Arguably the modern view of zombies only dates back a couple decades. Night Of The Living Dead is the first instance of an unthinking undead plague. It only became a genre because US copyright law used to be really stupid, and the whole movie was accidentally public-domain. So it doesn’t take any huge shifts for an alternate universe to simply have no idea what the word “zombie” means, unless a character is familiar with Voodoo.
Exactly. The most plausible in-universe use of the word is to say “Wow, look at that thing. It’s like some kind of voodoo zombie.” Though, the issue with using that kind of statement is that way more people know about the modern Romero zombie than they do the voodoo one. So people wouldn’t really understand. It also implies that the zombie is supernatural.
Honestly, even Romero didn’t use the word. He called them ghouls. Which… I think is also basically like Voodoo zombies, but for vampires instead of priests.
Nope, apparently from pre-Islamic Arabian folklore. Humanoid monsters that lurk in graveyards and eat people. Fitting.
also, like with everything, pre-NotLD, zombie movies were rife with xenophobia and racism - existing to draw a distinction between Christian white people and “voodoo” black people and the modern (i.e. post 1900) social justice, suffrage, apartheid and segregation movements.
Do I remember it right that the whole “zombies eat brains” thing comes from Return of the Living Dead?
I think the idea of the dead rising from the grave and walking around is a very old scary story but as you say the Hollywood “zombie” is such a new concept that it’s got no real lore behind it. I’ve seen several folks make the case over the years that the Hollywood Zombie is a conveniently blank canvas to paint present day existential dread onto, that “zombies” can always represent the threatening other, be they nazis, communists, anarchists, kids these days, mindless consumers, terrorists, nazis again for some fucking reason, liberals, conservatives, whatever.
Where they come from, how they work, how they behave, what happens to their victims, that can change to match the fears of the modern audience. Evil magic brings dead people back to life and they slowly shamble toward you and smother you. A deadly virus that comes from a lab if we’re on an anti-science kick or a foreign country if we’re being xenophobic this election cycle turns people feral and they sprint after you and tear your flesh off. A more different deadly virus is spread by bite, so if you let them too close, they’ll recruit your children to their cause! Or it’s an army of people who have gotten brain implants and an army of Borg drones who work as a hive mind with a single purpose: To make you get a 5G plan too!
The Other who is less human an thus less valuable than I am are attacking and we have no moral hangups about fighting back very wantonly.
I’ve seen several folks make the case over the years that the Hollywood Zombie is a conveniently blank canvas to paint present day existential dread onto, that “zombies” can always represent the threatening other, be they nazis, communists, anarchists, kids these days, mindless consumers, terrorists, nazis again for some fucking reason, liberals, conservatives, whatever.
Deeply ironic, considering Romero movies are mostly about threats from the living. Night is a classic American horror movie with desperate strangers trapped in a house. Dawn is about what people think they need. Day is loudly about the limits of authority and quietly about the limits of hope.
It’s not until Snyder’s fast-zombie remake of Dawn (and the modern craze it kicked off) that right-wing moralizing really crept in. Even though that movie has the absolute best takedown of apocalyptic gun fetishism.
Arguably the modern view of zombies only dates back a couple decades. Night Of The Living Dead is the first instance of an unthinking undead plague. It only became a genre because US copyright law used to be really stupid, and the whole movie was accidentally public-domain. So it doesn’t take any huge shifts for an alternate universe to simply have no idea what the word “zombie” means, unless a character is familiar with Voodoo.
Exactly. The most plausible in-universe use of the word is to say “Wow, look at that thing. It’s like some kind of voodoo zombie.” Though, the issue with using that kind of statement is that way more people know about the modern Romero zombie than they do the voodoo one. So people wouldn’t really understand. It also implies that the zombie is supernatural.
Honestly, even Romero didn’t use the word. He called them ghouls. Which… I think is also basically like Voodoo zombies, but for vampires instead of priests.
Nope, apparently from pre-Islamic Arabian folklore. Humanoid monsters that lurk in graveyards and eat people. Fitting.
also, like with everything, pre-NotLD, zombie movies were rife with xenophobia and racism - existing to draw a distinction between Christian white people and “voodoo” black people and the modern (i.e. post 1900) social justice, suffrage, apartheid and segregation movements.
Do I remember it right that the whole “zombies eat brains” thing comes from Return of the Living Dead?
I think the idea of the dead rising from the grave and walking around is a very old scary story but as you say the Hollywood “zombie” is such a new concept that it’s got no real lore behind it. I’ve seen several folks make the case over the years that the Hollywood Zombie is a conveniently blank canvas to paint present day existential dread onto, that “zombies” can always represent the threatening other, be they nazis, communists, anarchists, kids these days, mindless consumers, terrorists, nazis again for some fucking reason, liberals, conservatives, whatever.
Where they come from, how they work, how they behave, what happens to their victims, that can change to match the fears of the modern audience. Evil magic brings dead people back to life and they slowly shamble toward you and smother you. A deadly virus that comes from a lab if we’re on an anti-science kick or a foreign country if we’re being xenophobic this election cycle turns people feral and they sprint after you and tear your flesh off. A more different deadly virus is spread by bite, so if you let them too close, they’ll recruit your children to their cause! Or it’s an army of people who have gotten brain implants and an army of Borg drones who work as a hive mind with a single purpose: To make you get a 5G plan too!
The Other who is less human an thus less valuable than I am are attacking and we have no moral hangups about fighting back very wantonly.
Yep! Return Of The Living Dead is a whole other level of fucked up, and it is fantastic.
There’s a hardcore band named after one of the best lines.
Deeply ironic, considering Romero movies are mostly about threats from the living. Night is a classic American horror movie with desperate strangers trapped in a house. Dawn is about what people think they need. Day is loudly about the limits of authority and quietly about the limits of hope.
It’s not until Snyder’s fast-zombie remake of Dawn (and the modern craze it kicked off) that right-wing moralizing really crept in. Even though that movie has the absolute best takedown of apocalyptic gun fetishism.