A long post so I’ll put it behind a cut.

The ZRC had a mission, and well-executed missions require plans. First we got new literature printed to highlight the difficulties Zombies are faced with thanks to the overwhelming wave of Anti-Zombie videogames coming out of Japan. Then we made new protest signs and got some of our classic models out of storage. We assembled our arsenal of truth in the car, filled up the tank, and rolled out of Madison Friday afternoon with one goal in mind: opening minds about the harms of Resident Evil.

However, being practical campaigners, we also made a stop at Ikea.

For you see, the Art Director needs a new desk/drawing station to craft positive and uplifting Zombie art, like that which graces our newest pamphlet, and so we turned to the Swedes and their furniture named after people for possible solutions.

Also we had meatballs and various lingonberry things in the cafeteria. It’s just something that you do at IKEA.

After that, however, we were ready to storm the theatre and work toward Zombie Equality. We arrived at the Streets of Woodfield mall-type-area and found the theatre, seen here, pre-protest.

We got set up inside and prepared for an evening of good-natured social outreach, and if I’ve learned nothing else, it’s that a good banner goes a long way toward getting your message out, so we brought ours along for the ride.

As the actual scheduled event started we saw both positive and negative interactions with Zombiekind by the living. The face-painting station offered living people a chance to experience an evening as a Zombie with some quite-frankly very snazzy decorating jobs.

On the other hand, plumbing the vile depths of bigotry, a local martial arts dojo set up a demonstration of Anti-Zombie martial arts, sporting a banner behind them that read: “Beat the Zombie or Become a Zombie”

The Anti-Zombie martial arts demonstration was followed several times by an audience interaction segment where the instructors and their Zombie-posing-stunt accomplices would show people there to see the protest or the, ahem, ‘film’ some basic martial arts techniques, mostly throws, so that they could protect themselves from the fearsome zombie menace, or some such nonsense.

Truly a disturbing spectacle to have seen.

After capturing some of this savagery on memory card, we took the protest to the street with our signs and the help of a Zombified march attendee, picketing directly under the theatre’s outdoor sign. We got some good responses from our new ‘Honk If You Love Zombies’ sign, and all was going well, until The Man decided to show up and butt in.

(The Man represented here by a mall security guard)

Yes, we were informed by John-Almost-Law that our protest was too disruptive for the squares and that we had to cease picketing at once. Shock and dismay were our first reaction, but upon reflection this was a landmark day – never before has a ZRC protest been the subject of Official Disapproval or an order to disperse!

We clearly must be doing something right to so upset the forces of the status quo.

Undeterred, we moved our protest inside and got some nice picketing done while a local radio station promoted the 3D carnage about to be shown.

Particularly enthusiastic were a pair of Chicago-area Zombies who came out to make their voices heard, and of course, the ZRC was happy to lend them a hand.

As the showtime for the movie approcahced we cooled our heels at the theatre, but the dark clouds of oppression looming overhead meant that the ZRC felt the need to change plans a bit and book it before the screening; there was no telling when the next crackdown would occur, and spies were everywhere. We have made plans to see it here in Madison this weekend however, and a review will of course be posted when that’s done.

We did make it to the arcade next door for the afterparty though; the Gameworks there in Schaumburg is interesting from a Zombie Rights perspective in that it has a ton of House of the Dead machines, all four editions no less. If a person was interested in playing and evaluating a lot of the premiere light-gun, Anti-Zombie game series, it would be an ideal place to go.

(Very short House of the Dead review: If you like a pulpy mishmash of Zombie oppression, Japanese horror, arcade style light gun games and ridiculously overdramatic dialogue, then you still shouldn’t play these games as they will devour your money and rob you blind).

That about wraps it up for another of the Zombie Rights Campaign’s trips to Chicago. Future events will go up on the frontpage, naturally, and we’ll no doubt have more visits to America’s Second City, and bustling hub of the Undead Equality movement, here in the near future.

Until next time, a hearty thanks to both the Horror Society and the greater Chicago area for being such great hosts, and for being so receptive to The Cause.

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This entry was posted by John Sears on Sunday, September 12th, 2010 at 10:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.