I don't know about vampires but I think the zombie phenomenon is definitely an expression of our survival tactics.
In a WROL scenario the best chance of survival is to view other human beings as mindless consumers who will thoughtlessly kill you and your family for food.
Those who survive zombie apocalypse-type scenarios shoot first and ask questions later. They are the ones who stockpiled necessities and had some survival training.
In a WROL world, it's not smart to give others the benefit of the doubt. I think if society breaks down you will have to view other humans as sub-human consumers who are a clear and present danger to yourself.
Back in the 70s James Ogilvy, in Many Dimensional Man, argued that nature had been essentially conquered and that now the environment humans had to survive was made-up of other humans.
In one recent zombie story, "Behind Dark Blue Eyes," published in Exotic Gothic 3 (ed. Danel Olson), the story begins as the Australian government is debating a bill on corporate enfranchisement so that corporations can purchase citizens' votes. The PM is dead, but has been secretly reanimated so spectacularly by modern technology that hardly anyone can tell that his "live" speech is a puppet show, operated, we come to find out, by a small group of international corporate moguls.
In another story, "The Puppet Theater," a hologaphic person doesn't know that she's a NOKIA ad.
Upshot: One could argue that there is a contemporary Gothic anxiety about our persons being invaded or other people already being taken over by large impersonal institutions. Sound like a theme familiar to RFM?
"The Morg": A nice pun on a place for dead people as well as a word obviously derived from the collective cybernetic hive organisms known as the Borg in the Star Trek: NG universe.
"Morgbots": Automatons controlled by the Morg.
The interest in zombies could be defined by the idea that there are many people who, given their lack of independent thought, but their readiness to serve and to act, are little more than vectors for memes or ideologies. How does one relate to such a zombie? How does one spot them? How does one remain uninfected? How does one know one is not such a zombie? What of your actions, your deepest, most personal thoughts--the thoughts that make you "you"--are little more than the concoction of marketers or demagogues or spinners of religious tales whose interests are not your interests.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2011 06:18PM by derrida.
What will others, looking back on this period of time from a distance of thirty, forty, fifty, a hundred, or two hundred years from now, conclude was the underlying MEANING of vampires and zombies in this era to us--we who are alive now? What chords of deep meaning were being touched within our larger mass market by the vampire/zombie symbolism?
I have asked this question of people who are enthusiastic, intelligent, and media-sophisticated consumers of vampire/zombie literature and films, and have yet to get an answer that resonates in me as either "true" or "partially true."
George Romero's film Dawn of the Dead had zombies wandering the mall, and of course it's necessary to shoot them in the head or else they'll get you too. There is a lot going on there. I love zombie movies, particularly the new AMC show "The Walking Dead."
They both speak to our fear of death, disease, and aging. Zombies don't die, but their bodies continue to decay. Vampires bodies do not decay, but they are unable to live in the daylight. Zombies are mind eaters, vampires suck the life out of you. Zombies are cultural forces that fight against human knowledge and intellectual growth. Vampires are cultural force that suck the joy and pleasure out of life.
The genres I grew up on were Westerns and sci-fi. The sci-fi was an obvious attempt to control the science that so thoroughly rocked our world. The Westerns were an obvious attempt to recapture the simply, manly times.
I too am baffled by the undead.
Are vampires an attempt to go back to when sex wasn't so blatant and was hidden in their vampire's kiss?
Is there something about the growing secular movement that leaves people more scared of death?
Not sure what it all means, I just know that I loved Resident Evil (go Milla!) and the Underworld trilogy, or what was a trilogy and will soon have another sequel (go Kate!). Who can resist Kate Beckinsale in her very tight leather werewolf-killing outfit, vampire fangs and electric blue eyes? Plus, there's just something about hot badass chicks kicking ass... Which takes us all the way back to Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight. She sort of shed the All-American girl-next-door rep with that one. But I'm getting away from the topic. Sorry, don't mean to hijack. Guess I'd better go, gotta watch Underworld:Evolution as a refresher before the new one comes out!