doctors (see pufferfish toxin and/or hallucinogenic drugs). But even before the Haitians invented the word (possibly with a West African root) many other cultures had folklore about the undead of one form or another. So perhaps it touches all our subconscious back brains. 

Probably the first landmark piece of literature dealing with zombies (as we think of them today) is Richard Matheson’s novel I am Legend, which has been made into at least three movies: The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price, The Omega Man with Charlton Heston, and I am Legend with Will Smith.  There was a smattering of B-movie Zombie flicks in the 1950’s and 60’s. But I think the one that really set off the zombie craze was the 1968 George Romero movie Night of the Living Dead. It seems odd that this little shoestring-budget film should have had such an influence. I think it had a budget of like $3.25 and a box of Rolaids. It was shot in black and white with local actors and crew from the Pittsburg area. Some of the actors were pretty good, some were not. I think where the film was ground breaking, was in its shock value. It didn’t pull any punches unlike most films of the time. The gore and violence were of a scale that had never been seen before. All kidding aside, the film actually cost $114,000 and it grossed $18 million. Executives in Hollywood, if nothing else, can read a balance sheet. And somebody must have said, “hey, there’s money to be had in this zombie stuff.” So, the zombie became an enduring trope. You can find zombies that are metaphorical. You can find zombies that are humorous. You can find zombies set in Jane Austen’s world. I even came upon an anthology of short stories that all had “zombie erotica” as a theme (Why? To each his own I guess, but really . . . why?)

We have an innate fear of the dead. But in the horror genre, the dead can take many forms: ghosts, zombies, vampires, mummies, or the reanimated creations of a mad scientist.  Everything is personal preference. If you like zombie shows or books, more power to you. Follow your bliss. But zombies (and mummies) just don’t do it for me. Like I said, just walk away.

(My novel Star Liner, is now available in paperback or as an e-book through Amazon and other online sources)
Star Liner

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Retired

  I retired this week. So, big lifestyle changes for me? Not so much. I retired on Thursday. My office had an amazing party for me on Wednesday, lots of food, lots of cards, lots of personal connections. Gifts too, I wish I had told them, no gifts. I really don’t need anything. But all this does make one feel appreciated. It also makes me feel appreciated that they want me to come back on a contractual basis every now and then to impart my institutional knowledge. It is always the case when someone retires, knowledge is lost to the organization. Things have to be relearned by the next generation. This is somewhat offset by the fact that the world is changing through advancing technology etc. So, the knowledge that the retiring person has might eventually become obsolete anyway. Better to go out while you are still on top. We have all seen professional athletes who stayed on well beyond their prime. It would have been better to go out while still on top. But it is a hard thing to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu

My first experience with cyberpunk as a genre of science fiction was Neuromancer by William Gibson. Neuromancer was one of the early works that defined the cyberpunk genre. It was insanely influential. It won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award. But for me, it just did not resonate. I had a hard time visualizing the concepts. It left a bad taste in my mouth for cyberpunk. I mostly avoided the genre. Then a couple of years ago I read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson which is cyberpunk (although some people say it is a parody of cyberpunk). Whatever, I liked it. I recently picked up All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu and it immediately became apparent to me that this was cyberpunk. Julia Z is the main character, and I think this is going to be the start of a series following her. She is a hacker (hence cyberpunk). She has got herself in trouble and so she lives on the margins, barely making it. Then a lawyer asks her for her help. His wife has been kidnapped. The ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Darkness

  There was a moment when I discovered that l liked dark music. I do like dark music. I like minor keys and a haunting theme. I like other kinds of music too, but that darkness speaks to me in a special way. What does that say about me? Am I messed up? I don’t think so. Maybe I am just built that way that haunting tunes or lyrics imparts some inner truth to me. It resonates. I know precisely when I discovered this about myself. It was Summer of 1971. I was 12 years old. I was on a plane with my family heading to Illinois. Airplanes back then did not have much in the way of entertainment, but what they did have were headphones and music channels you could listen to. I was listening to a channel of popular current hits, and a song came on called “That’s the Way I Always Heard it Should Be” by Carly Simon. I had never heard of Carly Simon. This was before “Anticipation” and “You’re so Vain.” She was not yet famous. But this song came on and, I don’t know, it did something to me. It...
Post a Comment
Read more