Our Zombies Ourselves

The article “Dead man still walking: Explaining the zombie renaissance” by Kyle Bishop is about the revitalization of the zombie genre. The article talks about the inception in the late 1960’s, the category of zombie films has had its roller coaster ride of ups and downs, starting with its decline in the early 1980’s with the release of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video. Furthermore, during 1990’s, due to the shift in the cultural consciousness that came with the Clinton Administration and the countries isolation from global tragedies, the popularity of these films continued to decline. Cultural consciousness refers to the understanding and awareness a shift in feelings, sensations, thoughts, of not only our own culture, but adjoining cultures.

Reading through the whole essay, there are many appealing strategies found in order to strengthen the essay academically. Brooks attracts the audience with a pathos-style strategy, giving specific movie examples to straighten up the essay. The movie Night of the Living Dead resonates the viewers with an image of a flesh-eating and harmful zombie figure instead of a harmless voodoo-created zombie, which makes the notion of zombies transformed into a horrifying figure, provoking the sense of fear of audience with emotional appeal. The revolutionary creation of zombie film was led by George A. Romero, the father of the entirely new horror genre. In his work, zombies are characterized as a form of undead

Zombies aren’t supposed to exist. But what if they do, and we interact with them every day? Chuck Klosterman’s essay, “My Zombie, Myself”, compares everyday life to the task of killing zombies. Through elaborate metaphors, quotes from zombie experts, and a strong call to action, he successfully appeals to pathos, ethos and logos to convince his readers. Klosterman argues that even though modern life is monotonous, it is possible to escape the monotony.

“Zombies are like the Internet and the media and every conversation we don’t want to have. All of it comes at us endlessly (and thoughtlessly), and – if we surrender – we will be overtaken

Klosterman does not begin his essay by connecting zombies with technology in a negative light, but instead spends the first few paragraphs describing how zombies have risen to popularity in recent years. “Roughly 5.3 million people watched the first episode of The Walking Dead on AMC, a stunning 83 percent more than the 2.9 million who watched the Season 4 premiere of Mad Men”. Then, Klosterman explores a few ideas why zombies may have risen to such popularity (“Zombies are just so easy to kill”). Klosterman develops his essay in a logical way, first stating his claim that zombies have risen to popularity, and following up with thoughts about why that might be. Klosterman gets to his main point - “A lot of modern life is exactly like slaughtering zombies”, and then immediately dives into the similarities that zombies have with technology, such as how a war with zombies is a repetitive “numbers game”, similar in nature to “reading and deleting 400 work e-mails” or “filling out paperwork that only generates more paperwork”. Here, Klosterman connects zombies with technology, noting that modern life is a lot like killing both, which helps the reader understand that technology is like an undead horde of zombies that never ends. After spending the first half of his essay building the scary and dangerous perspective of zombies, in the last paragraph, Klosterman encourages his audience to keep fighting. “But you can do this, my friend… Don’t stop believing. Don’t stop deleting”. Klosterman finally reaches his last statements where he ends on a positive note, letting the reader hope for a better future. This is important because it motivates the reader to strive for that future where “we can live better”, and be in a world where neither zombie nor technology exists to drag humans

In “vampires never die” Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan use technology advancement to explain the creation of vampires, also using mixed vocabulary and expressions to explain a more serious tone. On the other hand, James Parker uses the development of the modern zombie to explain the stereotype of these creatures in his article “Our Zombies, Ourselves,” while using more playful expressions to show his tone. These three authors seem to have the same concepts while writing about these monsters, but still disagreeing on some points. While there are some key differences in these two articles, they are similar in many ways also. All three authors agree and disagree on several points, such as they both appeal to more intellectual audiences, and they both write about conformity with the want to fit in, while disagreeing on what they use to explain their monster’s general idea.

In the essay “Humankind’s Ouroboros”, J. Reagan Tankersley discusses about zombies in the horror genre and how over time they have evolved with society’s fears through evidence from big name zombie films of the time. The original publication of this essay was in a college classroom, though the audience was directed towards someone that understood or had basic knowledge of the zombie films Tankersley chose to use as evidence. So, if someone that picked up his work and had no knowledge of these films, they would already become lost. That is what makes this essay great. Instead of using the space he had to explain every little detail, he pulls towards an advanced audience; that would mean he would only have to slightly touch on the subject and

Today, the new movie "Zombieland" has just been released into theaters so the zombie is still going strongly through culture. Night of the Living Dead was a serious horror look at zombies but society has turned a once terrifying genre into some humor. Spoofs like ‘Shawn of the Dead’ and ‘Zombieland’ “has fun messing around with the rules of the post-apocalyptic zombie movie genre” (Machosky). However the reason the undead have survived so long is because they have broadened their publicity range. Not only does the world see zombies in movies, but mankind must “watch out for Nazi zombies rising from the grave in videos games like ‘Dead Snow’ and ‘Call of Duty: World at War’” (Greene). Zombies have been expanded into music as well with the Kingston Trio’s release of the song “Zombie Jamboree”. Even books have been used to spread the disease, such as “at Borders zombie literature runs the gambit from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to Zombie Haiku” (Greene). In addition, David Lubar has just recently expanded the zombie craze to elementary school children with his newest novel, My Rotten Life (Lauer-Williams). This is a children’s book about a middle school student who is also a zombie. Zombies, once a scary menace only for the brave at heart, have become a friendlier topic for everyone.

Rodney Clapp, writer, editor for Wipf and Stock Publishers and expert in topics such as theology and culture, in the article, “Attack of the Zombies”, argues that many things in life are beginning to resemble zombies. Clapp assumes that the audience also views zombies as lifeless creatures that go around spreading their disease. The author’s purpose is to persuade the audience to believe that many things they see today are starting to resemble zombies. The author writes in a challenging tone for people who question the similarity of zombies to every day life. Clapp supports his argument by comparing and contrasting, and exemplification.

The author showcased through his writing that survival is critical in the world and also pointed out that Americans like the zombie genre because they believe they can survive anything with the right tools and

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

Is it possible to kill an idea when it is undead? Classic movie monsters tend to fade in and out of popularity as audiences grow bored and move on to fresher concepts. But there is one that has risen up and does not seem to slow down: zombies. Zombies have gone from being a small subgenre of horror film to a staple of popular culture across various media. This paper will explore the rise of zombies in popular culture and why it continues to remain relevant.

The topic of the undead coming back to life to feast on the living has been around since the first zombie movie White Zombies in 1932; however, just in the past few decades has the threat of a zombie apocalypse enter the realm of international politics. The threat of a zombie apocalypse is a very serious concern of the international communities. Many political scientists are not sure how the world leaders would be able to work together if this issue were ever to arise in the world today. In the book “Theories of International Politics and Zombies”, Drezner uses the threat of a zombie apocalypse to show how the different theories of international politics would eliminate the threat; however, are the living dead a real international concern or are they just a brilliant metaphor for something much greater that could happen to the world.

The popularity and appeal of the undead has greatly increased in the past few years with the rise of the popular television show, The Walking Dead. The show began in October 2010, and is still on the air today. Before the show was created, there were The Walking Dead comic books that were first published in 2003, and continue to be published today with over 148 issues. The fascination did not begin with The Walking Dead, though. Many movies were produced, and many books published before The Walking Dead was even thought of. An extremely influential individual to note is George Romero. Romero is an American-Canadian screenwriter, film producer, film director, and editor. He is best known for his series of apocalyptic films, beginning with Night of the Living Dead in 1968. Romero has been nicknamed the “Godfather of the Undead.” Some other works of fiction and film to note include 28 Days Later, I am Legend, Pride and Prejudice Zombies and The Zombie Survival Guide, also by Max Brooks. Our cultural fascination with “the return of the dead” can be traced back to the events and the general morale leading up to World War Two, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

With the many spectacular authors out there, with such moving and inspiring work, it gave me the brilliant idea to use the opportunity to write my own. The project I chose was to write a young adult novel with a theme of zombies. The project is ongoing, however, only because to create an enjoyable piece of work takes time. I chose this project solely because I wanted to create my own terms of such a drastic situation. I wanted to create that alternate universe that inspires others.