The release of the original Night of The Living Dead in the early 1960s - a great leap forward for Zombie Rights and nuclear war hysteria - brought cannibalism to the suburbs:
Flesh Eater-a classic zombie movie second only to Roadkill 4-Vengeance is Theirs
Jul 2, 2011
there was one we watched that was a documentary about zombies, and it had interviews with "real zombies" etc. like, fictionalized documentary. it was odd, but interesting. i don't recall the name though...?
The introduction asks: "What is our obsession with the living dead?" I actually have a theory about this on the cultural front.
T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" is obsessed with images of the living dead, not zombies but life-in-death scenarios. "The Wasteland" is one of the enduring symbols of the previous century - kind of a Homeric epic for those times. It's generally agreed that Eliot was talking about spiritual death in the 20th century, and monotonous and meaningless life in industrial society with only material concerns. We haven't lost much of that yet in our times.
I've always thought that idea from "high culture" found it's way into popular culture with the zombie obsession that at least can be traced to Hollywood films of the 1930s and probably earlier - "The Wasteland" was written in the 1920s. The living dead represent life in suburban America and in the Cold War was used to portray life under communism - just to illustrate the way the zombie obsession has persisted and mutated. It shows no sign of slowing down.
The mixing of sexuality and death in zombie narratives - that's another topic.
Jul 3, 2011
Jul 3, 2011
that is probably my favorite portrayal of zombies.
Yip SH, couldn't agree more. All the zombie art is great on its own. But there's all kinds of political and social commentary going - that's a great one - what I think about when I think about zombies.
Jul 3, 2011
but the question that got us on them was simpler than the one i used for this,
That makes a lot of sense DVS. As society has become more and more souless, you have soul 'loss', which-if you believe in the supernatural- leaves
people vulnerable to disencarnate spirits looking for bodies to possess. Then you get 'zombies' I think people use horror to deal with their fear of death and the unknown. Shamans routinely performed soul retrievals on people to avoid having pieces of their souls scattered about the omniverse.
because they were an existing symbol of the living dead (probably coming out of folktales) that could be reworked into new forms? zombies are not unlike vampires - I think there's a connections there. Like DK pointed out, there is an exotic (Romanticism) connection to Voodoo (Santeria connection) and yes, source Haiti but Africa as well - so there are religious and supernatural overtones - racial overtones. I notice in the pics posted there seems to be a connection between sensual (and also white) women and threatened violation by the zombie. Of course, form mutates and there are zombie women as well - but there is a death and sexuality thing working - necrophilia as in EA Poe? Maybe as Trashpo - we sort through the dumpster of culture and pull out bits and pieces of things that might work for us, recombine them into something else.
Thanks DK - I thought about this before SH started this excellent group. And he mentioned popular culture, and then there is so-called high culture. Yeah, Eliot had the vision of legions of living dead walking over London Bridge in a world of monotony and regimentation where meaning and purpose were slowly fading away - which he associated with the loss of any kind of spiritual belief (death of God) - the zombies seem to me a part of the nightmare vision, strange as the connection might be
Oh geez DK - great, yes. In the zombie-related stuff you are in danger of having your body taken over - your soul destroyed - like Invasion of the Body Snatchers - this lifeless double replaces you - you but not you. So in IBS you get this fear of sleep phobia. Very strange - if you fall asleep, you will awaken as someone else.
Jul 3, 2011
as brooks landon (who you may credit as the ultimate source of inspiration for my zombie projects) points out, zombies are the ultimate loss of control.
they only want one thing. BRAINS!
Jul 3, 2011
also, you have to consider the zombie as a stand-in for a punching bag - something we can turn our inward anger and aggression upon, without any remorse or guilt. the faceless enemy.
there is a book that was recommended to me by one of the teachers at my school called faces of the enemy by Sam Keen, which talks about the dehumanization of enemy soldiers during wartime through art, and has a ton of great historical wartime propaganda pictures. i think zombies encapsulate that sort of mentality extremely well!
@DK: shopping malls. zombies as portrayal of american consumerism. that is really powerful!
@DVS: apocalypse? religion? i think you're onto something!
Kurosawa's Dreams is one of my favorite movies and an amazing scene is the one where all the dead soldiers are carrying on unaware that they are dead. For those that fear where they will go after death, a fate worse than hell would be to be somewhere stuck in between. If someone dies a sudden or violent death, or dies in a state of heavy confusion due to drugs or dementia etc., it can take them awhile to realize they are dead. I can definately see how vampire lore became eroticized, but not with zombies. Maybe it is a primitive form of beauty and the beast.Maybe it's just purely about conquest. If anyone can figure that out, DVS can. DVS is a living encyclopedia
great stuff with soldiers SH & DK. DK even suggests purgatory. With zombies you are definitely dealing with the death and rebirth idea in Christianity, but perverted. Voodoo and Santeria have rituals that mirror Christian rituals
SH - yes, pop cult can be viewed as a sort of psychological safety valve for the repression necessary to keep society intact. So you get all kinds of bizarre impulses from the id - cannibalism, necrophilia...
Jul 3, 2011
Jul 3, 2011
zombie read & pass is under way!
if you have any old zombie books to contribute, please do! ;-D
Jul 3, 2011
dvds also welcome!!!
Jul 3, 2011
in fact, i would LOVE if we could get a handful of DVDs circulating amongst the members here! if you folks could come up with some highly circulated films that are good, i'd be happy to get a couple cheap dvds off amazon and start a watch and pass, to supplement the read and pass!
donations always welcome too!
the rest of the world has a different format than us though, am i right?
so watch and pass would have to be restricted to US-only, i think.
amanda is currently wading through cheap zombie DVDs on amazon,
as soon as we get it, we're sending it off to Dewi, in canada (ifg i can ever figure out if they have the same DVD format as the US - but i think they do)
other than that, keep up the mischief!!! ;-D
Jul 5, 2011
room for one more on the zombie book!
Jul 5, 2011
welcome snooky!
tell angie to join too, once she finishes her brainsfast.
Jul 2, 2011
De Villo Sloan
The release of the original Night of The Living Dead in the early 1960s - a great leap forward for Zombie Rights and nuclear war hysteria - brought cannibalism to the suburbs:
Jul 2, 2011
De Villo Sloan
Don't forget Invasion of the Body Snatchers - alien seed pods turned you into a zombie in your sleep:
Jul 2, 2011
De Villo Sloan
There are three film versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Donald Sutherland was great in the second
Jul 2, 2011
Jul 2, 2011
and of course, my daughter's favorite:
she's also a resident evil fan, but only plays the games when i play with,
and i rarely play video games these days. :P
Jul 2, 2011
DKeys
Jul 2, 2011
Jul 2, 2011
De Villo Sloan
Jul 2, 2011
DKeys
Jul 2, 2011
Jul 2, 2011
DKeys
Jul 2, 2011
De Villo Sloan
The introduction asks: "What is our obsession with the living dead?" I actually have a theory about this on the cultural front.
T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" is obsessed with images of the living dead, not zombies but life-in-death scenarios. "The Wasteland" is one of the enduring symbols of the previous century - kind of a Homeric epic for those times. It's generally agreed that Eliot was talking about spiritual death in the 20th century, and monotonous and meaningless life in industrial society with only material concerns. We haven't lost much of that yet in our times.
I've always thought that idea from "high culture" found it's way into popular culture with the zombie obsession that at least can be traced to Hollywood films of the 1930s and probably earlier - "The Wasteland" was written in the 1920s. The living dead represent life in suburban America and in the Cold War was used to portray life under communism - just to illustrate the way the zombie obsession has persisted and mutated. It shows no sign of slowing down.
The mixing of sexuality and death in zombie narratives - that's another topic.
Jul 3, 2011
Jul 3, 2011
Jul 3, 2011
De Villo Sloan
Jul 3, 2011
but the question that got us on them was simpler than the one i used for this,
just two words:
WHY ZOMBIES?
Jul 3, 2011
DKeys
That makes a lot of sense DVS. As society has become more and more souless, you have soul 'loss', which-if you believe in the supernatural- leaves
people vulnerable to disencarnate spirits looking for bodies to possess. Then you get 'zombies' I think people use horror to deal with their fear of death and the unknown. Shamans routinely performed soul retrievals on people to avoid having pieces of their souls scattered about the omniverse.
Jul 3, 2011
De Villo Sloan
Jul 3, 2011
De Villo Sloan
Jul 3, 2011
De Villo Sloan
Jul 3, 2011
as brooks landon (who you may credit as the ultimate source of inspiration for my zombie projects) points out, zombies are the ultimate loss of control.
they only want one thing. BRAINS!
Jul 3, 2011
also, you have to consider the zombie as a stand-in for a punching bag - something we can turn our inward anger and aggression upon, without any remorse or guilt. the faceless enemy.
there is a book that was recommended to me by one of the teachers at my school called faces of the enemy by Sam Keen, which talks about the dehumanization of enemy soldiers during wartime through art, and has a ton of great historical wartime propaganda pictures. i think zombies encapsulate that sort of mentality extremely well!
@DK: shopping malls. zombies as portrayal of american consumerism. that is really powerful!
@DVS: apocalypse? religion? i think you're onto something!
Jul 3, 2011
DKeys
Jul 3, 2011
we'll soon change that.
he'll be an unliving encyclopedia! ;-D
Jul 3, 2011
DKeys
Jul 3, 2011
De Villo Sloan
great stuff with soldiers SH & DK. DK even suggests purgatory. With zombies you are definitely dealing with the death and rebirth idea in Christianity, but perverted. Voodoo and Santeria have rituals that mirror Christian rituals
SH - yes, pop cult can be viewed as a sort of psychological safety valve for the repression necessary to keep society intact. So you get all kinds of bizarre impulses from the id - cannibalism, necrophilia...
Jul 3, 2011
Jul 3, 2011
zombie read & pass is under way!
if you have any old zombie books to contribute, please do! ;-D
Jul 3, 2011
Jul 3, 2011
in fact, i would LOVE if we could get a handful of DVDs circulating amongst the members here! if you folks could come up with some highly circulated films that are good, i'd be happy to get a couple cheap dvds off amazon and start a watch and pass, to supplement the read and pass!
donations always welcome too!
the rest of the world has a different format than us though, am i right?
so watch and pass would have to be restricted to US-only, i think.
Jul 3, 2011
De Villo Sloan
Earliest reference in rock I know about - The Zombies, British band from the 1960s - morphed into Argent later on:
Jul 3, 2011
zombies vs. the invisible woman, brilliant!
who needs plants anyways.
Jul 3, 2011
Jul 3, 2011
Svetlana Pesetskaya
Jul 4, 2011
DKeys
Jul 4, 2011
welcome newcomers!
what's new?
* discussion about zombies in pop culture.
* read & pass (see sub-discussion above)
* watch & pass - coming soon
amanda is currently wading through cheap zombie DVDs on amazon,
as soon as we get it, we're sending it off to Dewi, in canada (ifg i can ever figure out if they have the same DVD format as the US - but i think they do)
other than that, keep up the mischief!!! ;-D
Jul 5, 2011
Jul 5, 2011
welcome snooky!
tell angie to join too, once she finishes her brainsfast.
Jul 6, 2011
Jul 6, 2011
Svetlana Pesetskaya
Hi Superhero! my book zombie ,tommorow to mail )))thanks is projekt!)))
# 1
Jul 6, 2011
Svetlana Pesetskaya
Jul 6, 2011
Svetlana Pesetskaya
Jul 6, 2011
Svetlana Pesetskaya
Jul 6, 2011
Jul 9, 2011
De Villo Sloan
Jul 9, 2011
holly cooper shared this with me.
i <3 it! ;-)
Jul 9, 2011
Karin Greenwood
Jul 9, 2011
Jul 9, 2011
@ Karin: just saw this while making my collage and thought of your bird-loving zombie!
Jul 9, 2011