One may wonder why there is such a popularity outburst with zombies in the past few years. Several Keene State College students weighed into these questions and talk about the undead.
Author of an online article titled “Generation whY!? Why Are We Obsessed With Zombies” by Tyler Gildin said, “Maybe the reason we love zombies so much is because we subconsciously want to live in a state of lawlessness,” and continued, “…What’s ironic though, is how as a society, we have almost become like zombies. Attached to our smart phones, computers and other devices, we pretty much walk around in a trance.”
James Calnan, member of Humans vs. Zombies club (HVZ), said, “Zombies are so interesting … But also they reflect what we don’t understand.”
Fellow member of HVZ, Nicolas Garrity, explained how zombies began in comic books, then moved into movies and video games. Garrity said, “Everyone is trying to keep up with everyone else—so I think the big thing is that everyone wanted in on the ‘new thing’ that’s so popular and they wanted to strive from it.”
Michelle Lefebvre / Equinox Staff:
Author of an online article titled Generation whY!? Why Are We Obsessed With Zombies by Tyler Gildin says a love for zombies may derive from a subconscious desire “to live in a state of lawlessness.”
As for a correlation between zombies and technology in society today, nothing is quite certain or defined, but students have opinions about it. Calnan said, “I think our generation has more of an interest in zombies just because of all the technology that we have.”
KSC junior Nico Saraceni said, “I hadn’t made that connection but that’s really true… I think a lot of people I would consider more undead than alive nowadays. But that’s crazy to think about.”
Garrity said, “For me I just think zombies—just, the undead—is a cool concept for stories… But yeah, I can see where people make the comparison.”
Saraceni broke down how the zombie infatuation has been sustained. He said he enjoyed the newer zombie-themed TV show, ‘The Walking Dead.’ Saraceni continued to talk about one of the first real zombie movies that hit American culture. “I guess Night of the Living Dead was the first actual zombie movie, but it hasn’t taken off until now. I think that’s definitely because of the show [The Walking Dead]. TV reaches a lot more people than zombies themselves do.”
According to the article Why We’re Obsessed with the Zombie Apocalypse on LiveScience.com, Stanford literary scholar Angela Becerra Vidergar discusses the fixation with zombies and how they educate people on how to survive in case of mass-destruction. “Even if as a society we have lost a lot of our belief in a positive future and instead have more of an idea of a disaster to come, we still think that we are survivors, we still want to believe the we could survive,” she said. “Zombies are important as a reflection of ourselves,” Vidergar also said.
Calnan asked, “If there was ever a zombie apocalypse who would survive? …looking at The Walking Dead thinking, you know, those are the people who would actually survive. But what would it take for people to survive, what skill set would you have to have?” Whether The Walking Dead is a part of the life of a student or not, zombie tales are now present in television, movies and books.
Nicole Carrobis can contacted at ncarrobis@ksc.keene.edu