Ask Dr. Eldritch and Zombies
So the ZRC gave a recommendation in our Media Resources documentation to Ask Dr. Eldritch, due primarily to the secondary storyline which deals with a group of Zombies trying to make a living in a typical white-collar workplace, dealing with all your normal white-collar issues – saving up vacation, dealing with unreasonable deadlines, having a jerk for a boss, what have you. In addition the series also dealt with the unique challenges Zombies face in a Living dominated work environment, the discrimination they struggle valiantly to overcome.
Recently, however, the comic strip has begun to trouble me somewhat. There’s the matter of the long-running ‘Today’s Zombie Danger’ graphic in the upper left on the new comic page, for one. I had long considered this a harmless satire of our color-coded terrorism alerts, so widely mocked during the Bush administration. What if it’s not, however? What if Dr. Eldritch is seriously pushing the idea that Zombies are a dangerous and variable threat to the well-being of the general populace, one that needs to be forecast, like bad weather or Tsunamis?
The most recent comic unfortunately engages in some apparent Z-bashing as well, making cheap shots at the ‘smell’ associated with a wet Zombie and making puns at Zombie-expense, once again perpetuating the myth that Zombies are monosyllabic shambling illiterates, which is one of the most persistent myths that we challenge here at the ZRC.
I think I’ll have to contact the creator and see where his feelings on Zombies truly lie. More on that later.
Update: Well that shows me for being busy organizing the Lurch auction; Ask Dr. Eldritch noticed our concerns and addressed them alongside a new comic featuring the Office Zombies discussing various forms of discrimination against the Differently Animated.
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