Ruminations on Zombies

Some time ago I was interviewed for an online magazine that no longer exists. I post the interview below. Following the interview, you will find a few notes on some books that deal with zombies. Have fun.

1.Why do you believe we have such a fascination with the living dead?

            - You ask a question that is not easy to answer briefly. If we look at zombies from a historical perspective, then we can see that the first zombie movies (Victor Halperin's WHITE ZOMBIE 1932, or perhaps the Golem movies in the 20s) were a function of exotica, related to Caribbean lore or Jewish lore, and a response to economic and natural disasters during the Depression. But the zombie did not really catch on the way other horror monsters did until the days of Civil Rights and student unrest in the 1960s. After 1968 we see an increase of zombie films until the flood gates opened about 10 years ago. The current spate of zombie films reflect current social fears: fears of the end of humanity brought on by disease or by mind control or by a rabid consumerism or by alien invasion (the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic themes so popular now). The zombie reflects end times. In short, the zombie is one aspect of a fin de siecle fatalism and even nihilism.

            From another perspective, the psychoanalytic, the zombie is the self or better yet, the unconscious. The unconscious released unleashes a wild and uncontrollable urge to pleasure and what more pleasure do we have than eating others, consuming those who would consume us. The zombie is a reminder of the Real, in Lacanian terms, the chaos that threatens to pull down order and clarity and security. The zombie is the wild side of the self, the self not seen when we look in the mirror unless we can look with unguarded eyes.

            Why are we fascinated with the living dead? The short answer might be: because the living dead allow us a safe glimpse into the abyss, into a post apocalyptic future, and into a reality we repress with all our might. Watching a zombie film allows for the safe return of the repressed.

2. Do you think said fascination has anything to do with consumer culture? What does the philosophy behind these creatures have to say about said culture?

            -well George Romero certainly made the connection between zombies and consumer culture. His DAWN OF THE DEAD - is that the one in the mall or supermarket? - draws a direct parallel between the consumer and the zombie. And capitalism works to zombify the consumer. Turn a little switch in the heads of all of us and we become mindless purchases of any and everything. Just look at those horrendously wild Boxing Day sales that occur every year. A few years ago people were trampled to death in a Wal-Mart sale in the U.S., if my memory serves me. The zombie "says" that consumer culture, that late capitalism, is mindless, controlling, rapacious, and death-dealing. The novel FEED by M.T. Anderson might be interesting here.

3. In recent years we've witnessed a 'romanticization' of many classic monster 'types''. However, zombies seem to have remained untouched by this. Why do you think this is? Do you think we may eventually witness a romanticization of zombies in the same way as others?

            Well the zombie by definition is a cannibal and cannibalism is a taboo in our society. Taboos such as incest or child sexual abuse or cannibalism are difficult to romanticize because to do so would sanction something our society has a deeply ingrained aversion to. The vampire is different partly because the vampire thinks, whereas the zombie does not appear to think. The zombie is pure instinct. Zombies are also not very attractive physically! Having said this, I note that the Canadian zombie film, FIDO, goes some way toward romanticizing the zombie. But to romanticize the zombie, at least as this film sees it, means to unzombify the zombie by external control. I might say the same about another zombie film, WARM BODIES (2013). Moe recently, the TV series Z NATION plays with the zombie in the character Murphy.

4. Do you think our obsession with the undead has post-apocalyptic connotations/connections with our obsession with the end of the world?

            -no doubt about it. Take a look at WORLD WAR Z (2013), in which the zombies not only signify the apocalyptic aspect, but also signify the 99%.

5. What, in your opinion, do zombies as a cultural icon have to tell us about our society? Ourselves?

            -have I not answered this above? One thing I left out: people appear to enjoy being grossed out. Getting down and dirty in a safe way, in a vicarious way, seems to satisfy some people. The zombie is pollution itself, that which we attempt to excise from our midst, but which has a stubborn way of resisting excision. This is why the zombie often appears as the "other," whether racially coded or not.

6. Killing the living dead has become a central objective in many modern video games(Left 4 Dead and Resident Evil are two of hte more prominent examples). Why do you believe this is?

            -well it is less shocking to kill a zombie than to kill a human being, is it not? The zombie in something like the Resident Evil films (and game, I guess) is cannon fodder. They serve no apparent social purpose and therefore are dispensable. 

7. Was George A. Romero responsible for 'zombie culture' as it appears today, or was there some predecessor to him?

            -a few important zombie films do predate Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, but really I think we do have to credit Romero with raising the bar on zombie films. The influence of that 1968 film is huge and undeniable.

8. How do you feel our perception of the living dead has changed since their origin?

            -another big question. We have moved from magic to science. Early zombies (in the 30s and 40s films) were either created by magic, by voodoo, or by mesmerism. Nowadays bacteria or germs seem to be the favoured means of creating the zombie. In THE NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, as I recall, the zombie had something to do with outer space. Once I mention outer space, then the connection between the zombie in, say, Ed Wood's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and a far better film, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, becomes clear.

            Having come to this point, I might note the connection of the zombie with communism or the fear of communism.

9. There are many different 'types' of zombie: Dawn of the Dead's fast zombies, the classical slow-moving corpse, 28 Days Later's "Rage" zombies...Which do you feel is the most popular?

            -to be honest, I have no idea.

Thanks again for the interview;

Books:

Ralph, Brian. Daybreak. Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly, 2011.

Noteworthy for its point of view. The main character, the one-armed boy, speaks to the reader and the reader appears to act, shooting one character late in the book. Not many pictures of zombies, but they are always there, just beyond the door or just beyond the picture border or frame. The story is pessimistic in its post-apocalyptic gloom. This is a world where only a dog can be cheerful and only a dog can survive. (YA graphic novel)

Frisch, Aaron. Zombies. Mankato, MN: Creative Education, 2013.

A rather grisly picture book for young readers.

Mayberry, Jonathan. Rot & Ruin. New York, Toronto: Simon and Schuster, 2010.

Nix speaking: “You see the fence as something keeping the zoms out. I don’t. I see it as the thing that pens us in. We’re trapped here. Trapped isn’t ‘alive.’ Trapped isn’t ‘safe.’ And it isn’t ‘free.’” (182)

Rob Sacchetto speaking: “We’re living next door to the apocalypse, kid. It’s right on the other side of that big fence. The Rot and Ruin is the real world. Our town isn’t anything more than the last bits of mankind’s dream, and we’re stuck here until we die off.” (137)

“ Meaning, intention, will . . . None of that was part of their makeup. There was no more malice there than in a lightning strike or bacteria on a rusted nail…

            Charlie, on the other hand, was something still to be feared. Charlie was far more dangerous than any single zombie on the planet because his malice was deliberate.” (284)

A zombie book about coming of age amid the devastation of post apocalyptic America. The Lost Girl proves not to be lost. She is a killer because she must survive in a place where no law, no justice, no morality exists. But she reads, and reading makes her okay. She is a bit like Michone from The Walking Dead. As for samurai Tom Imura, he is sensitive to zombies and therefore his killing is also okay because he kills bad guys who thrive on the amoral world of Rot and Ruin. He also brings closure to families who loved ones have “returned.”

Showalter, Gena. Alice in Zombieland. Don Mills, ON: Harlequin Teen, 2012.

A terrible book that has nothing to do with Lewis Carroll’s book, aside from the rip-off title.

Fischer, Rusty. Zombies Don’t Cry. Medallion Press, 2011.

Another rip-off title. The book gives us zombies that think and feel and carry on much as usual aside from doing battle with the Zerkers, a form of zombie that is savage, brutal, and downright mean and evil. Mostly, however, this book is interested in presenting teens and their hormones, their interest in hot guys and gals. This is high school hijinks, with a bit of wish fulfillment thrown in because the main characters get to decapitate a band of teacher Zerkers. All this really is tiresome and silly. The protagonist’s name is Maddy Swift, and ‘Swift’ may be a clue to the book’s satiric intentions. But if this is what goes for satire these days Swift, Pope and company must be rolling in their graves. The struggle is to find something new in the zombie genre and Rusty seems to think attaching zombies to chick narrative will do the trick.