Before reading this article, if someone were to have asked
me to highlight the differences between Zombies and Vampires, my response would
be awarded no points, and may God have mercy on my soul. However, after reading
Tenga & Zimmerman’s interesting article regarding the subject, the
distinction between the two is extremely evident. Both Zombie and Vampire
narratives are evolving versions of the tale of conflict between the living and
the undead. However, the two species engage audiences quite differently.
The basis
of their argument rests with the statement “Zombies incite fear, Vampires
incite desire”. In the modern world, Vampires are no longer scary, horrendous
creatures, but much more humanized beings that obey human laws, respect Western
societal norms, and share its values. As
they have slowly become upholders of social norms, their hard, muscular form
has come to connote social and political power. They are ‘more Greek god than
revivified corpse’, which is a response to the spread of poor body image and an
obsessive fear of aging that permeates Western culture, particularly the target
audience for Vampire fiction. They uphold human notions of Self and offer a
romanticized view on monstrosity. The Vampire makes death seem “pretty”.
Zombies,
however, reveal the ugliest human truth: we are piles of matter that consume
and excrete other piles of matter. Zombies are “abject”, defined as: “the
corpse…is death infecting life, from which one does not protect oneself from an
object”. Zombies remind us that we, too, will shortly be decaying flesh without
thought or control. We dread this idea, but it also intrigues us-a key basis
for the appeal of horror. Zombies threaten stability and security in our world.
They dismantle individuality, and are horrifying based on sheer numbers. The
denial of unique human identities is what makes zombies terrifying.
The most
thought-provoking point of Tenga & Zimmerman was the notion that Zombies
and Vampires are fitting metaphors for capitalism. When I first read this, I
had no clue how these two unrelated subjects tied together. However, their
explanation makes total sense. Modern vampires live the consumer dream promoted
in Western capitalist society. They glorify reward without work. It’s Zombie
counterpart, however, shows work without reward to reveal the harsh reality of
capitalism and to denounce the capitalist-master role that many vampire
narratives endorse. Zombies do no work toward any goal beyond fulfillment of a
simple drive. The zombie ‘work’ is to endlessly chase and feed on humans; there
is never any satiety, nor any sense of living well. ‘They are the poor, who
toil ceaselessly but never have enough’. The many distinctions between these two
types of undead creatures are perfectly designated in this article.
1)
What type of creature do you think will take
over the Zombie’s role once they become characterized as sentient, sympathetic
creatures?
2)
Will the Ebola virus ultimately start the Zombie
apocalypse in the next 10 years?
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