RE: The Zombie, and its connection to the human psyche
Wow, that was a heavy piece! You managed to cover a ton of ground, with a drawing to accompany. And you managed to turn a discussion about zombies in an intellectual direction. Very impressed, bravo my friend!
I have actually heard the theory that the horror in pop culture at various times reflects the subconscious fears of the populace, and I really love the idea and I buy into it. Your interpretation of zombies being linked to various fears throughout history is intriguing and fascinating. I think I would argue though, that especially recently (the walking dead era), zombies aren’t reflecting a fear of the generic “other” but instead our fears of our neighbors and fellow citizens. In an age of partisanship and division, your next door neighbor is scarier than any turbaned terrorist in a faraway land. But that actually ties in nicely with your own thoughts about humanizing the zombies and living in harmony, so I guess my starting point is not that far from your destination after all.
Other horror/thriller trends I’ve observed along with the fears I would argue they reflect: the spate of natural disaster movies (2012, the day after tomorrow) in the 90s/early 2000s (fear of climate change), the wave of dystopia films (Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent) reflecting a fear of government. Superhero movies, reflecting a feeling that humans and society are beyond saving without the help of an outside force.
Great thought provoking piece! Followed and looking forward to more!
Oh great comment, and thanks for reading through the article, I know that most people haven't got through the entire thing haha.
As far as Hegel's "the other" goes, "the other" would absolutely also apply to neighbors. So pretty much every relationship in our lives, we are going through that "master/slave" cycle in his theory.
But just like individuals go through this process and then eventually mature and evolve in their self-identity and social presence, so do societies of people and nations.
But social/political evolution of self happens a lot more slowly and violently.
I love your observation of other movie trends and how they relate to world events!
You should write a blog post about one of those topics!
(kinda makes me want to do a disaster painting now lol)
That’s a great idea for a post! And I am always looking for those 😉
I’ll have to do a little more reading about Hegel and his theories. Sounds like an interesting guy!
The Day After Tomorrow is pretty spoofable. South Park had a funny parody with a hilarious scene when Randy is drawing the “everyone above this line is dead” lines on the map.