GP: Zombies

  

BBC Article: Why are we afraid of Zombies?

In this article, Sean Coughlan highlights why humans are terrified of zombies. One of the points that he highlighted was that humans are scared of faces that are "near-human" and a psychologist supported this by doing a study on over 3000 people and finding that there was repulsion because of the "uncanny valley". 
This "uncanny valley" effect was founded in the 1970s where research was done to see if humans would feel more reassured working with a robot with human features or without. This research found that people were more receptive to human-looking robots but completely repelled when the robots imitated humans too closely. Too close a resemblance to a human was seen as sinister. 
Mrs Lay found that the "uncanny effect" had taken place. "It is the sudden plunge in reaction at a point just before a face is fully humanised." .e.g. the empty eyes of a zombie face in an otherwise human face is frightening to audiences (as are clowns, dummies and dolls).
She found that eyes was a massive part of it, such as lifeless eyes or eerily human eyes. This was mostly the case with psychological horror movies rather than bloodthirsty shockers. This reaction could be because there is a sudden disruption in how the human brain processes faces. When people want to interpret a human face (including reading people's eyes), if something does not match expectations, there is discomfort. 

Pop Mythology Article: Why do we love the Zombie Apocalypse?

Jonathon Edward Brown first points out that we don't actually love the thought of a zombie apocalypse, we just think we do because of how the idea is presented to us.

The Survivable Storm

A reason why we think that we love the idea of a zombie apocalypse is because of the Zombie Apocalypse Scenario of having to survive it which arouses the question, can I survive it? People love this scenario because they think they can. It has been presented to us that we can survive if we use our heads and weapons. (The photo below is from The Walking Dead).
 Other end-of-world scenarios don’t provide the opportunity for anyone, old or young, of any race or creed, gender or hairstyle to survive the way slouching, moaning zombies allow us to.For example, there is the plague scenario where 0025 of the population can survive it. Another example would be the Post Oil Depression/Ecological Wasteland Scenario where there is a lack of luxury resources; disgusting foods will have to be eaten. And finally, the rapture scenario. 
There is an important aspect of survival that needs to be addressed which is whether the zombies are fast or slow. Some of these popular franchises with slow zombies include The Walking Dead and World War Z. Of course, people would rather face this scenario rather than a fast zombie because they would have more of a chance of survival due to the zombie having bad coordination and terrible reflexes. The opposite end of the spectrum would include I Am Legend where the zombies are overwhelmingly fast and agile; this is less attractive as an apocalyptic fantasy. The Zombie Scenario also makes room for everyone to play as everyone is equally delicious in a zombies eyes no matter what gender, religion or class. The other side of this states the same, that anyone and everyone can survive no matter what gender, religion or class. 

Showing off skills

This links in with the attraction of survival to the audience as the idea of being a survivor and a hero is appealing. Plotting booby traps, prepping Go-Bags and generally being clever is appealing, just as Home Alone is.The part of us that gets excited is not the clever part, but the not-so-clever part which does not see the long-term picture. The fantasy takes over the reality. Our inner ninja ignores the fact that a zombie apocalypse means long-term Dark Ages-style living for the foreseeable future (such as the plumbing failing and general luxury). (The photo below is from Night Of The Living Dead).

Free Stuff

As they are often presented, Zombie Apocalypse Scenarios often leave the survivors with a fairly pristine environment. Even though there is no electricity and head, look at all this free stuff! 

These include cars, mansions, boats and guns! Everything is mostly abandoned so why not take advantage of it! This, of course, is very appealing.

Yay, Violence

When thinking about the Zombie Apocalypse Scenario, you cannot ignore the fact that a lot of people would love to be bloodthirsty and get away with bashing someone on the head. The guilt is freed because of the fact that they are zombies. It's not nice to think about, but true. Human nature does indicate this idea. An example would be Call Of Duty: Black Ops which is a game which includes the shooting of zombies and this seems to be the most popular part of this. 

Sadly, his conclusion states that this Zombie Apocalypse scenario appeals to the lesser parts of human nature (our greedy, violent sides are excited). However, it also makes our heroic and valiant sides shine forth. Overall, they are a bit of fun to watch and the fantasy overtakes the reality. 

Youtube Clip: Why do we love zombies?

This nostlagia critic suggests that the first love of zombies came about from Gilgamesh; Ishtar promised that she 'will let the dead go up and eat the living and the dead will outnumber the living'. He also states that initial love of zombies comes from the scare factor. Other monsters such as vampires are not as scary and intense. What draws people to them is also not the zombies themselves, but the humans who are facing them. The appeal of survival and mystery (guessing who is trustworthy) comes into play as well. The story lines also focus on the battle between the humans as well. We ask ourselves what we would do in hard situations. 

In The Walking Dead, the critic notices how the characters are so used to the zombies that they sometimes don't even acknowledge them. This means they are used to this idea of a Zombie Apocalypse Scenario. He also notes that the zombies mentally ruin people by taking away loved ones; there is a harsh side to the stories other than the gore. The amount of zombie films and series open all the possibilities (which is something that is appealing to audiences) and creativity that can be done with zombies. He concludes that there is something so entertaining and creepy about zombies that draws the audiences attention. 

By Georgia P