In the 1978 film Dawn of the Dead, the focus is clearly on the emptiness of consumerism. Zombies wander the mall because it reminds them of their former lives. They are forever hungry and have nothing to contribute to the world. The human characters of Dawn of the Dead block off the entrances to the mall and clear out the zombies, but they too fall victim to the void of consumerism. They deck out their hideout to look like a fancy apartment, wear designer clothes, and frequent the deluxe mall restaurant.
Ultimately, their isolation drives them insane. The audience witnesses how soulless these people feel when Francine stares aimlessly into the mirror as she fixes her makeup, or when Flyboy asks Francine to marry him and offers a set of golden rings. She refuses, telling him it wouldn't be real.
Her response suggests that wearing a piece of jewelry does not hold any significance. To be married, she needs the ceremony, the witnesses, and the society in which marriage is an observed status. Material goods do not validate us as human beings. Our relationships and our roles in society are where we find satisfaction.
World War Z of 2013 speaks to our fear of mindless terrorism. At one point, zombies compromise the safety of a commercial airplane. Westerners struggle to understand why young men suicide bomb defenseless civilians or hijack airplanes to commit great evil. These actions make the assailants appear like mindless drones, for surely a free-thinking individual would question the purpose of attacking innocent people. Like zombies, terrorists do not think freely or appreciate the value of human life. They were once normal people who have been indoctrinated and brainwashed. Like zombies, they have no purpose beyond destruction.
The Walking Dead Series provides an entirely different perspective on zombies. The hordes wander across the United States, devouring cities and small towns wherever prosperity remains. The zombies embody the flaws of human nature. Humans instinctively reproduce, conquer and consume, and after thousands of years of this, there are simply too many people and too much industry on the planet. Rick is a symbol of simplicity. He and his company must learn to survive as their ancestors did without supermarkets or the internet. Country folk from small towns emerge as heroes. They can farm and hunt to survive without the powerful industries that run our world today.
The wandering hordes of zombies will be replaced in real life by hordes of displaced people. Sea levels continue to rise and will eventually devour our greatest cities, sending masses of refugees inland. Americans who know anything about the rest of the world have a grim outlook on the future. Big oil companies are running our economy and our environmental policies, digging a mass grave for the human race. AMC's Walking Dead portrays our expectations of the future, defending our homes and our resources against "the others." Whoever these others may be, whether they are refugees or anarchist gangs, we will definitely dehumanize them when it comes down to keeping our friends and family safe.
Survival Tip of the Day:
Stay close to your friends. Keep back to back formation as you take out zombies, but move quickly so as not to be surrounded.
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