Rise of the ‘New’ Zombie?
Reinvention in the horror genre is a very common occurrence. Vampires are especially prone to this, but it’s true of all so-called ‘monsters’. (See this TV Tropes page for examples)
Depictions of the Differently Animated, aka Zombies, in America have largely been of one of two types. First you had your Voodoo thrall zombie, a slave either risen from the grave or brought to a state of semi-death through mystical chemistry. Then, thanks largely to Mr. George Romero (grr), we got the Romero zombie, a disease-ridden walking corpse with an unquenchable desire for human flesh.
From time to time there have been variations, certainly. And the Euro-zombie archetype, which at times straddles the line between undead and Demon, has made the occasional inroad. Still, by and large, the Romero stereotype dominates our culture.
Yet lately, there has been a rash of what one might term ‘New Zombies’ in the media. Currently in theatres is a remake of Romero’s Not-quite-Zombie film The Crazies, which is very similar to his Zombiepocalypse films, save that the people engaged in mayhem aren’t dead per se. Also very popular at the moment are the Bioshock games (the second of which has just come out this last month), which feature an underwater city where superpowered, and thoroughly insane, people feed upon the dead for the raw materials they need to survive. In this case it’s a technomagical substance rather than meat itself, but you can see the parallels.
Does this indicate another metamorphosis of the zombie genre is on the way? Are these creatures, despite not being Undead in a traditional sense, nonetheless beings who need the ZRC’s advocacy and outreach efforts? Should we have a Splicer Solidarity sub-organization, or a Crazy Counseling group?
These are serious issues that the ZRC will give weighty thought to in the coming days and weeks.
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