Posted on 03/29/2014 12:00:33 PM PDT by lee martell
I don't have a tv of my own, but I see enough and hear enough to know that for some reason, Zombies are a hot sell on American tv right now. See the popularity of shows such as The Walking Dead. In fact, I heard there is even a new perfume for women coming to the market this spring, based on this show. The Walking Dead Perfume. Really? I'm not necessarily bothered by it, to each his own, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what has brought us to this level of fascination. I have read many, many of Dean Koontz books over the last ten years. I kept reading them, until he spent too much time trying to humanize the Antagonist by giving him/her a 'cool' sense of humor. I like my monsters scary and predominately unappealing, but there are always exceptions.
I tried off and on for years to appreciate Steven King, especially back in the 90's when he was cranking the books out like Wheat Linguine, but a rarely stayed with any of his work till completion. Most of Steven King's books read to me, like a never ending monologue, or as my junior high english teacher; Sister Richardene would say, a run-on sentence; something I still fall into today if not careful. I sampled some Anne Rice books. I never completed any of her stories because I was lost into the minutiae of character analysis, and I have never made the link between love and blood, at least not in the ritualistic manner of Rice. I see cable once in a while, I see the commercials about upcoming programs featuring Cannibalism, The Apocalypse, Tomorrow's Dystopia, Body Parts being ripped off and used as clubs. Is it that the Zombies has become today's most acceptable villian because most people share an energetic fear of the unknown? Is that it? To me, if you;ve seen one Hollywood Zombie with the strawberry jelly for blood and all the neat, symetrically placed spots of gangrene, you've seen them all. Am I wrong?
“The Walking Dead” = The Walking Democrats
They feed off the living and the productive while destroying everything in their path. Totally useless.
I saw The Last Man on Earth a long time ago, and a couple of the scenes really creeped me out as a kid. I saw the film on YouTube recently, and those scenes are still creepy. In that film, they are not zombies, but vampires, and can talk. One of the creepiest scenes in the film was copied in a scene from the Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead isn’t great because it has zombies in it.
the Walking Dead is great because of the depth of the human characters, and the quality of the acting, writing and production.
I read that zombies are a social substitute xenophobia for people who are afraid of other races, but can’t permit themselves to feel those feelings without taking the mantle of racism.
The analogy works in several ways.
Zombie shows are about zombies as much as Jaws was about sharks.
It has little to do with the actions of the zombies and more to do with how the survivors deal with their situations.
Think about Raiders of the Lost Ark. One American archaeologist taking on a Nazi military force, natural hazards, and supernatural threats. People watched because they wanted to see if he could overcome it all, and how he would go about doing so.
Same as a zombie apocalypse.
There’s a threat, they know it and deal with it as anyone would, but the interaction with OTHER threats (The Governor, the flu virus, lack of supplies, etc) provides the desire to be immersed into the human drama that the story provides.
Almost every zombie movie runs on this formula. From Night of the Living Dead to World War Z.
“It’s about the risks of relying on others for your survival, about not being able to eat if you don’t contribute”. What you have described right here sounds downright “Calvinistic”.
Oh, isn’t that attitude one of the pillars of this country’s foundation? At least thats’ what they used to teach in schools, don’t know about now. Now, folks would focus on John Calvin “who was well known for Bullying the Protestants and Presbyterians in the 16th Century.”
Pontiphar
Genesis 39
I used to agree, that is, because it was predicated on the assumption that zombies weren't real. Then that secret government report came out and...
But there, I've said too much.
You could relate that to anxieties people have about the economy or the condition of the world, but entertainment genres and technologies have a life of their own, and take us places that aren't always related to the current state of society.
So you're thrown back into primitive conditions, the war of each against all. That's a powerful situation that contains elements of horror, war film, mystery/suspense, and drama.
Maybe the interesting thing is that successful zombie movies or shows are always set in a "postapocalyptic" situation -- and zombies are always the "other", not the main character we identify with.
Sure, there are comic flicks where zombies try to cope with life in our own world, but when a zombie film or show is serious, it's about the collapse of civilization and the menace of the undifferentiated zombie horde.
By contrast, nowadays, vampire shows, it seems, are more about sex and teen relationships than anything else.
Blame the Cranberries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts
Could have sworn ‘Zombie’ is a “code word” for all things liberal........
Video games actually lower one’s ability to empathize culminating in the killing of a human with no emotion. Preparation for the coming genocide of Christians and Jews.
That first one looks like The Chupacabra from Mexico, or maybe Porky Pig; The Day After.
Porky Pig? Yes, these Zombies do like to eat!
Zombies are just about the only politically correct villain left. Eventually, some group of morons will become convinced that they are zombies and demand they be re-labeled something like “Dead but ambulatory persons” because the traditional label offends them. Then comes the right to be employed while “In drag” and immunity from termination from employment merely for dropping chunks of rotting flesh all over the place.
“Life-Challenged”?
I agree. The KEY is that it is VERY well written scripts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.