Would someone PLEASE explain the "zombie craze"?

C

Captain O

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This craze began with the American International "horror picture" genre during the mid-1950's. It was fine, (for a time) then it died a natural death. (Undead, natural death... oxymoron).

The craze has returned, (evidently something defibrillated it somehow).The marketing people from nearly every conceivable product corner has risen to the call and is "beating it beyond belief". Is there something I missed, or has this "zombie marketing" foolishness gone "over the top"? Every time I see a reference to a "zombie apocalypse" I roll my eyes and want to retch. Why has this caught on and become popular (60 years after the last fad) and why is it hanging on so long? The average life of a "fad" in our pop culture is approximately 18 months.

Seriously, why hasn't his repugnant piece of macabre faddism died?:confused::rolleyes::eek:
 
It's popular because if there's zombies you don't have to do your taxes.

So basically wish fulfillment.
 
Because Zombies are the new Vampire.

People have and always will like to hear scary stories. Different monsters go in and out of style.

Now, what will make you roll your eyes and want to retch next?
 
r8shell said:
Because Zombies are the new Vampire.

People have and always will like to hear scary stories. Different monsters go in and out of style.

Now, what will make you roll your eyes and want to retch next?
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Condecending attitudes are on that list.
 
A movie maker I know explained it this way. During economic up times, vampires are the craze. They symbolize eternal life and health. During bad economic time, zombies are the rage. Symbolizing death and misery.

I didn't plot it out to verify. Not really worth my time.

Fwiw, even to them, twilight is bull crap.
 
"Listen to them. Such music they make."


By what right
do the creatures of the night
take up their residence inside my head?

They have no business screaming
when I'm sleeping, maybe dreaming,
and they're all just wisps and very likely dead.

I wish they'd go away,
but it seems they choose to stay.
I think they're hiding underneath my bed.
 
SVTFreak said:
A movie maker I know explained it this way. During economic up times, vampires are the craze. They symbolize eternal life and health. During bad economic time, zombies are the rage. Symbolizing death and misery.

I didn't plot it out to verify. Not really worth my time.

Fwiw, even to them, twilight is bull crap.
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The "Twilight" sagas were written to make little girls romantically/sexually stimulated.
 
So many of the knife companies have bought into this craze, that it is ridiculous.
 
My take on it is, who cares?

So some teen buys a Ka-Bar Zombie Killer Pestilence Chopper...but there are no zombies.
But, he wants to use the knife.
So he goes camping in the woods...and has a great time, and the knife works fine, because it's actually made quite well with quality steel. :thumbup:

End result, you get another person interested in knives and enjoying the outdoors. :)
 
stabman said:
My take on it is, who cares?

So some teen buys a Ka-Bar Zombie Killer Pestilence Chopper...but there are no zombies.
But, he wants to use the knife.
So he goes camping in the woods...and has a great time, and the knife works fine, because it's actually made quite well with quality steel. :thumbup:

End result, you get another person interested in knives and enjoying the outdoors. :)
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I'm okay with that. (An odd approach, but if it arranges for a young man to have an appropriate outdoor experience, so be it).
 
Zombies? Never encountered one, but I'm sure my non-green rifle will handle that problem so I can get back to things that actually matter.
 
Zombies eat brains..perhaps Zombies do exist...The rest can be deduced from here ;)
 
Captain O said:
I'm okay with that. (An odd approach, but if it arranges for a young man to have an appropriate outdoor experience, so be it).
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That's the way I see it. :)

Of course, you also have the companies that push cheaply made garbage onto the public, and use zombie popularity to fool people into buying it...I've seen that on late-night knife infomercials and some internet knife vendors.
But they'll do that with any trend; bushcraft is another marketing trend that has let some people sell low quality goods.

But then it also has gotten a lot of youngsters into knives in a positive way.

"Survival knives" was the one that got me as a kid...once I had a "survival knife", I couldn't wait for the first chance to use it out there to survive. :D
"Survival" generally ended up being roasted marshmallows and light whittling, but it satisfied some inherent need.

Maybe that the big thing with zombies: Adventure.

That's the common theme; whether its survival, bushcraft, zombies or whatever, it's about going out and being adventurous.
They all pit the individual against the world, for testing...or force the individual to "blend in" with nature, in order to get enough food to survive, find the most suitable plants for use, or avoid detection by the zombies.

Working at Burger King or as a chartered accountant doesn't scratch that itch as well as hiking out and sitting at a waterfall, or having a beautiful fire, or just sitting quietly under the stars.
 
I'm okay with the Zombie craze. On SHTF kinds of situations, it is easier to talk about dealing with Zombies than it is real live people. I don't believe there is any penalty for shooting zombies. I keep looking for them. Glad I haven't met one. The original movie back in the 50's (Night of the Living Dead) really freaked me out.

If it gets young folks into buying and using knives, I'm okay with that.
 
I can't explain the current zombie craze. It kinda started with 28 Days Later (yeah, I know, they're not real zombies), further kindled by the remake of Dawn of the Dead and Shawn of the Dead. Zombies have always been a staple of video games, and they capitalized on the resurgence of the genre.

As for why people are fascinated with zombies, I have a theory (I also have a theory about the brontosaurus). Zombies are, or at least were, humans. Your jerk neighbors and their obnoxious brats, the kid that bullied you in middleschool, the teacher that graded you too harshly, the racist old bat that thinks it's 1955, etc. And just people in general that you never knew or gave two craps about. Zombies give you the chance to kill people, either vicariously through TV/movie characters, or virtually through video games. There's no guilt in killing a zombie. No moral, ethical, or legal repercussions. Test 9mm vs .45ACP for real. Ram them with a Ford Excursion doing 50mph. Find out how many whacks it takes to get to the center of a corpsie-pop. All without getting arrested or struggling with the dilemma of taking a life. In fact, you're doing everybody a favor by killing zombies. Everybody has dark thoughts sometimes - zombies just make it OK to act on them.
 
Planterz said:
As for why people are fascinated with zombies, I have a theory (I also have a theory about the brontosaurus). Zombies are, or at least were, humans. Your jerk neighbors and their obnoxious brats, the kid that bullied you in middleschool, the teacher that graded you too harshly, the racist old bat that thinks it's 1955, etc. And just people in general that you never knew or gave two craps about. Zombies give you the chance to kill people, either vicariously through TV/movie characters, or virtually through video games. There's no guilt in killing a zombie. No moral, ethical, or legal repercussions.
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True, but there's also that fear in the back of your mind that you could become one.
A zombie, that is.
Not a brontosaurus.

Does your theory have something to do with them being small at one end, big in the middle?
 
r8shell said:
True, but there's also that fear in the back of your mind that you could become one.
A zombie, that is.
Not a brontosaurus.

Does your theory have something to do with them being small at one end, big in the middle?
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Don'! drag my sister-in-law into this!:D
 
The original Night of the Living Dead (1968) and its follow-up, Dawn of the Dead (1978) were great horror movies, IMO, and they had a subtle commentary about societal attitudes in general. Dawn of the Dead, in particular, incorporated humor regarding consumerism. The zombies were a metaphor. There were many copycat films, especially out of Italy, but I don't think the actual "zombie apocalypse" craze started until, as already mentioned, 28 Days Later, or even more so, the crappy remake of Dawn of the Dead.

It's really no different than the "sexy vampires for little girls" craze. Well, probably a bit less annoying than that. Nowadays, people make a trend out of everything that has even a little popularity, and when they do, they do it to death.

Also, this post-2K trend of zombies that scream and run like Olympic sprinters makes them even less scary and less credible, even in a fictitious sense. They're supposed to be DEAD. Slow, mindless shuffling is not only more plausible, it also has a greater impact, if done right. But the whole overdone craze thing has robbed even the old movies of whatever impact they once carried.

Jim
 
The zombie films of the 70's were a critique of consumerism and how humanity in it's insatiable hunger for more more more would end up consuming itself.

The current crop seems to be more about playing to the fear-thy-neighbour paranoia brought on by the breakdown of community and workforce specialization. Essentially fulfilling fantasies about shooting the Jones and stealing their new toaster oven because you didn't really like them that much anyway and come the zombie apocalypse you'll need a toaster oven to make the poptarts you stole from Walmart. :D

Dunno. I'm making this stuff up as I go along.
 
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sideways said:
Dunno. I'm making this stuff up as I go along.
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Me, too :D

It also speaks to an anxiety about pathogenic disease. Those neighbors who have become shambling corpses can spread their condition to you and your family. We fight the zombies so as not to become them. It really can lend itself to all kinds of allegories. Or just gories.
 
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