So what is the fascination with Zombies?

Jeephat said:
As for "The Road" it was a good book, and very interesting. Although I have to say it was slow... very slow at times. "the ash blows across the road... the ash was blowing across the road... He stared into the distance as the ash drifted across the road...." on and on with the ash on the road. I understand he was setting the tone for the characters, but it did get a bit old. Over all I thought it was a slow, great book.
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I think that was the brilliance of his book. I mean, if you and I were on that road, we'd be damned tired of seeing it and breathing it in, etc. :D

In the movie, they couldn't portray it as the book did because you have to see movie star's faces, after all.

The Road was a bit slow, like the ashes that seemed to drift in a neverending cloud of ash. I felt as if the ash was from Ashville and that it was full of ash of different types. I rose the next morning adjacent to the road like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of ashes that ash, I was ashen. :D
 
not2sharp said:

Each of these movies had a mild to obvious message of mainstream white supremacy. The Western European heros could always be counted on to defeat overwhelming odds through courage, cunning, discipline, and technology. The "natives" were nearly always portrayed as brutal mindless savages - much as the zombies are today. But, we can't make these kinds of movies anymore. At best we end up with something like Dances with Wolves. The only primitive mass of savages that the industry has left are Nazis, Orks, and Zombies; and Western European cultural pride has been deluted to humans vrs. non-humans. Somewhere in this is a commentary on our present cultural identity crisis. These were all fun movies in their day; today we watch the reruns and feel sorry for the indian that John Wayne just blasted off the stage coach....

n2s[/QUOTE]

I think you're looking [B]way[/B] too deeply at it (although it would make a decent thesis for a psychology paper:)).
The appeal of zombies in movies is [B]because[/B] they lack depth. You can have a fun action movie without the slightest need for brain activity; that can be nice at times.:thumbup:
I don't think it's a case of redirected racist tendencies of movie makers.
As to why the knife and gun community gloms on to it (if glom is a word:D)...well, think of it this way.
It comes up in conversation about guns and knives somehow that you own a bunch. "Why do you own so many guns and Knives?"
You can say "it's my Constitutional right (if you live in the states)", or "it's part of preventing government tyranny", or "it's my duty as a man to be ready to defend others"...and watch the eyes roll, or the people back away a bit. And no more invites to dinner.
OR you can say "it's for the inevitable zombie apocalypse!", and everyone has a good laugh and the drinks trolly rolls up (or some variation thereof).
Also, as has been mentioned on another site, if you're ready for zombies, you're ready for anything. Seriously.
You'd have to have:
-generator of some sort
-many candles/flashlight(s)/batteries
-food and water for months
-firearms and sufficient ammo
-edged weapons
-medications
-shatter resistant windows/bars on windows/metal shutters
-Sturdy door
-reliable transport
-first aid supplies and knowledge
-plan of where to evacuate if home becomes unsafe, including alternate routes
-books aplenty to keep from getting bored
-be in decent physical shape and have a means to keep in shape indoors
-tools of various sorts

You get the idea.:)

It's really mostly about fun movies and a way of thinking about preparedness that isn't creepy or paranoid.
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a zombie escape strategy is a good thing to have, and all the zombie movies, video games, etc is just reminding us to be prepared, make sure that bug out bag is ready, and all the other things.

besides, they're just FUN and zany and a little escapism from the rather depressing state of affairs in some parts of the world and/or our lives makes for a good thing.

plus, aliens have been over done, we like monsters, and well, zombies are COOOOL


Bladite
 
Well from the psychological view they are somewhat believable from all the other monsters we know.
Vampires came to be because of a few forensically explainable things, Dracula because of Vlad's reputation that was far from the truth since the western ruler's didn't like their ppl to see him as a hero fighting the Turks.
Werewolves pretty much originated because of folk tales and a trained hyena that killed quite a few ppl in the 18th century in France.

Basically all of those things have the background in folklore and lack of education. How zombies come to be is sth that has a lot of explanations and that's why they have a special place. Maybe easy to kill but the numbers and sheer factor that just maybe they can exist is sth that fascinates us
 
I think you could consider zombies sorta the natural progression of what a lot of people are worrying about when they decide they want to carry a weapon. You know that good judgment and situation awareness are going to keep you out of the majority of trouble...but there's that little worry about the possibility of random mayhem by someone who is drunk/high/psychopathic etc.

It's a similar idea when you think about it, because the question is the same.
"If I'm violently attacked by someone who is completely beyond all reason, what am I going to do about it?" That's probably why zombies appeal as a topic to people on forums like this, it's a question they already think about, but just scaled up for entertainment value.

Basically, zombies work as a 'monster' because they play on a very real fear, that of violence by our fellow humans.

Also as styx touched on, they at least seem moderately plausible. We've seen people with uncontrollable aggression, and impaired thinking ability. Zombies basically just ask us imagine that there's a way that could be contagious.

From at least the layman's point of view, doesn't seem all that far fetched...at least as horror movie fare goes...there is no outright superstition, religiosity or elements of the supernatural that you get with say vampires.

All you have to imagine is that there's something out there rather like Rabies, but much nastier.
 
My quick word on zombies.

At first the whole zombie thing was just funny to me. but after seeing multiple zombie threads some of the zombie guys have some pretty good ideas for SHTF. Zombiemaniacs have a unique way of looking at the world and what is possible to be used when the brain munchers show up.

That being said in a real end of the world type scenario is it not the flesh eating brain munchers that I will be worrying about. I will be worried about the sheeple stampede that did not prepare and want to take my stuff, injure me or my family, or just get in my way.
 
stabman said:
I think you're looking way too deeply at it (although it would make a decent thesis for a psychology paper:)).
The appeal of zombies in movies is because they lack depth. You can have a fun action movie without the slightest need for brain activity; that can be nice at times.:thumbup:
I don't think it's a case of redirected racist tendencies of movie makers.
As to why the knife and gun community gloms on to it (if glom is a word:D)...well, think of it this way.
It comes up in conversation about guns and knives somehow that you own a bunch. "Why do you own so many guns and Knives?"
You can say "it's my Constitutional right (if you live in the states)", or "it's part of preventing government tyranny", or "it's my duty as a man to be ready to defend others"...and watch the eyes roll, or the people back away a bit. And no more invites to dinner.
OR you can say "it's for the inevitable zombie apocalypse!", and everyone has a good laugh and the drinks trolly rolls up (or some variation thereof).
Also, as has been mentioned on another site, if you're ready for zombies, you're ready for anything. Seriously.
You'd have to have:
-generator of some sort
-many candles/flashlight(s)/batteries
-food and water for months
-firearms and sufficient ammo
-edged weapons
-medications
-shatter resistant windows/bars on windows/metal shutters
-Sturdy door
-reliable transport
-first aid supplies and knowledge
-plan of where to evacuate if home becomes unsafe, including alternate routes
-books aplenty to keep from getting bored
-be in decent physical shape and have a means to keep in shape indoors
-tools of various sorts

You get the idea.:)

It's really mostly about fun movies and a way of thinking about preparedness that isn't creepy or paranoid.
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That's the most right on the money view that I've ever heard! I couldn't of said it any better myself.
 
You think people here take it too far? These guys make us look like normal, well adjusted people! :D They wrote a paper called When Zombies Attack!: Mathematical Modelling of an Outbreak Of Zombie Infection. It's a good, fascinating, full on read. Read it here.
 
I think its just fun to think about being the last honcho on earth sometimes...:jerkit:
 
The last cheerleader...

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(just click thru to youtube if it gives you trouble)

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I was happy to find this thread. I just started looking at this forum this morning. Zombie anything is one of my many collections. Another thing about zombies is that anyone can become one. Also we think one on one, we(the live human) would easily win. How many zombie movies are there that have just one zombie killing people? Zombies' powers come in numbers. How creative could you become in disposing of hundreds of them?
 
Zombie games everyone must play:

- CALL OF DUTY-WORLD AT WAR......at the end of the main game there is a kickarse NAZI-ZOMBIES game, as well as a patch that can be downloaded for 3 more insane zombie games.

- Left for dead

- left for dead 2

- left for dead 4

- KILLING FLOOR

- Resident Evil ,1,2,3,4,5

- Plants VS Zombies


and many more! :D
 
Read World War Z, you will understand. Stock up on weapons, ammo, food and water, knives and medical supplies. Were going to need it all.....
 
We just watched "Zombieland" for a Halloween laugh. Man, is it stupid/funny. Typical Hollyweird, the powers on even though no one is alive to maintain it. Cars don't run out of gas.

And Bill Murray's never been good at practical jokes ......... come on ~;-P
 
Zombies represent events that will happen to us all if we live long enough: aging, decay, death. No "bug out bag" will protect you from that event! The parts wear out, the flesh starts to come off you, and live long enough and you WILL get senile dementia etc. So "Zombies" are real-you WILL become a zombie eventually and zombie movies represent the fantasy that if you are clever and lucky enough you can escape all that!
That being said, I hate it when anyone points out, especially during a movie, that" "X" couldn't really happen!" WE KNOW THAT! We go to movies to escape not be told that: "fire can't happen in space because there's no oxygen!" etc.
 
Zombies are just fun. It makes for a million different "what if" scenarios all centered around being prepared. Do you have a Zombie bag or is it you Bug out bag? I think the interesting thing to look at is the trend towards people becoming better prepared in general. I work for an online University and my staff knows that I shoot and generally enjoy outdoors activities. A majority of them have come up to ask me at one point or another for suggestions on what they should do to get themselves prepared...In which I make a joke about getting their Zombie kit ready and give them some basic advice on what to have...They laugh but it makes preparing for an emergency a little less dire. Maybe societies fascination with Zombies reflects its views on where we think we are heading as a civilization...
 
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