Why We Love Zombies
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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I don't think Yahtzee is saying that zombies are the best enemies in games or anything like that. I think the purpose of the article is just to explain where the obsession with them stems from and he does a good job. I'm sure plenty of people would agree with you and happily find some new enemies to face but as he explains, there are some pretty solid psychological reasons why consumers will consistently buy into the zombie craze. Pretty ironic when you consider that Romero's Dawn of the Dead was all about criticising consumerism.OhJohnNo said:
This entire article could have been written about Vampires (since Romero's zombies were originally based on vampires), and no one would know the difference.
Nah. I think zombies are fascinating and frightening to people on various levels, but in terms of why geeks in particular love them, I think you've missed the biggest point: zombies represent everything we hate about modern society, because they're average joes. They represent soulessness, conformity, and a loss of individuality. There's a reason so many zombie movies take place in malls ? all of it is associated with superficiality, capitalism, and the mindless pursuit of stuff. We love zombie apocalypse because in the breakdown of society, being a loner is the only thing that will keep you alive, and we feel good about that.
Basically zombies are everything we're afraid of becoming, because we all want to be special. Particularly geeks and artsies.
Basically zombies are everything we're afraid of becoming, because we all want to be special. Particularly geeks and artsies.
You insights into the human mind are stunning as always!
And what more, i cannot argue with any points you made. You for got the most important part though.
Theyer food source. While this subject is more or less self explanitory, it still needs to be sighted.
THEY EAT PEOPLE MAN!!!! And to live, its you or them. No ands, ifs, or booty--booty-booty-booty rockin everywhere ((buts)).
They crave nothing more then flesh. Sweet human nomnoms. And that, goes without saying, is bad.
And what more, i cannot argue with any points you made. You for got the most important part though.
Theyer food source. While this subject is more or less self explanitory, it still needs to be sighted.
THEY EAT PEOPLE MAN!!!! And to live, its you or them. No ands, ifs, or booty--booty-booty-booty rockin everywhere ((buts)).
They crave nothing more then flesh. Sweet human nomnoms. And that, goes without saying, is bad.
I like it, but #3 sorta felt off. I don't follow the logic that some fragment of Joe still rolling around in there counts as an afterlife, I figured we were drawn to naturally target zombies because they were the anti-afterlife.
Some recognizable measure of Joe is didn't make it to Valhalla and is trapped here. That must be awful for quasi-Joe, stuck in that ugly thing; I should help him get back to the whole being dead thing. I hope it not being a surprise doesn't ruin it for him.
Also: it's an affront to natural law! This cannot stand, there are rules here; You go down, you're gone! It's my civic duty to correct Joe of his deviant ways.
Some recognizable measure of Joe is didn't make it to Valhalla and is trapped here. That must be awful for quasi-Joe, stuck in that ugly thing; I should help him get back to the whole being dead thing. I hope it not being a surprise doesn't ruin it for him.
Also: it's an affront to natural law! This cannot stand, there are rules here; You go down, you're gone! It's my civic duty to correct Joe of his deviant ways.
I think it has most strongly to do with #2. I have long had a theory about video game enemies. It came to me as I was playing Return to Castle Wolfenstien. I walked up to a wounded Nazi soldier who was trying to crawl away from me and shot him in the head. Then I laughed.
I realized then that what we gamers seem to want the most is not only to kill things, but to do so in epic and merciless ways without guilt. So we need video game villains that we feel no compunction about slaughtering. Also, the more intelligent the creature, the better. Its fine to kill a cougar in RDR, but it doesn't have the same feeling of satisfaction as offing a creature that can reason. The list I came up with is as follows and is not considered exhaustive but it hits the high points:
Aliens
Nazis
Zombies
Storm Troopers (Alien Nazis!)
Now, you could put monsters in there but I feel like they don't have the same satisfaction because we don't feel a connection to them. Thus we don't get the same feeling of ruthless destruction. Zombies are the least intelligent and most "mystical" thing on my list... but the fact that they used to be your neighbor and local shopkeeper tips the scales in the far other direction. We get to murder them without remorse, we have to shoot them in the head, and we resonate with their basic humanity. So it feels twisted and wonderful to blow their heads off.
As a side note, I had robots on the list for a while because you can destroy them without a second thought, but they aren't messy and biological enough to meet that completely ruthless desire to dispense super-freestyle murder that we gamers apparently secretly crave.
I realized then that what we gamers seem to want the most is not only to kill things, but to do so in epic and merciless ways without guilt. So we need video game villains that we feel no compunction about slaughtering. Also, the more intelligent the creature, the better. Its fine to kill a cougar in RDR, but it doesn't have the same feeling of satisfaction as offing a creature that can reason. The list I came up with is as follows and is not considered exhaustive but it hits the high points:
Aliens
Nazis
Zombies
Storm Troopers (Alien Nazis!)
Now, you could put monsters in there but I feel like they don't have the same satisfaction because we don't feel a connection to them. Thus we don't get the same feeling of ruthless destruction. Zombies are the least intelligent and most "mystical" thing on my list... but the fact that they used to be your neighbor and local shopkeeper tips the scales in the far other direction. We get to murder them without remorse, we have to shoot them in the head, and we resonate with their basic humanity. So it feels twisted and wonderful to blow their heads off.
As a side note, I had robots on the list for a while because you can destroy them without a second thought, but they aren't messy and biological enough to meet that completely ruthless desire to dispense super-freestyle murder that we gamers apparently secretly crave.
If you want a quick laugh search "New Zealand Zombie Walk" and check what the money was going towards.
If you were to make a pie chart of how relevent these reasons are, you'd barely be able to make out the slivers of the first three. People love the zombie apocalypse because its a war not for freedom or glory or profit, but for survival.
Well... todays Extra Punctuation was certainly... dark.
Also, I found it funny that after i read that "just putting zombies in the article name will up the comments" and i looked down and saw 15 comments, and by the time I got to page 2, it had more then doubled 0_o
Also, I found it funny that after i read that "just putting zombies in the article name will up the comments" and i looked down and saw 15 comments, and by the time I got to page 2, it had more then doubled 0_o
2044: Zombie Outbreak Occurs
2045: The Zombie war of '45 begins
2065: Zombies are destroyed apart from small pockets of resistance
2067: Zombie rights groups protest for humane treatment of zombies
2082: Zombies gain right to vote and own land
2045: The Zombie war of '45 begins
2065: Zombies are destroyed apart from small pockets of resistance
2067: Zombie rights groups protest for humane treatment of zombies
2082: Zombies gain right to vote and own land
Ever since the zombie fad kicked into high gear, I've been disappointed that our world's greatest nemesis is not some sinister intellect beyond our ken, but brain-dead cannibals.
Have we nothing to strive for?
Have we nothing to strive for?