George Romero’s Zombie Films: A Plague of Meaning, a modern day analysis of George Romero’s popular living dead movies, does an excellent job of conveying its message to a large mature audience. The analysis, written by L. Andrew Cooper and Brandy Ball Blake, attempts to convey the deeper meaning behind Romero’s Living Dead movies. This analysis does not target horror fans as one would expect, but attempts to appeal to any mature reader. The writing clearly conveys its meaning to a wide audience through the use of thorough explanations, easily understood language, and meaningful visuals. One of the largest ways in which this essay attempts to appeal to a wide audience is through its use of explanations. One would expect that a writing targeted
Because of these explanations, the writing successfully expands its audience, allowing for those who are not avid horror fans to understand the points of the essay without prior knowledge of the movies. “The premise of Night of the Living Dead is simple: it combines traditional ideas about the voodoo zombie (explored in films such as White Zombie, 1932, and I Walked with a Zombie, 1943) with newer ideas about a monster plague (hinted at in Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, 1897, but not really explored until Richard Matheson’s novel I am Legend, 1954). The result is a story about a small group of people trapped in a rural farmhouse who fight against a swarm of the undead.” (Cooper et al. 55).
Throughout the length of the writing it would be difficult to find overly complicated language. Most of the words used in the writing are relatively simple, and the few words that require a higher vocabulary are placed in places in which they are necessary. Through the use of this mostly simplistic language, occasionally broken by a more complicated word, the author maintains a sense of authority and education while allowing for the essay to be easy to follow. Had the authors chosen to use only words belonging to a basic vocabulary, the legitimacy of the author would have been called into question, however the author wanted to avoid confusing his audience. This essay balances the line between the two, sometimes using less known words such as “paradoxically” (Cooper et al. 56), but for the most part the language is kept to a fairly basic reading level. By avoiding complicated words the authors again insure the essay is easy to understand for the average
Both White Zombie and “Dead Men Walking in the Cane Fields” represent the early zombie and both of them embody Cohen’s first thesis “The Monster is a Cultural Body” Both the story and the film have zombies and both of these works make their zombies appear scary with dead like characteristics, however the real reason why they are scary is that, at the time, they tried to change society and that scared people. The people that liked society the way it was didn’t want another group to gain power or righ...
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,
In the article "Movies that Rose from the Grave" by Max Brooks, he delves deeper into the reasoning of where, why, and when zombie horror flicks
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
An example of the author’s use of formal diction is when he includes the word indolent in a sentence. By using intelligent words such as this one, the author appears to be highly educated making him an exceptional source of information. An audience is more likely to listen and agree with an author that sounds perspicacious and credible. The author continues to establish formal diction by including the words demure, languid, disillusioned, indolent, and bumptious. All of these words allow the audience to understand how educated the author is, persuading them to agree with the author’s claims about laziness and its benefits. In addition, this word choice strengthens the author's argument and emphasizes its importance. When the author demonstrates words such as these, he appeals to the audience by sounding informed on the topic making his claims stronger. This passage relied strongly on diction to support the author’s main claim about how it’s better to be lazy. As the essay goes on, Morley continues to use strong diction throughout the paragraphs. For example, in the fifth paragraph, the author includes the words, perplexities, quibble, dignified, repose, and keem. These words improve the quality of Morley’s essay and make it much more compelling to readers. The audience is more likely to agree with the author’s statement when he uses words
As said in the previous discussion regarding the second chapter of Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human, zombies and their culture are examined and broken down in order to understand their motives for the progression of zombies globally. Through different perspectives from individuals based around the world, the discussion of the zombie culture debates over the idea that zombies have not just evolved within the narratives that have brought them to life, but they have evolved in such a way that ultimately transforms the narrative itself. However, in this specific chapter, “They are not men.they are dead bodies!” : From Cannibal to Zombie and Back Again, Chera Kee breaks down the introduction of zombies into mainstream consciousness, and eventually cinema.
The pages of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury were to show a plausible disaster in America, even though the events never happened; it could still come true to an extent. We can see why Mr. Bradbury made such a novel as to bring the idea of what could happen to our minds. If we stray from the knowledge seeking ways we contain in our society, we would and still might find the tides of conformity flush away our humanity. We do strive to keep this disastrous dystopia only created in our dreaded thoughts and ideas. If such a change occurred here, we would address the situation as a hazard of a great form, a situation that makes us into a type of zombie. Yes, some kind of zombie, they might be as the undead community as to always keep a fake smile. Yet, we cannot help but wonder; what makes a zombie? Is it the need for basic brain activity involvement every minute of their shallow lives? Possibly, the hidden depression that weighs their legs down gives them the sight of zombie drags? We could speculate that maybe these zombies of Fahrenheit 451 just look hungrily for love! Always to be dissatisfied by the quick and sudden luxuries. Zombies are the end to the survival of the majority population in humanity; this is why seeing Millie, firemen, and the city as zombies is okay, they prove the former statement through their actions of conformity. To understand and solve these questions and statements we will dive into the meanings of conformity and individuality, how Montag the protagonist of this novel sees the world, and we will chose in our own minds through this information the evils and goods between conformed life and independent persons.
George Romero's reinvention of the zombie in night of the Living Dead (1968) is clearly a critique of elements of the American society, and the film as a whole is easily twisted into a warped view on the 'American Dream'. Themes throughout Romero’s film, dealing with controversial topics during the time that the film was made, are still, to this day debated by critics and film historians. Themes of racism and war are defined within the movie, hidden underneath the idea of carnal, cannibalistic zombies and over the top heroes who, eventually, succumb to the reanimated; despite their every effort. These themes are colored over and painted to hide beneath subtle references to the typical American Dream during this time, and Romero does quite the good job at it too. This dream, whilst continuously changing in the everyday lives of modern Americans, can be loosely defined as a national ethos of the United States, or a set of ideals dealing with freedom and the opportunity for success - an upward social status that can be achieved through hard work and effort.
Zombies have become very popular due to their depictions of being easy to kill and being communal. Zombie apocalypses are also very relatable due to the fact that they are set in lives similar to our society and seem easy to overcome. Zombies, themselves, can be identified with because we see ourselves when we look at a zombie. Zombies drudge on through the same task of finding human flesh to consume every day just like we drag ourselves to either class or our job in order to sit through another boring lecture or perform the same menial task every day. Just like the zombie, R, in the book, Warm Bodies, said, “I am Dead, but it’s not so bad. I’ve learned to live with it,” we have learned to succumb to our daily routines and just live with
Thomas Dawicki Sep/19/17 Honors English Number of Sentences: 125 Night of the Living Dead Essay. In the movie “Night of the Living Dead” by George A. Romero, we are thrust into the midst of a zombie apocalypse. During this apocalypse, many themes and aspects of human nature are present. This conflict seems to bring out the aspects of humans that show how imperfect we are, in addition to how we function in groups.
In Night of the Living Dead, the zombies were eventually eliminated. Or were they? Theorists argue that the monster’s elusiveness is due to its physical, psychological and social characteristics that cross the lines of classification. Human’s innate fear of the unknown is due to their inability to make a distinction or draw a clear conclusion. This is explained further in Jeffrey Cohen’s second thesis in “Monster Theory” that claims that; “the monster never escapes” (Cohen, 14). The zombie as a monster can never be destroyed completely and if it is, it leaves a remnant the make people feel uncertain of its destruction. Base on Cohen’s theory, the zombie’s different interpretation allows it to emerge in other forms (a faster, smarter zombie?)
The essay is written in a very critical style where the reader will feel like they have been wast...
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
The idea of a zombie is made up and it comes from nzambi, the Kongo word for the spirit of a dead person. In states such as Louisiana, or the Creole culture they believe zombies represent a person who has dies and brought back to life with no speech. Kings psychological argument on how we have an urge to watch horror movies because it helps to re-establish our feelings and feel natural again. Klusterman’s sociological essay helped us see the comparison of zombies and humans in real life. In conclusion zombies are not real, they are make believe but help bring a sense of normality to
Although “Thriller” is beloved as a classic 80’s pop music video, it manages a successful dive into the social and political issues that make zombie flicks so great. Pulling from a history of work on zombies, Michael Jackson packs so much history into such a concise package. Through using the texts of Amy Devitt and Kerry Dirk we are able to uncover Jackson’s experience and social commentary in “Thriller”. He simultaneously writes a hit song, revolutionizes music videos, and still remarks on the societal problems of the early 1980’s. However, the story goes much further than that of a number one hit. “Thriller” owes its success to an important cultural figure that looms as large as