From TV series (The walking dead) to movies (Zombie land, Dawn of the dead), from comic books (28 days later, iZombie) to games (Resident Evil), zombies have been invading to every aspect of modern media.
The first Western zombie movie could be “The white zombie” (1932). The movie did a great job in giving audiences the idea how creepy or scary a walking-dead body can be. ‘’Night of the living dead” (1968) marks an important milestone in the evolution of zombie: from puppets of voodoo in “The white zombie” (1932), they turn into flesh-eating monsters infected by radioactive. Then new types generations of zombie keep on appear: running zombie, a swarm of zombies, giant zombie and so on. However, my question is what makes zombie so popular that media practitioners still invest in creating more and more products of such a horrified figure?
According to Hubner et al (2014), zombie culture offers consumers an alternative life in which they can experience and step out of their ordinary selves: no homework, no stress or future goal. Furthermore, what impresses me is that the world created by zombie culture not only provides audiences a place to hide from the reality, but also satisfies the aggression of human nature. From the ethological perspective, Lorenz (1966) suggested that humans have evolved a ‘’fighting instinct” and it is unavoidable. In the real world, we are restrained from hurting other people by the law unless it is a self-defence situation. In the zombie world, characters are free to kick, smash or kill flesh-hunting monsters to survive. In other word, media consumers see the reflection of their aggressive instinct in this particular culture.
To sum up, there are many other elements which make zombie culture become so popular; but for me, making impacts on human nature and desire in modern society is what make it popular.
References cited:
1. Hubner, L, Leaning, M, & Manning, P (2014), The Zombie Renaissance in Popular Culture, Palgrave Macmillan.
2. Lorenz, K & Latzke, M (1966), On aggression, London: Methuen