'Walking Dead' and the many meanings of zombies

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<br><i>By Patrick Kevin Day</i><br>
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As far as monster flicks go, zombie movies are like snowflakes -- no two are the same.<br>
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Frankenstein movies are inevitably about the dangers of technology run amok, vampire movies are almost always about sex, and you can't make a werewolf movie without saying something about the duality of a man's nature. But zombies can be whatever the filmmakers want them to be.<br>
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Commentary on class inequality? Zombies can do that. Commentary on the shallowness of the modern lifestyle? Yup, yup, zombies can do that too. And zombies can even work on our behalf, demonstrating just how brain-dead some teenagers can be (and taking care of them in ways we never would).<br>
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With the eerie "Walking Dead" back on AMC for a second season, it's a good chance to examine the many ways zombies have been used to point out the flaws, foibles and quirks in our society.

( AMC )

By Patrick Kevin Day

As far as monster flicks go, zombie movies are like snowflakes -- no two are the same.

Frankenstein movies are inevitably about the dangers of technology run amok, vampire movies are almost always about sex, and you can't make a werewolf movie without saying something about the duality of a man's nature. But zombies can be whatever the filmmakers want them to be.

Commentary on class inequality? Zombies can do that. Commentary on the shallowness of the modern lifestyle? Yup, yup, zombies can do that too. And zombies can even work on our behalf, demonstrating just how brain-dead some teenagers can be (and taking care of them in ways we never would).

With the eerie "Walking Dead" back on AMC for a second season, it's a good chance to examine the many ways zombies have been used to point out the flaws, foibles and quirks in our society.

Comments (3)

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Johnny in L.A at 7:18 AM October 28, 2011

Well 28 Days Later is'nt a zombie movie they are not the re-animated dead and didn't crave human flesh only murdering them. I think the original Night of the living dead was a masterpiece the setting, lighting and generally the whole atmosphere, I still cnt watch that movie without someone being home with me.

kraftwerk at 12:54 PM October 31, 2010

You could have mentioned "Fido". In it Zombies are controlled, domesticated and sold to the "normal" population as servants. They take the role of poor immigrants in our society.

Manuel.Alderete at 12:23 AM October 31, 2010

Great mini-article. Zombies are all about putting a mirror to our collective face. (Here goes my trite comment: Zombies are us, dude. Whoa.)

Best zombie movie ever: 28 Days Later.

Anyone who has ever been to London knows that the streets there are NEVER silent and empty. So seeing them void of human activity was very creepy, very effectively scary (didn't help that I saw the movie on Pay-Per-View at 1 AM during a rain storm...no, not at all).

The "kiosk scene" with hundreds of missing people photos and pleading notes was really disturbing.

In the case of that movie, the zombies almost ruined the movie. It was the absences, the voids that disturbed me the most. Unfortunately, the movie turned into a love story-amid-chaos and a preachy cautionary tale about how we are already savage towards each other in our normal-ness.

I still think the scariest movie to make would be a modern depiction of The Plagues of Medeival Europe. Someone needs to do that one and scare the hell out of us. The gore and social terror might be too believable.

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