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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Luis Dias on May 25, 2011, 09:13:03 am

Title: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Luis Dias on May 25, 2011, 09:13:03 am
Zombies have been in fashion for over 40 years now, since the debut of "The night of living hell", and I wonder why? What is it that is so fascinating about these apocalyptic creatures.

Since I was a child that I also wondered why so much of literature of the 20th century revolved around detective stories (why not medical stories or architecture stories?), until I figured out that it scratched an human itch over how we find things to be true, about epistemology, about methodologies, rationality and intuition. Since then I think that detective stories are about the empirical method of reaching a truth (and a quite optimistic take on it too).

But I never got the zombie stuff. Has it got to do with the current fascination with "Consciousness"? Has it got to do with the "Semantical Apocalypse"? Or just Apocalypse in general? (there is no other creature that cries "civilization is over" as well as a zombie).

There's probably a hint in the fact that they generally seem to love eating brains...

What do you think?
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Snail on May 25, 2011, 09:14:24 am
Pitting smart thinking humans against mindless humans maybe. And blood and guts and stuff.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Ghostavo on May 25, 2011, 09:22:42 am
Love/hate relationship humans have with the uncanny valley. Zombies lie at the very bottom.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: General Battuta on May 25, 2011, 09:33:15 am
People want to be able to slaughter those around them with a clear conscience and the justification of necessity?
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Snail on May 25, 2011, 09:37:16 am
People want to be able to slaughter those around them with a clear conscience and the justification of necessity?
Totally
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Mustang19 on May 25, 2011, 09:40:49 am
Zombies have been in fashion for over 40 years now, since the debut of "The night of living hell", and I wonder why?

Mostly boredom with civilization, necrophilia and postapocalyptic adventure fantasies.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Luis Dias on May 25, 2011, 09:41:22 am
So it's all about giving yourself a fantasy of murdering everyone around you?

A dehumanization so you can be morally relieved of butchering everyone, just like you really want to but don't admit to?

That kind of thing?
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Snail on May 25, 2011, 09:41:55 am
I guess. Sounds fun.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Mustang19 on May 25, 2011, 09:43:29 am
Nah, not entirely. Simply the desire for civilization to end and idealized fight club anarchoprimitivism to reign, resulting in increased personal drama levels.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Darius on May 25, 2011, 10:17:06 am
I thought it was less about the violence against shambling corpses and more about the breakdown of society and carving your own path in it.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Destiny on May 25, 2011, 10:31:46 am
Humanity created the theory of zombies, so they could combat future opponents that resemble zombies and already have the best tactics, drilled into the hearts of every zombie-slaying fan.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: newman on May 25, 2011, 10:34:34 am
Because going through dozens of zombies with a chainsaw is a brutal kind of fun while going through a bunch of regular humans with a chainsaw is a somewhat less acceptable massacre. You strip away their humanity, make them a threat, and it's fair game to murder them by the hundreds. Add the basic fun elements of survival horror and beer into the mix and you'll generally end up with a winner. Sure it's not a Fellini kind of cinematic experience but sometimes you need some good old junk to unwind with a bunch of semi-drunk friends. It's the kind of movie I only find entertaining if in proper company/mood. It's not something I'd find remotely entertaining just watching on my own.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Luis Dias on May 25, 2011, 10:41:07 am
While I find that kind of (otherwise good) explanation still incomplete, I'd also like to point out a curious irony in it.

By creating a fantasy where brainless monsters are out to kill you, so that you must kill them yourself brainlessly, aren't we creating fantasies about being ourselves turned into zombies, while deluding ourselves we still bring "civilization" in our hearts?

But I still find it slightly unsatisfactory. It kinda misses something. Idk, probably just a vague feeling without merit.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Mustang19 on May 25, 2011, 10:49:32 am
Quote
By creating a fantasy where brainless monsters are out to kill you, so that you must kill them yourself brainlessly, aren't we creating fantasies about being ourselves turned into zombies, while deluding ourselves we still bring "civilization" in our hearts?

Yes thats totally correct and you could work that sentence into the doctoral thesis for your cultural theory program. However one of the big things about zombies is that they never really die while at the same time confronting humans with their mortality.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: The E on May 25, 2011, 11:00:33 am
Zombies are, in a way, a representation of the "industrialized" human being. The kind of person who mindlessly goes about their day, toiling day-in, day-out without a clear understanding of purpose, following directions without even trying to understand them. By fighting them, the heroes assert their individuality, confirming their own separate identities.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: NGTM-1R on May 25, 2011, 01:49:51 pm
Zombies are the mechanistically drilled soldiers of the Roman Principate or the sarrissa-wielding phalanx of the post-Alexander world. They are a horde of screaming Gauls, the Mongols at the charge, the Old Guard advancing before Waterloo.

They are, in short, a way to portray combat simplistically and not get called on your bull****.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Mustang19 on May 25, 2011, 02:03:10 pm
Actually zombie combat is really complicated with weapon selection ranging from chainsaws to pool sticks, varying revive rules by canon and numerous ways to score headshots.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: General Battuta on May 25, 2011, 02:04:08 pm
Plus you have to deal with mechanisms of transmission/generation and the varying mobility of the different classes of zombies.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: NGTM-1R on May 25, 2011, 02:18:55 pm
Actually zombie combat is really complicated with weapon selection ranging from chainsaws to pool sticks, varying revive rules by canon and numerous ways to score headshots.

You say that like we wouldn't use those things on anything I described. :P

Plus you have to deal with mechanisms of transmission/generation and the varying mobility of the different classes of zombies.

Differing classes!? Heresy!

More generally though, I selected people from a time where you'd loldie if you were wounded, or maybe if you weren't wounded, or if you just stuck your foot in some water once a week ago. :P
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Snail on May 25, 2011, 02:20:12 pm
There are running and walking zombies, and then there are crawlers and those missing limbs.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: Mustang19 on May 25, 2011, 02:21:15 pm
Quote
You say that like we wouldn't use those things on anything I described. :P

Do Romans, Sarrissa dudes, Gauls, Mongols, and Napoleon have varying revive rules by canon?

Ohshi-, Rome will rise again.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: NGTM-1R on May 25, 2011, 02:41:12 pm
Do Romans, Sarrissa dudes, Gauls, Mongols, and Napoleon have varying revive rules by canon?

More or less. Let's face it; zombies are a simplistic but not entirely wrong depiction of what's necessary to definitively kill a human being with no chance of ****ing it up.
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: X3N0-Life-Form on May 25, 2011, 03:11:26 pm
Brains (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FKU9Oihw)

EDIT - **** it; can't they implement stuff that analyses the beginning of a string and not put a goddamn http:// if there already is one ?
Title: Re: What is it about Zombies?
Post by: BloodEagle on May 25, 2011, 06:33:55 pm
Brains (http://"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FKU9Oihw")

Link-fail quoted for posterity.

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Cracked (http://www.cracked.com/article/136_5-reasons-you-secretly-want-zombie-apocalypse/) deftly (and surprisingly) covered all of the main reasons.