Introduction
Zombies are one of the most scientifically plausible and terrifying aspects of horror, a reanimated corpse that comes to life with a desire for devouring human flesh. A zombie is also something that cannot blend into society, unlike the typical horror creatures such as vampires and werewolves there is no way for it to blend in and no way for a human to escape.
The modern day zombie takes the traditional Haitian voodoo zombie and makes it into something faster, smarter, and deadlier. The zombie craze became popular when George Romero directed Night of the Living Dead. This movie became the first movie in which the zombies were something new, hungry.
It wasn’t just the hunger from Romero’s film that made the zombie such a craze, it became a social commentary. The reason that the zombie is hungry and always wants to eat humans is Romero’s way of showing humans as all consuming.
Max Brooks novel, World War Z, is anther commentary about zombies. The humans go to war against zombies showing that this novel although centered around zombies is a commentary about the ethics of war.
Zombies as a social commentary becomes a way for humans to never escape the horrors of the real world. Starvation, murder, political issues, hunger, and disease are points that are shown or mentioned in the modern day zombie. This time, the commentary isn’t told or shown through the eyes of a zombie apocalypse survivor. This time it is through the eyes of the people behind the scenes, the scientists who are trying to figure out the origin of the virus and the cure of the disease. The question that always remains is how many people will die before the cure can be found?
