This is my intro for Dead of Winter. I thought it may spark an interesting discussion about what I call Peak Zombie:
I think I was a freshman or sophomore in high school the first time I saw Dawn of the Dead. It hit me the way certain things can only hit a child’s fragile, eggshell mind: it was gory, and disturbing, and pretty scary. It also made me wonder what I would do if I found myself in the zombie apocalypse. Would it really be living if I spent the rest of my life trapped inside a mall? At what point does surviving cease to be living? Why am I asking myself incredibly complex and difficult philosophical questions, instead of playing The Legend of Zelda?
Dawn of the Dead piqued my interest in George A. Romero’s version of the zombie apocalypse, and I devoured — sorry — Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, and even Return of the Living Dead. For many years, I was a zombie fiend. In fact, every Halloween from 16 to 30, I was some version of a zombie. I wrote stories about zombies, I read stories about zombies, and if there was something with a zombie in it, it was on my wish list.
But sometime in the last few years, we hit Peak Zombie, and the truth is: I’m kind of over it. The Living Dead are rarely a metaphor for consumerism, conformity, militarization, and complacency. In much of popular culture, zombies are little more than cannon fodder and background noise in corporate entertainment that’s rushed to cash in on the public’s insatiable — some may say zombie-like — hunger for stories that pit a scrappy band of human survivors against a relentless, endless, faceless mob of interchangeable, shambling bad guys.
But every now and then, something breaks through the fortified wall of hardened, Hipster cynicism I’ve built around my survival compound, and reminds me that we keep returning to stories where zombies are threatening our very existence because even if the undead aren’t explicitly standing in for some profound and specific commentary on our modern world, they can, in fact, stand in for time, age, hunger, despair, and every existential threat we worry about when the night is darkest, and we can’t find the light.
Today on Tabletop, Dodger Leigh, Grant Imahara, and Ashley Johnson are here to explore a game that puts us right in the middle of the depths of our fears, during the worst of the zombie apocalypse. As if staying alive and pushing back the undead wasn’t hard enough, one of us may very well be working against the rest of us, to ensure that none of us make it through the DEAD OF WINTER.
A Jim Morrison quote, made my day already.
The title made me think this was a gardening entry. So you were going to let me know how long I should allow my zombie to grow before it becomes time to trim back the leaves, harvest and then eat my zombie. You know, Farm to Table of the Dead.
I like that we are in a zombie maximized time. Most of my students won’t plan ahead for writing a critique but they all have zombie survival plans. So it’s kind of like education.
Well I guess their thought is that if they prioritized schoolwork over zombie apocalypse survival, they might not live long enough to turn it in anyway.
But have you checked out In The Flesh. It’s a totally unique take on zombies, where the main characters are zombies who are being treated and rejoining the population with predictably complicated results. And it really talks to modern social issues including racism, homophobia, and mental illness in really interesting ways.
Is it similar to Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion? But more serious?
Is “hipster” supposed to be capitalized?
It’s like Cthulhu, both in the Lovecraft mythos and in popular media. As an idea and a fleeting glance at the climax Cthluhu is terrifying. But put him front and center, in the spotlight, and give him a hit point bar and he’s just another monster.
Well said. As a longtime Lovecraft fan, I’ve been at odds with my feelings about the popularity of the mythos, though I’ve had a difficult time rationalizing why.
Against my better judgement, I can sometimes have “hipster” tendencies, though I felt in this instance my issue with it was deeper.
Very nice piece. I agree that whatever metaphor zombies could be used for tends to be passed over in favor of cookie-cutter scenarios, excessive use of firearms, and even more excessive gore.
That being said… I think in the past ten or fifteen years zombies have shifted to represent a more modern threat. In this world of corporate culture and forced poverty, I think zombies (and zombie stories) are much more about having the world turn against you. It’s that awful feeling that you’re completely alone and helpless. Granted, there are still a lot of cookie-cutter-firearms-gore stories (maybe even more than ever, really) but I’d like to think there’s still some good books and movies and stories out there…
But then, I’m a little biased…
I understand and agree with your feelings on “peak zombie”, but the phenomena of finding a story that breaks through is because a well crafted story, no matter how trite it’s principals, will always connect with its audience.
Pretty much everyone I think is a bit sick of zombie but whats going to replace them ? zombies replaced vampires when everyone got sick of twilight. Werewolves had a go and bombed, Mummy had a go with those Brenden fraser movies but that’s all and at the end of the day a guy in bandages isn’t very scary ( if Scooby doo can defeat a mummy anyone can ) Frankenstein is due for a turn but cant see how Hollywood could get much of a franchise out of it
He had his go. I, Frankenstein. It was absolutely abysmal. After that, I doubt Frankenstein’s Monster gets anymore glory.
Wil, if you haven’t already, you should check out Feed by Mira Grant. It explores what happens after the z-apocalypse and we’ve rebuilt society. Great trilogy with fantastic writing.
I agree that we’ve hit peak zombie for what happens during the apocalypse but have just begun to scratch the surface about what happens after.
I would agree with the Feed recommendation, also its more of a socio political thriller with added zombies, than a zombie story. And the ending!
The zombie marketing item that always bugs me is the airsoft guns, Sure, tick them off BEFORE they eat you! That having been said, they’re still good for marketing purposes, especially for firearms, ammo, and survival supplies!
I was a fan of all the 80’s zombie movies, so much so that somewhere in my archives I own a VHS tape of the original “Night of the Living Dead” from 1968. (It’s a double feature, along with “Reefer Madness”, LOL.) I got out of it as I grew older, but kept the rather useless trivia about how to properly dispatch a zombie.
There were two primary methodologies-a direct gunshot to the head, preferably right between the eyebrows to make it easy for the makeup and special effects crew, or cremation, preferably via bonfire or explosion so the special effects crew could have some fun.
This game does sound interesting, though. It’s always a good idea to use your ability to think creatively in bad situations, and I think I’ll check it out.
Could you possibly give us a day when we will be able to see the 1st episode of Table top Season 3?
I hope you have a notebook somewhere filled with sketches of voulges and halberds and other pole arms to fend off zombies. Or that when you looked for a house to buy you considered how well you could fend off zombies. Or a Pinterest board of survival tips/gear. These are all the signs zombies have left an indelible mark upon you. What better monster to form you. Better this than triple reinforcing your basement for the inevitable Graboid invasion. Also, this game looks super fun and I’m hoping to play it soon!
Peak Zombie could also referred to, in a general sense, as Brand Fatigue. Beating a dead or UNdead (eh eh, see what I did there??) horse. Ubiquity undermining everything that was once cool about it. It usually takes a cycle of time, (refractory period?) for them to come back into favor. Curiously zombies seem to have one of the shortest cycles out there. Probably due to their ability to assume nearly any allegory, and also they are gross, scary and fun, and accessible to creators and consumers.
I too was changed or enlightened by Dawn of the Dead. My mountain bike racing team is Dead in the Dirt. For the longest time I thought it would be cool to be in a mall by myself. There are so many Zombie movies but I am not Zombied out like I am Vampired out, there tons of great Zombie movies but only a couple of good Vampire movies!! You should guest star in one of the series!!
I totally understand about Peak Zombie. I feel that too. There is a strange Cycle of Monster that seems to revolve constantly. Vampires into zombies into whatever comes next.
On the other hand, it’s like Mary Jane shoes. See, I love Mary Janes. And they come and go from the style scene and when they aren’t “in,” you can’t find them for affordable, or at all, sometimes. But when they are “in” they are everywhere. And when they are, I like to buy some and put them aside, for when I won’t be able to find them.
Whatever comes next, if it’s less interesting to me, I will have my little secret horde (sorry) of zombie stuff – Mira Grant’s Feed, TWD, etc, not to mention my little stash of zombie bookmarks, earrings, and fridge magnets that my bemused friends and family buy me, to tide me over until the next wave.
It is fascinating that the zombie has shambled on far longer than it should have, fueled by the very forces of consumerism, complacency, and conformity that made it such a useful metaphor in its earliest pop media incarnations.
That’s what I’ve experienced!! Thank you for giving it words. For years I went to a zombie walk, read zombie books, saw all the new movies…and suddenly I’m just not that into it anymore. And it’s not because I don’t like zombies anymore, because I still totally love them. There’s just so much out there and I don’t need to buy into all that crap. Guess it gives me a more refined taste for zombies (yum), but realizing I can pick and choose what I want to get excited about.
Come to the 4th annual Fredericksburg Zombie Walk on November 1st!
http://fredzombies.com
Mr. Wil Wheaton can be a special guest judge. You already met Mean Mommy Bex once, you can also meet all the other mean mommies, the non-profit group who runs the zombie walk each year. You know you want to…
My biggest disappointment about the possibility of peak zombie is that we haven’t seen a series, miniseries or even movie based on Mira Grant’s Feed trilogy. If they would do that, I could let zombies rest in peace.
I think the point when I realized I was coming down off my zombie high is when I started recommending The Walking Dead because of the relationships that were explored, not the zombie gore.
I like the thought behind the zombies standing in for whatever fear is front and center at the moment. Isn’t that the point of any bad guy with sub-text? It could be flaming kittens, but it would still represent democratic unrest in Hong Kong.
The idea of Peak Zombie is not about the actual genre, it’s about the over-saturation of the genre.
For a different Zombie movie with meaning – I highly recommend Fido. I think you’d like the production design as well!
Ok, Feed requested from my library.
Personally I’m not tired of zombies, I’m tired of the same three zombie stories being written or filmed over and over, and over again with almost exactly the same endings.
Showcases for writers unable to figure out how to make the undead or a situation dangerous so they make the characters stupid.
Not to even touch on the Night time soap called the walking dead.
I wish to add, that somewhere between my brain and my keyboard the tone of that comment changed. sorry if sounds snarky.
Interesting discussion. “Peak Zombie” is a clever meme, by the way; surprised it hasn’t appeared before.
I agree with another writer in that I don’t think we’ve reached “Peak Zombie,” by the way – I think what we may have approached is “Peak Writer,” and by that, I mean, the people responsible for writing the stories have run out of new ideas. That’s why we seem to get the same sort of themes in various recycled patterns, like the sort of Lite Brite pattern sheets of the 1970s.
(Perhaps) like the initial author, I like the zombie movies/shows in part because of the thrill of watching people in impossible situations struggling to react, in part because I have tended to project myself into the action (i.e., “what would YOU do in such a situation), and also because the stories can be used to raise social or ethical questions.
I wrote about this very topic more than three years ago here (http://sjrefugee.blogspot.fr/2011/12/theyre-coming-for-you-barbara.html):
in virtually all of these films and stories, the real “bad guys” turn out not to be the dead, but the living. Yes; the zombies represent an existential, and omnipresent, menace. But inevitably, it’s panic and internal bickering that prove to be something the survivors cannot overcome. There is as least as much blood shed by the protagonists as the zombies.
I suppose the writers are saying that, even when confronted with extinction, our innate nature to destroy each other cannot be controlled.
Finally, in several of the movies (28 Days in particular), an interesting, quasi-Dr Strangelove question is raised. Soldiers near Manchester, England have set a sort of trap for survivors, promising food and protection for those who can make it. It’s revealed later that they intend to kill any men who arrive, and have other plans for the women. The lieutenant, almost apologetically, explains when asked why such a monstrous plan was devised, that he promised his (all male) outfit that he would find some female survivors.
We fight off the infected or we wait until they starve to death… and then what? What do nine men do except wait to die themselves?
In the films, at some point the issue of the value of survival is always raised, though perhaps not so bleakly as that.