Zombies In American Culture

When it comes to survival Leah A. Murray in her article, “When They Aren’t Eating Us, They Bring Us Together: Zombies and the American Social Contract” suggests that individuals that have a community built on a common goal gives these people the best odds of surviving a Posthuman event. The episode “Killer Within” of The Walking Dead shows Rick, Carol, Maggie, Glenn, and Daryl acting individualistic towards members not in their pre-established community in an effort to protect themselves from potential dangers. However, T-Dog demonstrates a communitarian approach by wanting to allow new people to join their community. According to Murray Individualism is when individuals are self-reliant and put their needs in front of anyone else, and communitarianism is when individuals put the needs of society above their own. These citizens work together and have a sense of community and self-sacrifice. In The Walking Dead season three episode, “Killer Within,” Rick and his group demonstrate Murray 's concept of individualism as they oppose the idea of adding new people to their group because they fear them. However, T-Dog represents a communitarian approach as he strives to convince Rick and the others that the new people should be initiated into Rick’s group.

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.

Vampires and Zombies are common in today’s modern world through the use of the media. In this essay, I will be talking about how each of these beings say something about society, how vampires have been portrayed across time and how zombies have been portrayed. By doing this, I will use two references from TV shows.

The name of the article is Our Zombies, Ourselves written by James Parker. In this article Parker discusses the historical backdrop of zombies and talks about where it is that they started from. Parker additionally raises exceptionally fascinating point on the notoriety of zombies and a short timeline on zombies. He also talks of different sorts of popular cultures which incorporate zombies and are utilized, for example, the movies Night of the Living Dead, White Zombie, the books The Zen of Zombies, Zombie Haiku, and the television series The Walking Dead.. By utilizing these references Parker helps demonstrate to us how zombies appear to ceaselessly draw our interest. The article additionally educates the reader about how zombies came

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.

There has been a resurgence of zombie films in the last decade, ranging from Danny Boyles 28 Days Later to Paul W.S. Andersons Resident Evil. This renaissance of zombie cinema has resurfaced in response to the cultural, political, and social volatility experienced in today’s society, much like its predecessors. A zombie film, unlike other monster movies, plays more with the real-world fears and anxieties, presenting the audience with inescapable realities. However, to understand why this subgenre has been brought back into the mainstream cinema, a comparison is needed across generations of film. This paper will focus on the comparison between George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and Danny Boyles 28 Days Later; in an attempt to show how zombie cinema is a reaction to cultural shocks.

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.

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.

Predecessors of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, the film that greatly popularized the zombie sub-genre of horror, display a clear divergence from the monster we recognize today from literature and media. In the 1930s, prior to evolving into the modern flesh and brain eating monsters, zombies were mindless slaves controlled and made to do the bidding of their evil masters. The process of zombification was an avoidable danger for its victims and was a state that was induced and reversible as, without their master, the zombie became aimless and was restored back to normalcy. The zombie films of the 1930s to the 1950s, specifically The Mummy (1932) and White Zombie (1932), originated the zombie genre, laid the foundation for Romero to

The meaning of the word zombie has shifted in public perception rather drastically a number of times over the last fifty years largely as a result of their rise in popularity in the zeitgeist. What we think of as zombies today are largely myth of course, but there is a grain of truth. It dates back to the 8th century, (possibly earlier according to some speculation in fact) the word 'zombie ' is said to have come from nzambi, which in Kongo means 'spirit of a dead person ', or zonbi, used in the Louisiana or Haitian Creole that represents a person who died and was then brought to life without speech or free will. For the purposes of this paper I’ll be tracing the Haitian route. (Zombies: A Living History)

Zombies popularity has been on the rise in pop culture due to the airing of shows that captivate their audiences with their life-like special effects, and these shows inspire fans to recreate these effects for costume purposes. In order to closely recreate these costumes, its best to have an understanding of the makeup processes.

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.