Zombies: A Summary and Reflection
After having read the literary critique, I feel affirmation in the fact that the zombie craze in the media continues to do nothing for me. I see so much evidence that zombies have caught on, and American viewers are paying attention. It is interesting how influxes of zombie movies have correlated with war time, and I think patterns like this make for zombies being a valid subject to research, report, and critique. But I still question, am I the only one who doesn’t care?
Jerrold Hogle presents readers with a full report on zombies and their history, but also breathes life into the reasons why zombies have captured the attention of Americans in the last seventy years. They’re the newest monster; they transitioned to film straight from folklore, skipping major literature. I think that one of the reasons that Americans devour zombie movies the way they do is because they wish to find more answers to their questions. There doesn’t seem to be a “bible” for zombie facts, or at least if there is, it’s a modern publication. All these films create a hodgepodge of ideas for how zombies look, how they act, and what a zombie apocalypse would look like.
Another reason why zombies have become such an interesting monster to Americans is because of the post 9/11 paranoia. As Hogle points out, movies as of late have frequently shown scenes of empty, deserted cities: the modern world amounting to nothing. September 11th instilled a fear in Americans- a fear of destructive powers out of their control. I think zombies probably are the ultimate representation of humans turning on humans and wreaking destruction.
Though it makes sense that Americans are interested, I just don’t feel that same level of intrigue. It makes me want to find out how many others out there look at this fad (or has it become a trend?) to be boring, annoying, silly. Are we outnumbered, or are there just as many people feeling disinterested as there are people feeling intrigued? I wonder how to find that out.
-I do sort of enjoy the zombie movies from the 70's just because I enjoy viewing popculture and movie technology from the time. Here's a link to the 1978 Dawn of The Dead trailer.
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