`` When They Aren 't Eating Us, They Bring Us Together : Zombies And The American Social Contract

I detect dead people everywhere. No, I spot zombies. They walk aimlessly down the street as well as swerving into my lane on the motorway. They seem like they’re under a spell. Is it a witch or some other creature trying to control these people? Suddenly, I see they have something in their hands where their eyes won’t lose focus. They don’t care if there is a car coming or who is walking past them, their gaze won’t be interrupted for even one second. Rectangular-shaped, touch screen objects, also known as smartphones are controlling these people with their unknown effecting power which causes these ‘zombies’ to lose connection from their natural surroundings by forming an “antisocial bubble” around them. This kind of behaviour is slowly

In the modern world, media outlets and pop culture constantly revive the idea of zombies taking over human society. From The Walking Dead to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” zombies are portrayed as slow-moving living-dead creatures shown in mass amounts to create the idea of consumption. While this monster as it is depicted in movies and television shows is nonexistent, there are living zombies walking the surface every day. They hide in the shadows of town and often only wear the clothes on their back. They spend every day trying to survive with the little amount of money they can scavenge. Money to them acts as the cure to help them get the necessary resources they need. Many people in this nation and across the world are categorized as living under the poverty line. The spectrum of people ranges from homeless and sleeping on the streets to large families settling in garage-sized apartments. Even when taking out of consideration the similarities in physical appearance, zombies are an accurate representation of the major issue of poverty in today’s society due to the instant eeriness that the stereotypes of both subjects represent and the idea that the poor are unable to receive the necessary health treatments.

The article “The Tragic, Forgotten History of Zombies,” written by Mike Mariani, was published on October 28, 2015. Mike Mariani is a writer in Hoboken, New Jersey with many of his stories published to The Atlantic. Mariani’s main audience is anyone in the general public or any individual that could be lacking information in history of zombies. There have been many myths of zombies. But the oldest ones first appeared in Haiti during the 17th and 18th centuries. This form of zombies is described as slaves that were brought in from Africa and worked to death. Once they were worked to death, this lead to the importation of more. Once a slave was worked to death, they were denounced to the Hispaniola plantations for life. Their bodies had no use

While the idea of zombies or where they were first originated from can be debated by many different countries, several of these myths have reoccurring plots of how humans passed away, and found a way to come back from the dead. No matter what story is being told from around the world about zombies, they all seem to originate from a dark power being used to bring someone back from the dead. Throughout the centuries; however, we have adapted towards our new technology and now many zombie stories include either a deadly virus that escaped from a lab or a biological disease that somehow evolved and helped reanimate people; yet, didn’t completely bring them to life as the functioning citizens they used to be. Although the story of how zombies came to be has changed due to technological advances, in both cases zombies seem to represent a punishment and a plague to the human species and are condemned as evil beings, or ungodly. With increasing popularity in American society, it is evident that the main explanation its popularity are because it depicts survival or an individual or group of individuals, shows a new society that isn’t overly sanitized or censored, gives people with regular lives an opportunity to live vicariously through the characters and furthermore shows that consumerism isn’t a necessity.

I was a late bloomer when it came to knowledge of zombies. Well, late in the sense that I hadn’t noticed zombies in pop culture, not late in the sense that zombies had taken over. At least I hope the movies didn’t have real zombies acting like zombies, or else the world as we know it would be in a whole lot of trouble.

In “Zombies and Social Criticism” Kim Paffenroth continues to say that “unless our individualism could give way to feelings of trust, sharing, and community, we would be doomed as our individual supplies of ammunition and food gave out and we fell to fighting amongst ourselves” (Zombies and Social Criticism, 21) We live in a society that places individuals first. Sometimes it feels like everything is a big competition. You have to compete with others for jobs. People are constantly being ranked from best to worst. This leads to people being very self-centered and wanting to help themselves first. Every person wants to be the best and they will do anything to achieve that sometimes at the expense of humanity as a group. While the underdog is very praised in our society it is not likely that one lone individual will be able to survive a zombie apocalypse. As with racism humans must brush aside their individualism and unite. Zombie films reveal that without working together humans can not

It is been awhile since zombies began to appear. Zombie apocalypse has become inescapable themes in popular culture. They are spreading rabidly from the beginning of early 20th literature to our modern popular culture. Up to World War Z that gave a new entry to the zombie apocalypse move. Though it did not outshine like the walking dead, World War Z brought a fresh thing to the world of zombies, something that is missing the scene of gore.

In Elizabeth McAlister’s excerpt, Slaves, Cannibals, and Infected Hyper-Whites: The Race and Religion of Zombies she aim to inform her readers about the understanding of zombies and the symbolic meaning they have on cultures. Once she gives information about zombies, she also informs her readers how zombies are symbolic in culture and how they play a part in religion and pop culture phenomenon. McAlister credits her findings by first linking the existence of zombies to Afro-Haitian culture, then to present day, and finally, how they are perceived in American culture. To help her readers understand zombies, she provides examples as to how zombies are seen as mythical, racial ethnicity, and capitalism symbols.

Has anyone stopped and really thought why zombies looked like humans but were so different? Why is the thought and idea of zombies being immortal so scary to some people? Are humans and zombies really at a distance as living things? Zombies originated from humans. Based on Oxford Dictionaries, a zombie "is a corpse without a soul." Which they describe soul as being a “spiritual or immaterial” aspect of being a human or animal. According to wikipedia.com, it is believed that zombies are really people who are brought back to life with "supernatural powers or witchcraft". Seeing that zombies originated from humans they have the aspects and idea of everyday life. That being to a point seeing as thought zombies do

As we drove down the deserted road we heard gun fire. I drove up a little further, and in the back of a large clearing, I noticed a group of several survivors open firing on a mass of about twenty biters, none of which had hit the ground. The crackle of gunfire continued to drift up towards us

Zombie Warfare is a term used to combat the undead and can mean the difference between life and death. The upside is that these warfare tactics can be applied to your daily life as well. For those who have seen zombie movies destroying the brain is the common way to subdue a zombie. Furthermore, the brain is the central nerve center controlling its basic motor functions. The brain fuels a zombie’s need to feed period. People are misled into believing that even if a zombie’s head is severed from its body it is deceased. A severed head still remains reanimated capable of infecting any host it comes in contact with. Nevertheless, be advised that any improvised object can be employed as a weapon including a pipe, shovel, or wrench. However, one

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In the paper, the author demonstrated that the trend of zombie fantasies is the reaction to the 911 attacks and the safety uncertainty in public. She listed some similar characteristics between the zombies and the terrorist: their attacks are occurred in unexpected places; they are unable to negotiate with; they don’t understand the western logic. In the recent years, the zombie narrative becomes popular in the film industry; however, it is not considered to have any connection with the public policy in reality until the drama like The Walking Dead appeared. The author believes that many scenes in The Walking dead are metaphors to the terrorist attacks and political issues nowadays. President Obama’s foreign policies that removed the troops

Without question, in today’s society the most favored monster in pop culture is the modern day zombie. The symbolic nature of zombies alone, is the reason that the undead are the most successful in movies today. From these monsters creating a state of war to confiscating humanity’s normal everyday life. These movies show us the result of an unknown situation; “How will human beings react to an end-of-time apocalypse scenario?” Beginning with the Haitian zombie in the 1930’s, the zombie has evolved to its modern state alongside the psychological state of society.

Zombies are becoming an increasingly popular part of movie culture and are one of the most commonly spoken and written about fictional creatures. Zombies are often portrayed as mindless, violent creatures with a need for human flesh. In each text their distinct features can differ but there are many common ways their origins are depicted. Some of these are: