Zombies symbolize a mindless and implacable enemy. And, it's also commentary about how easily a society and world can collapse in the face of such an enemy.

somebody else can expound more eloquently than me on this.

I think in the racial memory of most peoples there are great plagues.

Europe had the black death, small pox, and a host of things that wiped out entire populations.

The New World had something that killed much of the native populations not long before Columbus, et al, arrived. (probably Hanta virus-related.) This is why, btw, so many settlers found empty fields ready to be plowed.

The flu has been a killed on and off.

The idea of something wiping out this overpopulated globe is not unreasonable, at all. In fact, it's perfectly natural. It's how nature deals with overpopulation.

And I think we know this, at least in our subconscious. So we expect it.

Zombies might be the id on a rampage. Vampires, at least for women, the ultimate bad boy.

I can't stand vampires. Vampire films and TV shows really bore me. However, Zombies are totally awesome. I love zombie films.

aaarrrrrroooooooooo

I'm just wondering.....Do zombies ever go to Mensa meetings?

A zombie could represent our own self-consumption through actions that can not only harm/kill ourselves but harm/kill each other. (War, damage to the environment, hate, bigotry, etc..)

As well as the psychological - how individuals v. groups react, our humanity - the collective and individual, the ability to adapt .

For example, on last Sunday's The Walking Dead the action was centered around two relatively timid characters who have decided to test their comfort levels. Their own feelings/beliefs in their abilities competing with how they are viewed by their fellow survivors was highlighted. They both have a moment when they can either rise or fall - one person most emphatically claiming that he was and is a survivor. The other agreeing that she wasn't ready for going outside the safety of the walls.

The one who agreed she wasn't ready died. Now, her acceptance of her own limitations (at this point in time) in no way ordained her death but one of the themes of the show is adapt or die - and how you adjust to what is happening plays a huge role in your survival. That theme (adapt or die) is always coupled with how you have survived - the choices you make in order to survive.

And, well... Zombies are cool. (from the safety of my home in a world where zombies don't exist)

Vampires? Hmmm. The immortality? The question of is a being evil if it is only acting on its nature? Are they mirrors of our own humanity? (same for Zombies)

Both feed off humans, which plays into our own self-consumption in the sense that we are destroying ourselves as a species with our own actions. Humans can become a zombie. They can become a vampire.

With the way the vampire has evolved over the years - from Nosferatu to sparkly, angst-ridden emo-pires, who the fuck knows anymore?

Just thinking aloud.

a little deeper than zombies and vampires? I was under the impression that these were never intended to represent anything other than things that go bump in the night.

Last edited Fri Mar 25, 2016, 04:33 AM - Edit history (1)

Depending on far back you want to go with zombies, you''l find they are part of a some very old African religions. The word/concept anyway, though not in the way they are seen today.

You can thank George Romero for the modern day view of zombies.

Vampire legends are quite old and went from oral stories told among the group to written ones. A lot of myth and legend traveled that route. In an attempt to explain things not understood a legend/myth is born. Those stories often become vehicles to explain human nature and the relationship between humans and their world.

Through literary devices these beings come to life and are seen through the eyes of the living, not just to go bump in the night either. Certainly both are things of horror and they do both go bump in the night, but then most horror stories aren't about the literal object of fear either - but about the people and how they react...and people will react differently depending on their own experiences and make-ups.

You tell ghost stories to get a reaction...a human reaction.

Stephen King could take a bowl of corn flakes and build an entire phantasmagorical world around it but the story wouldn't be about the corn flakes, but instead the very human imposition of human nature and all its quirks on the bowl. The corn flakes are the vehicle.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and sometimes a cigar is the glowing ember that comforts the young boy who looks out the window at night because he knows his father is on watch to keep the family safe from harm. Until the one night the red tipped ember seems to turn and stare back at the young boy and he realizes it wasn't his father at all.

Things that go bump in the night need people for the bump to matter. Otherwise, who would ever go investigate the mysterious noise?

In December, I read Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema by Jamie Russel (a Christmas gift from a horror-movie fan pal of mine). If you're really, really interested in this phenomena, it's a great read-- informative, entertaining and full of film history.

In a nutshell, Russel's premise is that vampires are the socially unacceptable temptations we hate ourselves for loving (e.g., being an outsider, personal problems such as alcoholism, or simply enjoying a cigarette, etc.), zombies are the socially acceptable temptations we love to hate (reality television, being unable to turn away from a violent car accident, etc.).

This, too, shall pass.

But I'm so old, I remember when vampires sucked blood, and didn't suck d____.

Glittering vampires? Fricking pathetic.

(No, this is not a homophobic joke. It's a Twilight joke. Superman v. Batman is a better love story than Twilight. So is Clockwork Orange and the third word on every page of Webster's Dictionary.)