One would be hard-pressed to find a more popular cultural phenomenon than George R.R Martin’s epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO’s derivative television series Game of Thrones. Between these two media sources, the fantasy epic has spawned a massive fan base. An estimate of 17 million books of the series have been sold around the world, while the most recent episode of the HBO series had 5.4 million TV views, in addition to the estimated one million people viewing it illicitly within twenty-four hours of the first airing11. With such immense popularity in the Western world, whatever emotional connection the fans of the phenomenon have to the epic must represent a wider collective social ethos. Noticeably, the books -with the first volumes being released by November 2000- only gained popularity in the post-9/11 era. The epic is known for its motifs of the application of valar morghulis and the White Walkers- the idea that “All men must die” and an impending zombie doomsday event, respectively. If one were to couple these two observations, one might propose an intrinsic link between post-9/11 emotional tensions and the reasons for the fantasy epic’s recent gain in popularity. One such proposal that will be examined is the idea that the people of the West are collectively suffering from Post-Tramautic Stress Disorder originating from witnessing the events of terrorism on 9/11 so much that they seek to connect with pop culture media that projects their fears and realizations. A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones are these projections, for the application of valar morghulis fulfills the people’s realization of their own mortality as well as the recognition of the mortality of everyone around them, and the constant...
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...bedient wights, reflect society’s collective PTSD from witnessing the events of 9/11. Respectively, one deals with recognizing our mortality and the mortality of those around us, and the other presents our fear of doomsday and a loss of order and structure. These ideas can be seen in other cultural objects. With songs like “YOLO”, by Drake, “Live like we’re dying”, by Kris Allen and others, music is definitely playing a role in our obsession with recognizing our mortality. Similarly, the re-popularization of the zombie and apocalypse genre also recognizes our fear of an end to society. Another object that could supplement this thesis would be The Hunger Games series, which encompasses both the yearly killing of children and a post-apocalyptic world. One should not omit pop-culture phenomena when investigating the collective social ethos of a period in human history.
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. Boschs essay uses rhetorical devices such as ethos, foil and satire to make her
Love and hope, together are a timeless literary thematic duo, which continue to inspire countless variations and sub-genres of romance literature. For the last many centuries, romance as a genre, is arguably the most popular of all narratives. However, the theme of love often takes presentences and overarches other thematic interpretation of stories. So why then are people seeking romance in the literature they ready? Suzanne Collins wrote The Hunger Games with the intent to introduce her young adult readership to a number of politically charged themes. Although Collins's work is acknowledged for successfully presenting themes of sacrifice, versions of reality, and power, her audience conversely identifies with the debatable sub-them of love. Social forums, such as the Official Hunger Games Facebook Website exposes an insider's perspective of sort, which reveals public perceptions and interpretations of Collins's work. Even though the purpose for the fan-website built around The Hunger games is to provide a discussion space. Participant's discussions however, unintentionally reveal a...
Though fictional, this novel illustrates the fear surrounding disease, viruses, and contamination and how, if uncontrollable, it could lead to a global spread that could jeopardize the human race. Traveling internationally, World War Z represents a zombie epidemic that brings forth infection, which can be considered an unconscious actor during this time of confusion and destruction. Scientifically, fear is defined as a natural response found in almost all organisms that revolves around the emotions and feelings induced by perceived threats and danger. Max Brooks illustrates the societal interaction with fear, “Fear of aging, fear of loneliness, fear of poverty, fear of failure”.
Through their use of allusion, symbolism and representation they portray many of societies flaws and imperfections. Such an imperfection includes the illustration of how totalitarian governments abuse the power they have acquired for their own gain, harming the people they are sworn to serve and protect. Through this abusive self-gaining government, we all are liable to become victims of consumer culture caused by the blind obedience to advertising and propaganda, being unable to form or voice an opinion of our own. But this lack of opinion can be at fault because of our own apathy, the ignorance and slothfulness that is contributed to the role we play in our society and the importance of that roles ability to motivate and inspire change. Whether you’ve read or viewed the novels or feature films I’ve discussed I have no hesitation in saying any text or film you have seen has been used in some way, shape or form to convey the criticisms of our ‘perfect’
"yacketayakking screaming vomiting whispering facts and memories and anecdotes and eyeball kicks and shocks of hospitals and jails and wars" (Ginsberg 11). Like many authors of the modern literature movement, Allen Ginsberg explores the bomb's psychological affects on many Americans during the 1960s. Modern literature describes the chaos of the 1960s, caused by increasing societal problems and fear of the new atomic bomb. Writings such as The Basketball Diaries, "Howl" and Cat's Cradle express concepts of fear, power, governmental control, and death. Government uses society's fear of death and the end of the world to keep control and power over the people. The atomic bomb generates such universal fear and the corrupted government fails to respond to the chaotic behavior of society or the fears of the individuals. This fear that the government achieves not only maintains control, but also causes chaos and the false belief that the government is on the public's side. The chaotic environment is a result of people crying out for help and the conflicting lifestyles arise when people face the terror of death.
...ash, chemical spill and the advancing, life-threatening black cloud, simulated evacuation, drug dealings, dangerous side effects of the drugs, killings and sex, rampart consumerism, underground conspiracies and human-made disasters etc. Such topics represent the concept of zombie culture.
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.
Today in America, people can’t get enough of zombies, zombies are everywhere ranging from movies, books and tv shows. The entertainment business uses the zombie apocalypse theme in order to present a post apocalyptic situation that no other form of genre can really create. In American zombie apocalyptic entertainment, humans must face the horrors of survival and change, while fighting off the zombies, thus also challenging their morals. Pessimistic viewers may see the situation as depressing, prejudice and an means of expressing xenophobia. However optimistic viewers see the situation as an opportunity for better change, individually and as a collective community. A controversial example of this topic would be Robert Kirkman’s popular graphic novel, called The Walking Dead, filled with violence, betrayal and challenges. The Walking Dead can be read as a pessimistic text but the most appropriate way to read is
Throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century, words such as jihad, suicide bomber, and al-Qaeda increasingly permeated the collective consciousness of Americans. These words were associated with fear, with terror, with the threat of death, and with the eastern ‘Other’. September 11, 2001 is a day on which most can recall the shaky words of broadcasters and the billowing plumes of smoke that were emitted from the towers of the World Trade Centre when members of the Islamic fundamentalist group al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger airplanes and crashed them into targeted landmarks in the United States. Lawrence Wright’s novel, The Looming Tower, draws upon several years of first-hand research and investigative journalism that reveals the political and historical atmosphere that led to the events of that day. The author composes a rigorous, detailed, and poetic work of nonfiction that illustrates the complex and geographically dispersed histories of Islamic fundamentalism and gives life to the personalities of the men that shaped the ideas that guided al-Qaeda. In the book, the actions of these men are built around narratives of their pasts; narratives of sexual obsession and repulsion, humiliation, torture, and resentment. The novel is rich with detail and divulges the reader in the particularly emotional and personal nuances of men such as Sayyid Qutb, Ayman Zawahiri, and Osama bin Laden. In 1978, Edward Said wrote the groundbreaking book, Orientalism, which has since given clarity to the power dynamic between the East and the West, the Occident and the Orient. Orientalism is the pervasive and largely Western tradition of building stereotypical and negative archetypes of people of the Middle East and Asia. Or...
Zombies’ most obvious function is to the social taboo of cannibalism. Zombies violate the basic rule of what it means to be human: not eating people. This taboo is depicted best in George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968). The scene, an hour and 15 minutes into the movie, shows several quick cuts and close ups of zombies ripping apart and eating “human” organs and limbs. The scene, a...
Critics have already begun a heated debate over the success of the book that has addressed both its strengths and weaknesses. The debate may rage for a few years but it will eventually fizzle out as the success of the novel sustains. The characters, plot, emotional appeal, and easily relatable situations are too strong for this book to crumble. The internal characteristics have provided a strong base to withstand the petty attacks on underdeveloped metaphors and transparent descriptions. The novel does not need confrontations with the Middle East to remain a staple in modern reading, it can hold its own based on its life lessons that anyone can use.
In White Noise Don DeLillo’s characters show a reflection of people living in the age of overwhelming media and television. All the characters in the book are products of this environment around them, but they are products in very different ways. Their actions and how they deal with things in their world show the audience a reflection of themselves in one way or another. Through these characters we can see how this era of media and consumerism affects the view of death and the natural world.
We all have cravings, be it for snacks or sweets, there is always something we desire. We crave horror in the same way. In Stephen King’s essay, “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” he argues that people need to watch horror films in order to release the negative emotions within us. King believes that people feel enjoyment while watching others be terrorized or killed in horror movies. King’s argument has elements that are both agreeable and disagreeable. On one hand he is acceptable when claiming we like the thrill and excitement that comes from watching horror movies; however, his views regarding that the fun comes from seeing others suffer cannot be agreed with because the human condition is not as immoral as he claims it to be.
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
The Walking Dead is an allegory for the real world. It presents audiences, the controversies of the conventional postmodern society amidst a post-apocalyptic drama. The series portrayal of dissolving humanity in unfeigned bleakness both reflects and inflames our societal perceptions and fears. Through an inhuman fallacy, (the zombie) The Walking Dead humanises the hopeless actualization of our corrupted world in all its postmodern traits. Therefore, the ambition for The Walking Dead is to exhibit a world pursuing a favourable equilibrium of peace and liberty but never achieving it as it is entirely a Sisyphean. In this essay, I will argue how cinema and humankind has fed into corruption within postmodernism.