Anti-Zombie Rant

[deborahjross]

Does anyone else find zombies utterly uninteresting, tedious and faintly nauseating? I don't want to read about them and I certainly don't want to watch them. I can hardly wait until they are completely passé.

One writer who did something interesting with the shambling-rotting-flesh routine was Andre Norton (I think in Perilous Dreams) where the virus itself had a sort of intelligence that drove the decomposing victim to see out a new host. She did not, of course, use the word zombie, and she described the disease more from the psychological horror of a half-dead person wanting to infect you with what was killing it than with any description of gore or gunfire. It seriously creeped me out, whereas modern zombies leave me thinking that filling out my tax returns might be an interesting and pleasant way to pass the time.

Comments

[manawolf.livejournal.com]

I'm a fan of the genre, but primarily when Romero directs. He's made some pretty incisive observations of human nature using the zombie scenario (which, in its modern form, he's responsible for creating). Of particular note are the original Night of the Living Dead (a classic masterpiece, it's not often a film that old features a black protagonist) and Land of the Dead, wherein the zombies begin to develop rudimentary consciousness - bringing about the question, how do we define what is human? I Am Legend was a nice take as well, hinting that zombies were the next phase of human evolution. (Apparently this is clearer in the director's cut than the theatrical release.)

There have been many mindless takes on the genre, where it is just an excuse for latex and red corn syrup, but when done right it can be a wonderful vehicle for exploring the definition of humanity and human behavior in the face of crisis. However, you must at least be able to tolerate the level of gore, and I certainly don't blame anyone who can't.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

Yes, the--excuse, please--dawning of zombie consciousness raises some interesting ethical and humanitarian questions. How do you treat something as a human being when it's trying to eat you?

[otana.livejournal.com]

And is it really trying to eat you, or did you shoot first because you expected it to try and eat you, and now it's just defending itself?

For example in the same movie, the zombie protagonist comes across a shooting range where all the targets are live zombies strung up by their ankles and he becomes enraged. He understands the injustice and cruelty and it sickens him. He finds particle board put up as fencing, and indicates for the butcher zombie to cut it down with his meat cleaver; the butcher acts surprised but he genuinely understands the gesture. It's really pretty amazing watching it dawn on them (we can make this joke aaaaaaaall night) and seeing them adapting to the surroundings, and reacting to this world all over again.

Ultimately, the movie is gore porn and there's a huge fight, though interestingly it's the rich, white, upperclass folk that sequestered themselves in a high security apartment building and left everyone else to fend for themselves on the street that get massacred. Then, the zombies pack up and move on. There's a moment of connection between the human and zombie protagonists over a distance, they make eye contact and agree to let one another live and let live, and the zombies move on to find themselves a home.

It's definitely still a gory movie with the typical zombie violence, but I really find the story and questions behind it incredibly fascinating.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

The shooting range scene sounds like it could pack quite an emotional punch. Alas, I don't do large amounts gore well. Buffy and Babylon 5 are about my speed.

[otana.livejournal.com]

I'm very much the same. I love the movie, but I have to cover my eyes a lot!