The Hole in the Paper: Zombies R Us

I’ve made a point of separating myself from the fascination with everything zombie that has exploded on the scene the past few years. I just never got it. The Dawn of the Dead series of movies, and the original Night of the Living Dead were train wrecks you almost couldn’t stop watching. I actually went see World War Z at the theater with a group of friends I hadn’t seen in a while because I wanted to see them, not because I gave a shit about the movie. I left there thinking that was the first zombie move ever with a little intelligence to it, though I have to admit Shaun of the Dead was a great parody and really funny. I remember seeing a brief article on the web about a town that had made preparations for a zombie apocalypse. Seriously, what the fuck is in the water there.

I’ve been a science fiction fan for many years and thoroughly enjoyed post-apocalypse novels like Dhalgren, Earth Abides and The Stand. Those were great stories for me because they were really about the relationships between individuals thrown together in the aftermath of epic catastrophe and their reactions to the stress of carrying on in the face of impossible odds. Seeing how everyone found their own way to cope and manage to find enough inner strength to keep going really made for great reading. The line between good guy and bad guy definitely blurs, stretching the limits of things which we’d never believe ourselves capable in the quest to survive.

I’ve seen all manner of zombie apocalypse related things popping up and I always had a feeling there was an allegory in there somewhere. The typical zombie scenario of zombie bites or scratches someone, they die then turn into a zombie and the only way to stop them is take out the head one way or another. The hook is we all have that wondrous potential to be zombies. Makes me wonder where does it come from? Zombies are rampant consumers of brains and flesh, mindless dedication to just consuming brains and or flesh. No thought involved just gimme what I want, somewhat like our consumer driven society. We are lead around by our internal noses for everything from the latest phone, electronic device, or game on the market. Then we are given the option to live vicariously through lives of the Kardashians, The Housewives of (insert city here), or the collection of sad people that want to air their dirty laundry on the Jerry Springer show. Seriously are we so unhappy that we have to watch someone’s life that is more ridiculous then owning a pet rock to make us feel better about ourselves? Granted everyone is just finding their own way, whether on TV or in the living room watching it, though where do we draw the line on some of this stuff. If there wasn’t a market for it, it wouldn’t sell would it? That is a rather disquieting thought to me, then again what do I know I ‘m just a dude with a blog.

This post started off about something else before that rant jumped in the way. So I’ll have to say I’ve surprised myself and actually gotten hooked on watching the Walking Dead. It has a lot of the elements of some of the great cacotopian[1] society stuff like that I mentioned above. The lines are blurred constantly for what good people will do in a bad situation. Despite the fact that the storyline hits some flat spots and seems to move at a snail’s pace it is rather thought provoking story telling.

So that’s my two cents, well probably closer to 1.2 cents with the current inflation, though I do want to add something that made me laugh the first time I heard it many years ago. Enjoy.