On a more serious note, is anyone aware of an analysis of the current obsession with zombies? There's a wonderful essay by Robert Bloch called "Heritage of Horror" that looks at horror over the majority of the 20th century, with explanations for why movie monsters have changed over time, from Frankenstein's monster as the threat of misunderstood science in the 30s, hence made ridiculous in the 40s because real evil had been revealed by Hitler. As time went on, we faced extraterrestrials and mad scientists who wanted to either destroy the world or take it over. When they became jejeune, movies turned to religious horror with The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby etc. I highly recommend you read it, and if anyone knows of an updated analysis that might explain the fixation on zombies, I'd love to know.
Here's a googlified link to the google books copy of Bloch's essay: http://goo.gl/xdXv7
“if anyone knows of an updated analysis that might explain the fixation on zombies, I’d love to know.”
I have wondered if it has something to do with people noticing that the bonds that hold society together are disintegrating rapidly. We just saw riots in Britain, where crowds of angry young people were breaking, stealing and torching anything they could. The crowds gathering in US cities are saying they may do the same.
What would you do if you were attacked by a large group of people? Our minds don’t want to go there. It could happen.
Zombies? It is easier to imagine something that cannot happen, and think out our reactions to it, rather than think about what could actually happen.
Zombies, in the parlance of survivalists, is a codeword for the unprepared masses who, upon the collapse of civilization or the global economy, are, effectively, the living dead, and these will roam about, pillaging and looting before they succumb to deprivation or at the hands of the prepared, as they (the zombies) attempt to overrun and steal the survivalist's supplies.
The recent riots and looting in England could be said to have been a rather localized or limited outbreak of "zombies".
Check out Spengler's recent (Sept. 7) article over at atimes.com!
"How the hijackers changed American culture"