In Many ways zombies have become a creature that changes with time. Throughout films, they are a creature that can represent almost anyone and any fear. Unlike vampires, they are not sexy, smart or forever the same. In contrast, they are dumb, slow, and decaying creatures cursed to consume the living. Werewolves are monsters that have two sides, one is civilized while the other is a beast that is meant to terrorize the innocent. Yet zombies are pure in the sense that the only goal they have is to consume and create more of their kind. In many ways, zombies do not have to conform to being a sex symbol or the beastly side of man. They can change from generation to generation and be adapted when needed. Looking into how they can have changed their cultural roots cannot be ignored.
Like its other monstrous friends, the zombie has a history that must be recognized. This creature stems from Haitian folklore. David Inglis in his writing, Putting the Undead to Work Wade Davis, Haitian Vodou, and Social Use of the Zombie, gives context to the cultural history of the zombie. The process of creation was creating a soulless left to being controlled by its master (Inglis). In the 1932 film White Zombie, the creatures were slaves and not at all the flesh-eating Creatures that are featured today. One powerful moment of the movie depicted working slaves caring baskets of sugar cane to be processed. One of the zombie slaves falls into machinery and work continues as if nothing had occurred. Though this movie depicted zombies more closely to the root folklore, the creator is seen as a foreign white man with an eastern European accent, played by Bela Lugosi. The zombie would make its way to become a pop culture monster not even resembling what it once was.
The zombie first became a flesh-eating monster in Night of the Living Dead. This change significantly influenced how the creatures are now viewed now. It also was the first film to cast an African American hero. Ben who is played by, Duane Jones, was the only African American actor in the movie and is also different from any other character. At the time of its release, America had significant cultural tension. Though director George A. Romero stated that race played no part in the casting (Bruce). Throughout the film, race does not represent a factor in the plot at all. Barbra S. Bruce write in Guess Who’s going to be Dinner, states that the absence of any actual signs of racism in the film, Ben’s meaning depends on the spectator’s own impulse towards race.” It is also evident that it is the spectator who’s views of racism shapes their experience of the film through film critics response of it. Bruce writes that many of the credits do not even refer to Ben as the hero or the main character. At this time the tensions of the race were not only placed on the zombies them self’s but the characters as well.
The 2004 movie Dawn of the Dead the Zombies changes again with the fast moving creature in contrast to the slow ones of the past. Though this movie is a remake of a 1978 film of the same name it still pays homage to the original. While discussing zombies in my class, Things go Bump in the Night, Dr. Bittista brought up the topic of consumerism as a theme through the film. While watching the 2004 vision directed by Zach Snyder one scene depicts the character of Kenneth paying a game of chess on the roof with a stranded man on the roof across the street. Then the game has ended the camera pans to a broader shot of the roof showing hundreds of zombies hoarding the mall where the group of survivors is taking shelter. This is reminiscent of consumers on black Friday rushing doors to get to discounted products. Just seconds after this moment group members are seen ‘shopping’ and taking products from the store freely. Zombies continue to be changed to fit different narratives. In Dawn of the Dead, the worry of survival is not as much of an issue with the group having seemingly abundant supplies. It is only when they try to escape the mall when they must fight for survival. The infectious outbreak is also not a priority and is explained merely when the nurse Ana tells the others the infection spreads through bites.
Though infections was not a large part of Dawn of the Dead, in movies World War Z (2013), and I Am Legend (2007), infections were one of the most significant aspects discussed in films. In both films, diseases had rapid gestation periods. At the time of these films outbreaks of the virus H1N1, was rapidly speeding. According to the World Health Organization in 2009 from April – November an estimated between 2,500 and 6,000 people died from complications (WHO 2010). The impact of the virus was fast and had some in a panic. Cases later in early 2010 were minor and left just as quickly as it had come. In the case of World War Z and I Am Legend infections spared quickly. It is also at this time celebrity Jenny McCarthy became a significant influence on the anti-vaccine movement. The hope to fine a cure and a vaccine is a major driving force for both films. Today zombies have again changed to reflect today's issues.
Popular show The Walking Dead is an adaptation of a graphic novel of the same name. Again the narrative has changed, and the worry of infections is not a significant issue. The zombies of this show, in the beginning, are fast, reflecting the freshness of their newly dead bodies. Yet as the show progresses in the later season they zombies are showing decay and are falling apart. It is a fact that is pressed in the second season that all people will eventually become a zombie or ‘walker’ after death. The central conflict is not the zombies but are the living. The show continuously shows that no matter how right the person has been they are capable of horrendous acts. One of the main characters, Carol, is evidence of this. She appears in the first season a timid survivor of abuse, yet as the show progresses, she becomes a hardened fighter. Later different survivors are introduced more groups of small civilizations are found. Places where the living is responsible for horrible deaths and not the zombies. The Living is the monsters not the dead.
Zombies are a unique monster, they can be anyone. Vampires and werewolf cannot be just anyone they have their own personalities and have the power of choice. Whereas zombies can be anyone, they can change into anyone and carry with them a generation of worry. They also do not have to conform to an essential stigma and can be reimagined to fit any narrative. In comparison to other monsters, humanities struggle with zombies can be changed to suit the worry of that time.
“CDC Estimates of 2009 H1N1 Influenza Cases, Hospitalizations and Deaths in the United States, April 2009 – March 13, 2010.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/estimates/April_March_13.htm.
“Figure 2f from Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic Revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7720. Https://Doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720.” doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.
“Night of the Living Dead.”
PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/jenny-mccarthy-were-not-an-anti-vaccine-movement-were-pro-safe-vaccine/.
