Why We Love Zombies
To be more accurate, I should say why we love the idea of killing zombies. Of course not every one is a zombie fan, but with a record breaking 16.1 million viewers of the premier of season 4 of the Walking Dead, its fair to say that a lot of people enjoy watching zombie apocalypse unfold. But what it is about these undead brain eaters that we enjoy so much?
Sticking it to The MAN!
A theory that Sarah Lauro, an English professor at Clemson Univeristy who studied zombies while working on her doctorate, has about why zombies and zombie shows like the Walking Dead are becoming so popular is that we have become dissatisfied with our government or society. She theorizes that when we are dis-empowered by and dissatisfied with our government or society, we begin to feel like a mindless consumer of what ever they put in front of us, or in other words a 'zombie'. So by watching the few survivors of a zombie apocalypse blast the heads off these zombies and fight to not become one themselves, we can begin to feel like we are sticking it to the Man by refusing to conform to mindless, everyday life.
It's Just Everyday Life
In Chuck Klosterman's Article, My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead,
he states that one of the main reason why zombies are becoming so increasingly popular in our society is because our world is becoming more and more like a zombie offensive. That's not to say that the need to kill zombies has literally increase in our society, but our everyday lives have become very similar to that of someone surviving in a zombie apocalypse. We can relate to killing zombies so easily because it is very similar to completing our everyday tasks, day after day, over and over and over again. Zombies are easy to kill, one shot to the head at a time, the problems arise when we stop killing them or when to many come at you at once and they pile up, that is when the zombies overcome you. The same goes for our tasks in real everyday life, if we do them and stay at them everything goes smoothly, its when you neglect them or when to many come at you from no where at once that it becomes overwhelming.
Maybe a Combination of It All
Maybe it a little of everything! We can relate easily and that is why we get drawn in and so easily make a zombies apocalypse a metaphor for our lives. But along with the metaphor, we also see it as a freeing sensation from the bonds of our society, fighting off the mindlessness of consumerism with a symbolic shotgun in hand. Along with that, as Klosterman also stated, "Zombies are just so easy to kill", so why wouldn't we want to exchange our currently 'oppressive' and tedious society for a stress-releasing, zombies infested one? Not only then do you get to satisfy that primitive longing to kill without consequence, but you also perhaps get that opportunity to be the hero by mowing down that hoard of zombies and saving the day!
Zombies just seem to be so entertaining to watch! You love watching the people killing all the zombies and draw connection to the characters as well. We all like to think we would be the ones surviving.
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