Dysfunctional, dangerous, and out of this world; these are just a few words that describe a zombie. We’ve know them to be a part of our world, historically and contemporarily. They show up in movies, books, and stories we are told as children and adults. Each culture has a diverse meaning for this creature. To some they have a religious or magical meaning, to others they are a group of individuals with viruses. These monsters are complex and have such emblematic significances. “Zombies” encompass a territory between real science and survivalist conjecture. We have to understand a zombie’s history, modern relevance, the science around them, and how to survive such creature outbreaks.
Zombie History
Zombies have been known to be a major phenomenon in Haiti. Haitians believe in two things about zombies; when a person is possessed by a spirit its soul is not allowed in heaven, and when a farmer is believed to be successful he has zombies working for him. A zombie, whom is capable to steal money, travel at lightning speed, and fly, can bring a great amount of success to a farmer. These dead men and women working on the farms were brought back to life by potent drugs. This was just one way of releasing the dead. Another myth mentions a man that was believed to be poisoned to a near death like state. How the man was brought back to life, remains a mystery. Even though people have claimed to see zombies, the line between myth and reality is faintly drawn in Haiti, according to Dr.Lamarque Douyon. For instance; a women known by the name of Falicia Felix Mentor was believed to be dead, but after a mass hysteria that swept through a village, a family member pronounced that she is kin. She was incapable of giving any personal information. ...
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...s, and evacuating routes. Take the extra step and practice what you would need to do, when the disaster day comes.
Do not underestimate a zombie. They might not be the strongest monster out there, but they do have the power to catch you off guard. Their unique yet mysterious history causes you to think twice. Contemporarily, our world always has something in store for zombies, while scientifically there are still so much more to explore about these beings. Be ready at all expenses… be prepared for what is yet to come.
Works Cited
Mars, M.D, Louis P. "The Story of Zombi in Haiti" Man:A Record of Anthropological Science XLV (March-April, 1945 ): 22,38-40.Claudia, Wallis. "Medicine: Zombies: Do They Exist?" 17 October, 1983: 5, 6.
Dietle, David. "Medicine: Zombies: Do They Exist?" 17, August: 19-29.
Khan, Dr. Ali S. "How to Prepare for a Zombie Apocalypse" CDC.
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.
Victor Harplin’s black and white film, White Zombie, and W.B Seabrook’s short story, “Dead Men Working in the Cane Fields”, both were produced in the early twentieth century and were among the first works to capture the nature of the zombie. The zombie being a unique monster, it originated in the folkloric and ritual practices of the New World, specifically in the Republic of Haiti (The Sub-Subaltern Monster). They both centralize around Zombies, however they do differ in the way that they are portrayed. Both were set in Haiti where the zombie originated. Also around this time the U.S. occupied Haiti and American businesses were moving to the island. America was going through serious social change in this time as well. Both women and African Americans were trying to get more rights. Women were also acting more provocative and doing things that would have been seen as inappropriate at the time. The social mold was being shattered. America was in a boom period with big business and new technological innovations. Also both the story and the film relate closely to Cohen’s first thesis. These two literary works have similarities and differences to them, however both tend to play on social and political differences of the 1920’s and 1930’s.
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
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 broke 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,
A zombie is a monster that has been a horror movie legacy for many years now. Zombie is defined as “a dead person who is able to move because of magic according to some religions and in stories, movies, etc.” Zombies haven’t always been the creature that we see today though. George A. Romero merged the old-forgotten zombie into the standardized version we see today. James Conroy writes, “With his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, George Romero brought the concept of the slow-moving, flesh-eating zombie into mainstream American culture.” (1) Night of the Living Dead not only set an iconic image for zombies, but it also brought issues you would not normally see in a Zombie film, dealing with race and gender stereotypes.
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
How many times have you been scared awake by zombies after watching shows or reading comics? Zombies, a particular group of survival horror, are basically dead people who come back to us in an evil way. From novels to Hollywood films, we look like cowards who are repeatedly scared by zombies. How can we still get shocks in this age of scientific society? The answer is that zombies come back with cultural messages in stories, which express our extraordinary fears. Such a horrible story was created by Kirkman, in The Walking Dead he depicted zombies as a horrible metaphor for xenophobia by combining fear of otherness with infectious disease; as a result, fear of contagion fuses with our fear of outsiders, increasing the unequal treatment of immigrants in contemporary society.
The zombie race is very different. It doesn't not have many abilities and is not advanced like humans. Their behavior patterns are different. They cannot stand cold or winter weather. Their behavior is very different and difficult to calculate. They usually stand around lingering and waiting to attack when they hear something. They follow noises.Some abilities that they do have is that they have excellent hearing and can walk but aren't blind.The also can smell human blood. Zombies are generally weak but don’t underestimate what they can do to a human.
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?)
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
Mass amounts of people will die, families will be separated, and peaceful ways of life will be long gone. Guard your loved ones, board up your windows and keep your gun under your pillow because you’re gonna need it. I have taught the facts, the opinions, and the theories on the possibility of a zombie apocalypse. I have explained with facts and statistics the ramifications of it if it was to happen, the way and speed at which it can spread, and the cruelty that will follow. You can protect yourself and the ones closest to you, but first you have to believe it.
In the field of philosophy, zombies are imaginary creatures that are used to illuminate problems regarding consciousness and its relation to the physical world. As compared to those in witchcraft or films, zombies are exactly like human beings in every physical aspect but without conscious experiences. However, zombies behave like humans and some of them even spend considerable amount of time discussing consciousness. While few people believe in the existence of zombies, many state that they are at least conceivable, and some argue that they are possible. Consequently, there are arguments that if zombies are increasingly a bare possibility, then some kind of dualism is true and physicalism is false.
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.