Matt Posner's Blog: You've Been Schooled - Posts Tagged "zombies"

I'd like to introduce zombie author Drake Vaughn. His first book, Zombie Generation, can be found here:



The Zombie Generation

I asked Drake to write an essay for me about why zombie literature is so popular. His response references a lot of the material I grew up with. Right on, Drake -- we are on the same wavelength. This is a guy to watch for. Here's Drake's essay. Tell your friends about it.

1954 was a good year. Elvis Presley wailed his first tune at Sun Records. The polio vaccine was introduced. The Dow Jones surpassed the 1929 high for the first time since the Great Depression. Rationing due to WW2 finally ended in the UK. Color TV was invented. Joe DiMaggio married Marilyn Monroe. A gallon of gas only cost 22 cents. Hardly the time one would expect for the birth of the modern zombie.

Although, 1954 was anything but peaches and roses. Brown v. Board of Education laid the groundwork for the racial upheavals of the following decade. The USSR tested its first nuclear bomb, prompting President Eisenhower to give his “Domino Theory” speech. And one domino fell as the French lost the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, ceding control of North Vietnam to the communists and digging the roots for later US involvement. Cold War paranoia spread out of control as Senator Joseph McCarthy conducted his witch-hunt investigation for secret Reds.

And on the tiny Japanese island of Bikini Atoll, operation Castle Bravo birthed the first hydrogen bomb. Expected to produce a six megaton explosion, it rocked a surprising fifteen megaton punch. A nearby fishing boat had been told they would be clear of the blast, and instead found themselves irradiated. This news zipped through Japan sparking mass panic and fears over a radioactive food supply. And from this chaos, film director Ishiro Honda was inspired to create the atomic breathing icon Godzilla.

And Honda was hardly alone in transforming the era’s anxieties into a creative venture. 1954 was also the year when American author Richard Matheson published I Am Legend, thereby creating the template for the modern post-apocalyptic zombie story. Of course, the monsters in Matheson’s book are vampires, not the flesh guzzling undead, but the archetypes of I Am Legend are far more similar to zombies than the vampires of today.

Up to that point, zombies were associated with voodoo, such as in the classic film White Zombie (1932), where the undead were under the spell of an evil mastermind. For the first time, Matheson introduced a mob of monsters under nobody’s control outside of their own thirst for human blood. Likewise, this new breed of vampires was spawned by a global pandemic, similar to the zombie stories of today. Pop hits such as Twilight and True Blood have more in common with the gothic tradition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula than Matheson’s themes of isolation, survival, guilt-free violence, and post-apocalyptic destruction. And it’s no accident these changes began at the exact moment when Cold War paranoia reached its zenith. Matheson masterfully channeled the apocalyptic fear that with a single nuclear blast, society would crumble, leaving only a few survivors to fend for themselves.

Filmmaker George Romero likewise tapped this apocalyptic zeitgeist while writing the seminal zombie film Night of the Living Dead. And it should come as no surprise that he credited I Am Legend as his inspiration. But unlike the relatively stable 1954, the country was on the brink of massive upheaval when he wrote the screenplay in 1967. Race riots ravished major cities such as Cleveland, Newark, and Detroit. Protests against the Vietnam War splintered the country even further. And tensions grew worse the following year. Only a few months before the film’s October release, both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated. All at once, Night of the Living Dead seemed to embody the breakdown and confusion of that volatile election year. The nihilistic orgy of destruction and aura of impending doom fit perfectly with the turbulent times.

Romero continued to expand on this zombie mythology, incorporating social themes such as vapid consumerism in Dawn of the Dead (1978) and psychological isolation in Day of the Dead (1985). Even so, throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, mainstream apocalyptic tales tended towards the themes of totalitarian government/corporate power and technological advances run amuck. Societal collapse brought upon by the brainless undead was pushed to the cultish sidelines. This mirrored the major epidemics of the time, such as AIDS, crack, racial animosity, and the rise of divorce. All of which frayed society, but were relegated to a small segment of the population. This was in contrast to the sweeping pandemic and mindless destruction reflected in zombie mythology.

Not to sound cliché, but this instantly changed with the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11th, 2001. Suddenly, a new monster emerged. Hidden right within our mists, this new enemy was irrational and suicidal. And along with this new outside threat, the economy tanked that December as Enron went bankrupt, revealing all sorts of financial shenanigans and corruption. So it should come as no surprise when Cold War anxiety and paranoia over a faceless enemy reemerged, tugging the zombie mythology back to the surface with it.

And this change in cultural zeitgeist was best reflected in Daniel Boyle’s 28 Days Later, released in 2002. Although filmed prior to the attacks, the movie still managed to capture the general anxieties of the time. Instead of lumbering brainless idiots of Romero’s creations, these undead creatures struck at a lightning quick speed. These rapid and mindless attacks seemed to embody this new type of terrorism of suicidal airplanes, anonymous anthrax mailings, and a distant sniper killing random targets.

Although, it wasn’t until another domestic tragedy when the zombie mythology really began to pick up speed. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck, demolishing the city of New Orleans. Not only did home videos capture the destruction for everyone to see in vivid detail, but the bungled recovery effort likewise added to the feeling of helplessness. Scenes of apocalyptic destruction were suddenly no longer relegated to big screen Hollywood fantasies. And out of this rubble, two major zombie novels were released the following year: World War Z by Max Brooks and Cell by Stephen King, the premiere name in horror fiction.

And in 2008, just as the country appeared to be on the path to recovery, the real estate market slammed to its knees. The entire financial industry imploded, collapsing on par with the 1929 stock market crash. And similar to how the Great Depression ushered in a classic age of Hollywood horror: Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), Freaks (1932), and King Kong (1933), this recession brought the highest grossing zombie film of all time: Zombieland (2009), along with TV’s first zombie-centric show, The Walking Dead (2010). The zombies had returned. And in great numbers.

Currently, there seems to be no end in sight for this zombie fever. Hollywood has three undead projects slated for 2013, including a summer blockbuster release of World War Z starring Brad Pitt. Of course, spending millions of dollars on this zombie craze doesn’t guarantee it will resonate with the culture as a whole. However, with the stalled economy forcing even college graduates to move back in with their parents, along with the piles of ever mounting debts, there’s a growing sense things are only getting worse. From Tea Partiers to Occupiers, society is splitting into ever more polarized camps. And each one is convinced the other side is ruining everything, while likewise believing there is no way to stop the collapse. And whenever there’s a fissure in society, the flesh guzzling undead are never too far behind, waiting to chew on the pieces.

Drake Vaughn is the author of “The Zombie Generation” (Dead Orb Press, 2012). He lives in Santa Monica, CA with his wife and a spunky black cat who has returned from the dead on a number of occasions.

I'd like to introduce zombie author Drake Vaughn. His first book, Zombie Generation, can be found here:



The Zombie Generation

I asked Drake to write an essay for me about why zombie literature is so popular. His response references a lot of the material I grew up with. Right on, Drake -- we are on the same wavelength. This is a guy to watch for. Here's Drake's essay. Tell your friends about it.

1954 was a good year. Elvis Presley wailed his first tune at Sun Records. The polio vaccine was introduced. The Dow Jones surpassed the 1929 high for the first time since the Great Depression. Rationing due to WW2 finally ended in the UK. Color TV was invented. Joe DiMaggio married Marilyn Monroe. A gallon of gas only cost 22 cents. Hardly the time one would expect for the birth of the modern zombie.

Although, 1954 was anything but peaches and roses. Brown v. Board of Education laid the groundwork for the racial upheavals of the following decade. The USSR tested its first nuclear bomb, prompting President Eisenhower to give his “Domino Theory” speech. And one domino fell as the French lost the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, ceding control of North Vietnam to the communists and digging the roots for later US involvement. Cold War paranoia spread out of control as Senator Joseph McCarthy conducted his witch-hunt investigation for secret Reds.

And on the tiny Japanese island of Bikini Atoll, operation Castle Bravo birthed the first hydrogen bomb. Expected to produce a six megaton explosion, it rocked a surprising fifteen megaton punch. A nearby fishing boat had been told they would be clear of the blast, and instead found themselves irradiated. This news zipped through Japan sparking mass panic and fears over a radioactive food supply. And from this chaos, film director Ishiro Honda was inspired to create the atomic breathing icon Godzilla.

And Honda was hardly alone in transforming the era’s anxieties into a creative venture. 1954 was also the year when American author Richard Matheson published I Am Legend, thereby creating the template for the modern post-apocalyptic zombie story. Of course, the monsters in Matheson’s book are vampires, not the flesh guzzling undead, but the archetypes of I Am Legend are far more similar to zombies than the vampires of today.

Up to that point, zombies were associated with voodoo, such as in the classic film White Zombie (1932), where the undead were under the spell of an evil mastermind. For the first time, Matheson introduced a mob of monsters under nobody’s control outside of their own thirst for human blood. Likewise, this new breed of vampires was spawned by a global pandemic, similar to the zombie stories of today. Pop hits such as Twilight and True Blood have more in common with the gothic tradition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula than Matheson’s themes of isolation, survival, guilt-free violence, and post-apocalyptic destruction. And it’s no accident these changes began at the exact moment when Cold War paranoia reached its zenith. Matheson masterfully channeled the apocalyptic fear that with a single nuclear blast, society would crumble, leaving only a few survivors to fend for themselves.

Filmmaker George Romero likewise tapped this apocalyptic zeitgeist while writing the seminal zombie film Night of the Living Dead. And it should come as no surprise that he credited I Am Legend as his inspiration. But unlike the relatively stable 1954, the country was on the brink of massive upheaval when he wrote the screenplay in 1967. Race riots ravished major cities such as Cleveland, Newark, and Detroit. Protests against the Vietnam War splintered the country even further. And tensions grew worse the following year. Only a few months before the film’s October release, both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated. All at once, Night of the Living Dead seemed to embody the breakdown and confusion of that volatile election year. The nihilistic orgy of destruction and aura of impending doom fit perfectly with the turbulent times.

Romero continued to expand on this zombie mythology, incorporating social themes such as vapid consumerism in Dawn of the Dead (1978) and psychological isolation in Day of the Dead (1985). Even so, throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, mainstream apocalyptic tales tended towards the themes of totalitarian government/corporate power and technological advances run amuck. Societal collapse brought upon by the brainless undead was pushed to the cultish sidelines. This mirrored the major epidemics of the time, such as AIDS, crack, racial animosity, and the rise of divorce. All of which frayed society, but were relegated to a small segment of the population. This was in contrast to the sweeping pandemic and mindless destruction reflected in zombie mythology.

Not to sound cliché, but this instantly changed with the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11th, 2001. Suddenly, a new monster emerged. Hidden right within our mists, this new enemy was irrational and suicidal. And along with this new outside threat, the economy tanked that December as Enron went bankrupt, revealing all sorts of financial shenanigans and corruption. So it should come as no surprise when Cold War anxiety and paranoia over a faceless enemy reemerged, tugging the zombie mythology back to the surface with it.

And this change in cultural zeitgeist was best reflected in Daniel Boyle’s 28 Days Later, released in 2002. Although filmed prior to the attacks, the movie still managed to capture the general anxieties of the time. Instead of lumbering brainless idiots of Romero’s creations, these undead creatures struck at a lightning quick speed. These rapid and mindless attacks seemed to embody this new type of terrorism of suicidal airplanes, anonymous anthrax mailings, and a distant sniper killing random targets.

Although, it wasn’t until another domestic tragedy when the zombie mythology really began to pick up speed. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck, demolishing the city of New Orleans. Not only did home videos capture the destruction for everyone to see in vivid detail, but the bungled recovery effort likewise added to the feeling of helplessness. Scenes of apocalyptic destruction were suddenly no longer relegated to big screen Hollywood fantasies. And out of this rubble, two major zombie novels were released the following year: World War Z by Max Brooks and Cell by Stephen King, the premiere name in horror fiction.

And in 2008, just as the country appeared to be on the path to recovery, the real estate market slammed to its knees. The entire financial industry imploded, collapsing on par with the 1929 stock market crash. And similar to how the Great Depression ushered in a classic age of Hollywood horror: Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), Freaks (1932), and King Kong (1933), this recession brought the highest grossing zombie film of all time: Zombieland (2009), along with TV’s first zombie-centric show, The Walking Dead (2010). The zombies had returned. And in great numbers.

Currently, there seems to be no end in sight for this zombie fever. Hollywood has three undead projects slated for 2013, including a summer blockbuster release of World War Z starring Brad Pitt. Of course, spending millions of dollars on this zombie craze doesn’t guarantee it will resonate with the culture as a whole. However, with the stalled economy forcing even college graduates to move back in with their parents, along with the piles of ever mounting debts, there’s a growing sense things are only getting worse. From Tea Partiers to Occupiers, society is splitting into ever more polarized camps. And each one is convinced the other side is ruining everything, while likewise believing there is no way to stop the collapse. And whenever there’s a fissure in society, the flesh guzzling undead are never too far behind, waiting to chew on the pieces.

Drake Vaughn is the author of “The Zombie Generation” (Dead Orb Press, 2012). He lives in Santa Monica, CA with his wife and a spunky black cat who has returned from the dead on a number of occasions.