The Zombie Renaissance

[H2O ZOoMBunnIE]

We are in the midst of a Zombie Renaissance, a rebirth and redefinition of the Zombie trope in all foms of art and culture today.
From "The Walking Dead' appearing alongside AMC's critical favorites "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" as a proud equal, to reissues of the works of Garrison Keillor, H,G, Wells and even Jane Austen with Zombies added, Movies with artistic and thought provoking themes like the recent remake of "The Dawn of the Dead", and new artistic ventures such as "The Death of Death" and "The Survival of the Dead', to Gaming Masterpieces like L4D and Dead Island, Zombies are suddenly everywhere, demanding a lion's share of top-notch talent and critical acclaim as well as popular success.
Why?
I don't know.
I First noticed this playing Dead Island off-line while keeping my other television tuned to USA, SyFy and AMC. Something about playing an addictive masterpiece like D.I. while catching a near-marathon of Zombie Movies, then falling asleep to Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" brought this all to my attention suddenly.
For Me, the Zombie story all comes down to a metaphor for the existential dilemma, serving as a sort of exponentially increased expression of it.
The existential dilemma, most simply expressed, is " We're alone in a Godless universe. Life is meaningless, death is inevitable. DEAL WITH IT."
In any Zombie outbreak, this dilemma is enhanced and intensified on every level.
"You're not just alone, your companions may become infected and turn on you. The univerese is not only godless, it's hell-on-earth. Life is meaningless, nasty and short. Death is not only inevitable, it has become an active enemy stalking you that you must defend against without succour or rest. DEAL WITH IT."
I don't know why this sea-change in art and culture is occuring, or what it means that our society is focused this way. I'm neither a professor of sociology or a media critic/analyst.
But I think it would be rewarding to discuss it. What's your favorite Zombie story/franchise and why is it special to you? what do you think any of this means? Does it mean anything?
Anyone?

[AcrylicSiri]

Gotta tell you zombies still and have always scared the bejeebus out of me. That being said I am a fan of the episodes of Walking Dead I've seen and I adore the Resident Evil movie series. I've not started the RE game though I have #5 here and L4D 1 & 2 were the main reasons I wanted gold on XBL :mvshock:
For me the thing that got me past oh carp it's zombies in the RE series was the fact Alice is so strong and empowering to me. As far as does it mean anything.... well aside from the usual good vs evil I think it is very much dependent on each person. I did read somewhere that in times of world crisis vampire / zombie tales become much more prominent so perhaps it is simply a coping mechanism.

[H2O Fuelrod]

me it would be shawn of the dead because it adds comedy to zombies
RE(movies) because like acrylicsiri said alice is empowering
RE(games) because the story does not have an thing to do with the movies
l4d again the comedy with zombies
black ops zombies because it adds zombies in the past and makes it interesting

[H2O Hammer]

It means you better get your Zombie Plan finalized and in place! *finds keys to the gun locker..... 1200 miles away*

TM

[H2O ZOoMBunnIE]

Just as the existentialists faced despair, but did not preach it or succumb to it, I think the Zombie Trope follows a similar "raison det're"...it's not entertainment ABOUT despair, but entertainment in the FACE of despair.....

[H2O Hammer]

That's a distinct possibility. It's also potentially a mental preparation in the case Zombies do attack.

[H2O ZOoMBunnIE]

Ya know, I was watching "Zombie Strippers" for the first time the other night (it's on

the new 'Crackle' video app for Xbox Gold) and it occurred to me I may have been

overthinking this whole thing.
If you've never seen it,"Zombie Strippers", as well as being a pretty good gore and

titsploitation fest, works well as a very direct piece of political parody and social

satire. Made in 2007 during the last of the Bush admin years, it does a pretty good job

(IMHO) of using the Zombie phenomenon as a straight-up metaphor for dangerous and

destructive group-think trends like jingoism and the mob-mentality. A mob, after all, is

something at once more dangerous, and less than fully human.
So I'm thinking maybe it has a lot more to do with that than all that existentialist crap

I mentioned (tho, strangely enough, "Zombie Stippers" takes place in Sartre, Nebraska

:o ). After all, most of the new Zombie stuff is coming out of the U.S., and our nation's

been pretty polarised, with more and more group-think on both sides.
Have I been totally overthinking it?
I still think it's more than just a fad, like the emo-vampire crap. As far as I remember

the vampire craze never swept the gaming world along with movies and books, and despite what

some critics may think (you know who you are, Roger Ebert) gaming's an important cultural

bloc. Besides, unlike a mere fad, the quality of content stays as good or gets better,

rather than steadily degrades. (again, IMHO)
I know I have become quite a fan of something that perviously I could take-or-leave (

except for 'Dead Rising'; alas, the first one totally beat me early on :( ).
And I'm Totally looking forward to "Lollipop Chainsaw". ;)

[H2O Fuelrod]

im alwats ready for some zombie butt kicking and dead rising 2 does have so good thing u can use on zombies

[H2O ZOoMBunnIE]

Thanks for the reccomendation, BB; I've seen some of the advance press for DR2 and the weapons crafting looked pretty interesting. But you don't know how BADLY I SUCKED at DR1. :(. I tried it 4 times and rage quit less than a tenth of the way thru (all 4 times). So unless they changed the fundamental mechanics, I'm really afraid I'll have to pass that one up.

[PMS Spaced]

I love Zombie Strippers :mvgiggle: and of course Shaun of the Dead. I am ready for a zombie outbreak and will be participating in a zombie run for your life marathon.

[H2O LordOverkill]

DR1 is designed for you to die. Nobody can play the game and finish it starting from level one, you gotta get dropped and die about 3-4 times before you can get the ball rolling and have a chance. DR2 is much easier, it has co-op which makes it even easier, and all the weapons are fun to use and make.....but the spiked bat is the best. As for the Romaro films (Night, Day, Damn, Land, Diary of the dead) I think the meaning behind them is that it Man Vs Man. Whatever the zombies do to us, we do much worse to ourselves. Like at the end of Night of the Living Dead, where the 2 farmers are drunk and start target shooting the female zombie, shooting it in the body, legs and arms, torturing it...when all the zombie does is kill, eat, infect and move along....like a virus. And in all the movies, the survivors are fighting each other more then they fight the zombies. Fighting for supplies and leadership and the such....when all they had to do is team up, arm up and fight the hordes and they woulda won

[H2O ZOoMBunnIE]

DR1 is designed for you to die. Nobody can play the game and finish it starting from level one, you gotta get dropped and die about 3-4 times before you can get the ball rolling and have a chance. DR2 is much easier, it has co-op which makes it even easier, and all the weapons are fun to use and make.....but the spiked bat is the best. That's good 2 knowAs for the Romaro films (Night, Day, Damn, Land, Diary of the dead) I think the meaning behind them is that it Man Vs Man. Whatever the zombies do to us, we do much worse to ourselves. Good point. I'm not too up on the Romero films per se, but I remember thatin NOTLD the protagonist, a young black guy, was killed not by zombies, but by those redneck guys you mentioned. If that's not a direct social comment, I don't know what is.

[H2O ZOoMBunnIE]

I love Zombie Strippers :mvgiggle: and of course Shaun of the Dead. I am ready for a zombie outbreak and will be participating in a zombie run for your life marathon. "Shaun..." is awesome. I loved how, in the beginning of the film, it took him so long to even notice the zombie outbreak. :mvshock:

Best of luck on your marathon. :mvsuprisehug:

[H2O Fuelrod]

yeah when the out break starts i'm goining to find the biggest peice of land i can find build a concreate wall then find a couple buses and start a refuge camp and teach ppl to farm and the buses are for supply runs and on the walls would have security and will install solar panels for electricityand i'll hit up military bases and police stations for weapons and ammo and then places like kroger and wal mart for food then find me the places to stock up on fertilizer and seeds for farming and will consantly be increasing the size to increase the population limit