Death is the scariest part of living. Humanity has always been acutely aware of this horrible inevitability, and as a result of this almost near obsession with mortality certain practices, precautions, and even religions have been developed to ease the weary minds on death. Self- preservation, preparedness and survival motivate almost faction of human interest and behavior but becoming prepared for the conceivable anything and asking all the “what if” questions in the world still might not save humanity when analyzing how many devastating catastrophes can essentially wipe out life on this planet with ease. Not hard to imagine, mass extinction in history has happened at least five times estimated as far back as 440 million years ago at the end of the Ordovician Period. (Sjøgren) Most people expect to live a long and fulfilling life and eventually die naturally, peacefully surrounded by family and friends, but what if the Grim Reaper takes on another form, a zombie? At first the idea seems comical, but can one be completely sure this ghoulish creature could not be created. Only the foolish would deny that a zombie apocalypse is more than plausible. To analyze this realization completely is crucial to not only the survival of the human race but the entire planet as well. This thesis focuses on zombie popularity in culture and media, how an outbreak could come about, human zombie preparedness, how nature would stack up against the undead, and ultimately given the evidence which would survive the apocalypse, the living or the undead?
Zombies are everywhere... in the media. Popularity for the undead has soared in the 21st century but where did that horrifying idea first come from? The idea of a zombie comes from the Vudon or more comm...
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No book has captivated the zombie apocalypse better than World War Z. Max Brooks creatively presents “a worldwide zombie pandemic from outbreak to aftermath” (Boyd, Tristan). His book encompasses many social and political themes in the world today. The book reveals true fear and shows the strength of the human race.
Max Brooks explains in his article ‘’The Movies That Rose From The Grave’’ [2006], that zombies and the supernatural forces have impacted and have become popular in the world today. The first main idea that Brooks points out is the way society has changed the meaning and glimpse for the supernatural creatures like zombies causing them to become increasingly popular. To support this zombie movies have changed from darkness and mystery to violent and bloodier scenes therefore making them more prevailing. The second main idea that is discussed by Brooks is how the media has helped to increase the popularity of zombies, vampires, ghosts. Highlighted by the author particularity both ‘’resident evil,
Torie Boschs “First eat all the lawyers” appeared in Slate october 2011. Her piece was to reach out to horror fans and to explain to them why zombies are a great monsters in current media. Zombie fanatics who read this short essay will love her vast knowledge of zombies while others who still do not understand why zombies are horribly terrifying can get behind her argument. Bosch explains that the current zombie craze has to do with our current society and how white-collar workers would be left defenceless in a world over run with a rampant horde of zombies. While blue-collar workers can flourish in this current state as they have more skills suited for survival.
James Parker essay “Our Zombies, Ourselves,” informs readers that the zombie has almost outranked the vampire, and why they’re so popular. This undead monster originated from a Caribbean folk nightmare and was adapted over time by, the Halperin brothers, William Seabrook and George Romero and numerous others. Much like the vampire, zombies owe their fame to the progressiveness of technology, allowing them to consistently invade various media forms. The zombie has infested countless tv shows, movies, video games, and books, throughout the 21st century. Zombies themselves are soulless corpses who were regurgitated back into the world of the living. This making them rejects from the underworld, this presents the zombie as rejected yet inexpungable. What makes the zombie so popular, however, is that symbolizes everything that is rejected by humanity. “Much can be made of him, because he makes so little of himself. He comes back, He comes back, feebly but unstoppably” (Parker). The zombie represents humanity itself as well as what is rejected by humanity. Much like individuals today, the zombie is burdened by life’s demands, converting to nothing but a rotting, groaning human shell that stumbles through life without a purpose. The zombie is symbolizer of the real world, and all things irrepressible, whereas the vampire is a symbol of an alternate world and all things
The idea of zombies has evolved over time from slow to fast moving zombies. Our society has developed the idea that zombies are fast moving creatures; therefore, writers modernized their work to keep the audience interested. Zombies play all different types of roles in different movies depending on the writer and their opinions. George Romero and Max Brooks have several similarities and differences in their zombie works. Brooks is known for World War Z which involves fast moving zombies that do not stop for anything. As for Romero, he is known for Night of the Living Dead associating with slow zombies. Even though Romero started off with using slow zombies he changed to using fast zombies in some of his later works. In the different interviews Brooks is professional and respects the Romero’s work; however, Romero talks badly of Brooks the whole time. In many different interviews Romero and Brooks share how they incorporate their interests and ideas on zombies into their work.
The human mind harbors a very rich imagination when it comes to the envisioning of our demise, demonstrating the individual’s appeal towards this notion, because we love to play with the idea of an impending apocalypse and what comes after it.
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In the article, “A Zombie Manifesto: The Nonhuman Condition in the Era of Advanced Capitalism” by Sarah Juliet Lauro and Karen Embry, the authors’ evaluate the idea of the zombie and its connection to capitalism and post-humanism. According to the authors, the zombie represents much more than just a fear, it represents a loss of oneself to many different things, primarily to a capitalist society. The authors have come to the conclusion that humans have a fear of what they cannot control, and that is why the zombie is so big in entertainment. We see zombies everywhere, in movies, books, tv shows, fundraisers, marathons, and so much more. They have been around for decades, but recently they have become very popular. The authors believe this is
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Zombies are real, but not like those in stories on the big screen. Real zombies and vampires are regular people who suffer from a mental condition called, Cotard Syndrome. Cotard's syndrome, is a rare mental disorder, those with cotard syndrome have delusional belief that they are already dead. This syndrome is also known as the Walking Corpse Syndrome. These delusions can range from believing one is dead, are putrefying, do not exist, or have lost their blood and organs. This mental disorder was brought to the attention in the 1880‘s, by Jules Cotard, who described a delusion he called “delusion of negations”. Cotard Syndrome is mostly a certain type of depression.
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