No, this is not another one of those "what would u do if there wuz a zombie apocalypse????" thread.
Zombies are appearing more and more in video games, and I've seen them in increasing amounts in other media as well in the past 5 or so years; mostly having some relation to a "zombie apocalypse" or something along those lines. I've even seen a decent amount of threads pertaining to the subject here in the AG forums, the most famous being the old ZSC, which had several thousand posts before it was discontinued.
But why all the zombies? Who came up with the idea that they will suddenly create some sort of apocalypse? What is the appeal?
Zombie films have been around since the 1930s, they just steadily get more and more popular. Perhaps it's the current phase and popular horror monster now (vampires pop into mind too, but Dracula would spin in one of his many graves). Perhaps it's also because people fear something that you once knew as a cheerful and familiar human being turn monster (Wait....aren't most monsters like this?) and fear is something we paradoxically chase after. Perhaps it's because people like the gore and action, the desperation and loneliness of survivors coping in a post-apocalyptical world and relate it to our own weary post modern society. Okay, I was fibbing about the last point. Then again.....
Maybe it's the appeal of seeing undead scurring after your brains?
But they're always so easy to avoid. They generally aren't very fast or intelligent, meaning that you could run away from them and it would take them a very long time to find them. Instead, people always revert to killing them; which I don't quite get, because they're already dead, and unless you have a clean shot at their head, you can't really stop them.
See what has happened? I have no interest in zombies whatsoever and yet I know enough about them to point out the loopholes in their initial behavior and how to avoid them. I hate the media.
But can you think of any other remotely plausible monster?
How about a ruthless human killer? Someone who actually presents a challenge to someone's everyday life, rather than something that just wanders around aimlessly, yet for some irrational reason cannot be avoided.
I don't think there is any reason, other then people find them interesting. Having to survive against an enemy who never stops, who only is after feeding/spreading the infection? And lets be serious here, killing zombie in video games is hella fun.
The modern day concept of a zombie is almost entirely thanks to George A. Romero's 1968 movie Night of the Living Dead. The movie Return of the Living Dead introduced the concept of the brain eating zombie.
The most recent twist to the zombie is the fast moving zombie made popular by the 2004 remake of Dawn Of The Dead. Though besides that something that is often forgotten about out running a slow zombie is that while you might be able to out pace one they can hold out longer then you. So all a slow zombie needs to do is just keep going until the human runs out of energy to run.
Well, just like to clarify, some of the ''zombie'' films such as I Am Legend aren't true zombie flicks since the monsters are basically rabid humans. They aren't dead yet.
Nice but much of that seems to overlook the zombies difficulty to be killed in the first place, allowing it to survive through many of those problems. It also over looks some of the other highly agreed upon abilities of the zombie, such as a slowed decay rate. But at any rate still an interesting read.
Well, just like to clarify, some of the ''zombie'' films such as I Am Legend aren't true zombie flicks since the monsters are basically rabid humans. They aren't dead yet.
the interesting thing about I Am Legend is that it's based on a book where the world population developed a psychosis that has them believing they are vampires not zombies.
the interesting thing about I Am Legend is that it's based on a book where the world population developed a psychosis that has them believing they are vampires not zombies.
Yep I know that. Also, the infected in the book are actually how to put it....more humane and capable of near human phases. The movie just took it out of context.
zombies difficulty to be killed in the first place
Yes but it does make things like extreme weather, falling off cliffs and animals trying to eat them not as big of a deal.
Well, an animal mauling apart a slow moving organism will almost certainly put it to rest. Falling from a high cliff and shattering like a normal human (given that they have human structures) will almost certainly do the job as well.
