John Sears | September 6, 2013
It is often said that Zombies, in fiction, are a metaphor for social unrest or collapse. Conversely, Zombie fiction is sometimes said to be tied to *good* times. It’s complicated. But whether Zombies are themselves a metaphor, Zombie fiction still has to deal with the world its readers/watchers/players are from. In 1985, for example, ‘Return [...]
John Sears | September 4, 2013
Last weekend The Zombie Rights Campaign journeyed all the way to lovely (but somewhat distant) Columbus, Indiana for the Seventh Annual Dark Carnival Film Festival. We had a good time, and I think there has been major progress toward The Cause, as we will discuss below. First, let’s give a hand to the Dark Carnival [...]
John Sears | August 18, 2013
We’ve previously had a few unkind words to say about the treatment of the Differently Animated by the Rifftrax Live crew from their stint mocking ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’. Mainly because they invited known Anti-Zombie bigot and songsmith Jonathan Coulton to perform on their broadcast. Ahem. Chewing on the doors? Really? But we’re willing [...]
John Sears | August 18, 2013
‘Night of the Living Dead’ is one of those cultural touchstones that is so big that people are unaware of just how big it is. I can’t say how many times I’ve been at a convention for the ZRC, discussing Zombies and their rights in society, only to have someone tell me all about how [...]
John Sears | July 29, 2013
A while ago I started, but sadly did not finish, watching an anime series about a necromancer and his Zombie friend called ‘Sankarea’. Well, Funimation is bringing it to America and they’ve got an English language trailer up: Bearing in mind that I didn’t finish the show (yet), the ZRC feels that Sankarea was on [...]
John Sears | July 23, 2013
‘Day of the Dead’ is something of a black sheep in the Romero Zombie canon, but it’s also one of the earliest films to ‘humanize’ the Differently Animated. In fact, we’ve been told on more than one occasion that ‘Day of the Dead’s sympathy for the Undead, particularly the star, Bub*, is the reason particular [...]
John Sears | July 15, 2013
Greetings out there, Zombie Rights allies! Just a quick update on how things are shaping up for our Summer of Protesting: The ZRC is going to at least do a drop-in visit for Flashback Weekend in Chicago on August 9th-11th, as they’re having a HUGE Dawn of the Dead reunion which is very exciting. Some [...]
John Sears | June 29, 2013
After a recent bout of illness nearly had your ZRC President joining the ranks of the Undead a bit earlier than planned, I recovered, and the ZRC Madison staff saw ‘World War Z’ on Thursday. Naturally, we were appalled at the treatment of the Undead in the film. That in and of itself wasn’t surprising. [...]
John Sears | June 17, 2013
This is a very catchy song. About Zombies. It has a fairly positive and occasionally quite sympathetic portrayal of Zombies. But… well, just wait until the ending. I’m afraid we can’t endorse this sort of ultimately destructive relationship, even in the name of Living-Undead alliance. Still, if you need something to listen to today, it [...]
John Sears | June 17, 2013
Perhaps unsurprisingly, we can admit that the ZRC are occasional Straight Dope readers. It’s nice to have someone out there debunking myths and urban legends and outright zany-ness (is that a word)? But when it comes to Zombies, I think that Cecil of Straight Dope fame is more than a bit misguided himself. Particularly unfair [...]