The Zombie
Survival guide by Max Brookes truly encompasses the idea of a modern monster; ourselves.
In this “handbook” to surviving the zombie apocalypse we are presented with a
few themes of our own mortality and limitations. For as humanity became the
dominant species on this planet, beating out other mammals, disease, and
natural disaster, the only thing left to threaten us is plague, or ourselves. I believe that is why the
idea of a zombie apocalypse is so terrifyingly popular. It is death, the greatest
monster of all, spreading through vessels of humanity.
Imagine
seeing your entire family and friends zombified before you eyes. To me that is
worse than death. I envision everyone I know, shuffling around aimlessly,
grunting, and marauding for flesh. Significantly, they do not want any old flesh,
they want human flesh. They are a
manipulated, perverse version of ourselves and those we used to know.
Extrapolating
from classic to modern representations of zombies, I have arrived at a few
themes that seem to play into our fears of those hollow, violent creatures.
First, I believe that they remind us of a barbarian civilization; Humanity at
its most brutal and depraved. Over the last 150 years or more, the idea of “civilized”
humanity dominates our society and the world. A zombie apocalypse may refer to
the collapse of civilized human society, which I believe, is a fear we all have
at one point or another.
Another
critical theme is the fact that most zombie outbreaks come from human
experimentation on the genome and DNA of humanity. In many stories, humans
accidently release a virus, like in Resident Evil, that consumes the planet.
Especially in this modern era of advanced military operations, destruction of
the earth by human hands is more than thought about; it is a semi-reality. In
the blink of an eye, our world could be destroyed by a nuclear holocaust.
Perhaps zombification is a translation of the human fear of self destruction on a massive scale.
I think the example of The Zombie Survival Guide is a good example of a monster because zombies are humans with one desire, to eat what they once were, just like how people wish they could be what they once were. Zombies are one of the scariest monsters because they represent our biggest fear, death. While there is always a fear that we'll kill ourselves off, in almost all representations there are a band of a few people that persevere, not only in life but they carry the values of our society. Maybe holding onto values in a desperate situation is wishful thinking and I think that is what scares us most about the zombie apocalypse. The thought that when shit hits the fan that we as people won't be people anymore is what makes zombies so scary, they represent what we can become, even when living.
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