Looking at bestselling books and popular movies, a person might conclude that vampires are in style. But amongst the ranks of the undead, vampires are miles behind another group of ghouls when it comes to overall cultural significance. From video games like Left 4 Dead to the television series The Walking Dead, zombies are on the rise out of the grave and into public consciousness. Interest in these shambling horrors has spiked in recent years and only continues to grow. As I write this, I can glance and spy a book I plan on reading over winter break on my shelf: Theories of International Politics and Zombies, written by Professor Daniel W. Drezner. Disbelief at my own dorkiness aside, the truth of the matter should shock you. Zombies have even penetrated academia.
 |
| "Braiinnnnsssss...." |
Zombies are also unlike other creatures in the effects that produce on a society. Recent depictions of vampires, for example, show them coexisting in the world with regular people. They merge with our own institutions or create new ones, sometimes threatening that of humans, but the world continues onward. Zombies change everything. There is little chance of coexistence; humanity either survives or dies. Typical social structures disappear completely in an outbreak. It is a crisis that alters the world in a horrifying and irreversible way.
I believe this is the crux of the matter. Zombies are considered fictional, but the disaster they could create is very real. In entertaining the idea of a zombie apocalypse, it raises questions about how prepared the world is for other catastrophes. A pandemic infection, for example, is a very realistic threat to our entire species, especially in this age of globalization. Zombies allow us to tackle difficult questions about public policy that need solutions now, before the crisis emerges. Thinking about dangers to the entire human race makes even the best uncomfortable and leaves rest either in a panic or unable to comprehend its magnitude. Zombies help bridge that gap; by using zombies as a substitute, we can start discussion topics that would normally remain best left unsaid.
Stepping back from the grand scale and peering into the more personal interest in zombies, they also present individuals with the chance to think about circumstances they never had a chance to before. Could I survive if society collapsed? Could I find food and water? Could I use a weapon? Would I kill someone, even to save myself? What would happen to my family and friends? What skills or knowledge do I have that give me an advantage? Larger moral dilemmas emerge: would you kill an infected loved one to spare them turning into a zombie? Would you kill yourself? Does individual need or the common good matter more? What about liberty and security? If you even manage to survive, do you bring children into such a world? If you could, do you rebuild society? How do you shape it? During a zombie apocalypse, you and the world are one giant tabula rasa. Zombies allow people to ask challenging questions about themselves in a fictional setting. Placed outside of reality, a person can explore questions that they would otherwise never have a reason to entertain.
Zombies will outlast vampires in terms of culture significance. Vampires are like shiny baubles (after all, they do sparkle now) that are more show than substance. Zombies let us discuss both larger problems and personal dilemmas by creating circumstances that are fictional but nonetheless applicable to other disasters. It is a thought exercise in which all can participate, a philosophical experiment that all can understand and contemplate. Vampires, demons, and ghosts are simply too supernatural. When the credits roll, they and the horror they bring slowly dissipate away. Zombies, and the big questions they force us to consider, linger much longer.
-----
Joey Gale '13