Zombies and the Men Who Love Them
Last weekend, Garthifer and I drove through the snowy streets of Groveport to audition as extras in a low-budget zombie film. As it turned out, Garth and I even auditioned for speaking roles in the movie (not much of a stretch for me - I read for the part of Bobby, a mid-20 something redneck) and Garth for an uppity scientist’s assistant. We thought it would be something fun to try, and it’s looking like we’re actually going to do it (they need at least 100 people to play zombies) and Jenn and I might even help out with the zombie makeup for the extras!
But I thought this might be a good springboard to write a blog about why I’m so obsessed with the entire zombie thing, as most of my friends are painfully aware. I’ve begun to notice my friends (including some of you reading this) have begun to look at me a little oddly with the whole thing, so I thought I might try to justify it to myself by writing it down. Ok, here goes.
I think to start off, zombie movies are the only kind that truly frighten me. I can watch any other horror flick, be it monsters, aliens, or your typical slasher film, and while they might be entertaining, they don’t really scare me. Not so with the zedd word - when done right, ala George Romero, they scare the living bejeezus out of me, which is really fun. Oh yeah, and then there’s Jaws (which I find terrifying) but that’s another story. So in a nutshell, I like to be scared by movies, and zombie movies are about the only ones that do the trick.
Also, the idea of zombies themselves have so much capacity to be used as a metaphor by a writer. If done correctly, a zombie horde can be a symbol of loss of identity (you become a mindless, soulless automaton that’s been assimilated by the group) a question of the afterlife (is there life after death? These things had to come from somewhere), and even the fast zombies from 28 Days Later, one can’t help but be reminded of any television footage ever seen about rioting (this is what happens when large groups of people become truly enraged).
If you have a good writer, a zombie movie also is a great opportunity to examine human characters and what they would do in a true survival situation. Who becomes a natural leader? Why and how does a character decide to only care about his own skin? Why does a particular guy cave under pressure and completely lose it? A great example is a comic series called The Walking Dead. The zombies themselves, while playing a major part of the story, are mainly out of the frame. The story itself is primarily about the survivors, and how they try to pull their lives together after tragedy.
Oh yeah, another good reason - zombie movies give me hope as a writer. Explanation: any of you writer friends of mine out there, watch the majority of the crappy zombie movies I have in my collection (there’s almost 40 now), and you’ll say to yourself, ‘Shit, I can write a better script than this!’ If movies like that are getting made with such terrible scripts, I think my chances of someday penning something better are pretty damned good.
I suppose there’s also the whole pioneer mind set that appeals to me as well. Come on, how many of you wouldn’t find the idea of living in a society where you could basically do whatever you want at least a little interesting? Maybe it’s because I’m a libertarian, or there’s a little Mad Max living in me. But, the government’s gone. The police are gone. Your boss is dead. The stores are empty. Just like the scene in Dawn of the Dead when the survivors go on a giddy shopping spree in the mall, us living would have free rein to do whatever we wanted, with no one telling us otherwise.
And of course, the country boy in me wonders if I could survive in the world of one of these movies. I mean, I know how to shoot a gun and I own several, I know how to survive in places where there aren’t McDonald’s and Starbucks... I’ve always wondered if I have what it takes to survive in a world full of zombies.
Well I know there’s more, but for now I doubt even the most devoted readers have gotten this far, so I’ll cut it short. There may be more, however... my obsession knows no bounds.
But I thought this might be a good springboard to write a blog about why I’m so obsessed with the entire zombie thing, as most of my friends are painfully aware. I’ve begun to notice my friends (including some of you reading this) have begun to look at me a little oddly with the whole thing, so I thought I might try to justify it to myself by writing it down. Ok, here goes.
I think to start off, zombie movies are the only kind that truly frighten me. I can watch any other horror flick, be it monsters, aliens, or your typical slasher film, and while they might be entertaining, they don’t really scare me. Not so with the zedd word - when done right, ala George Romero, they scare the living bejeezus out of me, which is really fun. Oh yeah, and then there’s Jaws (which I find terrifying) but that’s another story. So in a nutshell, I like to be scared by movies, and zombie movies are about the only ones that do the trick.
Also, the idea of zombies themselves have so much capacity to be used as a metaphor by a writer. If done correctly, a zombie horde can be a symbol of loss of identity (you become a mindless, soulless automaton that’s been assimilated by the group) a question of the afterlife (is there life after death? These things had to come from somewhere), and even the fast zombies from 28 Days Later, one can’t help but be reminded of any television footage ever seen about rioting (this is what happens when large groups of people become truly enraged).
If you have a good writer, a zombie movie also is a great opportunity to examine human characters and what they would do in a true survival situation. Who becomes a natural leader? Why and how does a character decide to only care about his own skin? Why does a particular guy cave under pressure and completely lose it? A great example is a comic series called The Walking Dead. The zombies themselves, while playing a major part of the story, are mainly out of the frame. The story itself is primarily about the survivors, and how they try to pull their lives together after tragedy.
Oh yeah, another good reason - zombie movies give me hope as a writer. Explanation: any of you writer friends of mine out there, watch the majority of the crappy zombie movies I have in my collection (there’s almost 40 now), and you’ll say to yourself, ‘Shit, I can write a better script than this!’ If movies like that are getting made with such terrible scripts, I think my chances of someday penning something better are pretty damned good.
I suppose there’s also the whole pioneer mind set that appeals to me as well. Come on, how many of you wouldn’t find the idea of living in a society where you could basically do whatever you want at least a little interesting? Maybe it’s because I’m a libertarian, or there’s a little Mad Max living in me. But, the government’s gone. The police are gone. Your boss is dead. The stores are empty. Just like the scene in Dawn of the Dead when the survivors go on a giddy shopping spree in the mall, us living would have free rein to do whatever we wanted, with no one telling us otherwise.
And of course, the country boy in me wonders if I could survive in the world of one of these movies. I mean, I know how to shoot a gun and I own several, I know how to survive in places where there aren’t McDonald’s and Starbucks... I’ve always wondered if I have what it takes to survive in a world full of zombies.
Well I know there’s more, but for now I doubt even the most devoted readers have gotten this far, so I’ll cut it short. There may be more, however... my obsession knows no bounds.
Labels: essay, films, horror movies, monsters, movies, zombies
posted by Merlin at 10:49 PM
2 Comments:
I was just thinking ... "Man, I wonder why Lin and Garth And Jen love zombies so much ..."
This was a well-timed post.
So its probably sacreligious to tell you I've never seen a zombie movie before, huh?
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