Undead?

So, as I mentioned the other day, I've been reading World War Z and I finished it this evening. It was a compelling read, and I'm sure I'll be lending it out to friends for months to come. My reading this book comes at an interesting time: with the exception of playing a lot of music with various folks and the occasional night out at the bar, I lead a generally boring life. While I spent the last few years drifting along as the wind took me, I would get into interesting situations, and it seemed I always had a story to tell. Chances are this is because I always had time on my hands, which also the reason I had no money in my pockets. Still, now that I'm gainfully employed, outside of the occasional MUNI fiasco or some external stimulus, I don't really get into a lot of different situations. Have I been bitten by the zombie we call a career?

Either way, I'd much rather not dwell on that, I just thought it was a side note with a hypothetical question worth asking. Still, there was one other point I wanted to make this evening, and it relates more directly to zombie culture. Not like "oh, I don't live a fulfilling life, I'm a zombie." Rather, this has much more to do with the honest-to-goodness "I eat brains and lose limbs without detriment" kind of zombie life. I would consider myself somewhat of a zombie movie/book fan. I find there are a lot of interesting things to do with the scenario, and it leaves a lot of space for artistic interpretation. But there's one common thread that has been emerging in a lot of zombie tales that rubs me the wrong way, and that's the reliance on the "horrible tragedy brings out the best and the worst in people" scenario. There are only so many tales that can end in the "good" people winning out in the end and being freed of their burden, yet living with the painful memory of what happened. There's the constant "we'll always remember what happened here" message whether it be an isolated incident of a zombie or two wreaking havoc, or if it's a whole horde of the undead teeming across the continent.

My message to writers/creators of zombie stories: I know you want to make people think, I know you want to get some greater message across, but from time to time remember one thing: you tell zombie stories. You're not writing the great American novel... you're writing the great American zombie novel. You have a better chance at winning an MTV Movie award or Teen Choice award than actually winning an Oscar. There is nothing wrong with writing a zombie movie or book that just has mad and crazy legions of the undead eating the shit out of people just for the hell of it, and then continuing the pattern. People don't watch zombie movies for social criticism, they watch zombie movies to see people get FUCKED UP. Just remember; never have more of a greater message than entrails, and you'll be just fine.



PS - And yes, that is zombie Bill, just for the record.