Zombie. By Felix Serrano – Robot Dialog #9
Everywhere you look in pop culture these days you’ll find a Zombie. Personally, I’m a robot type of guy; but I have to admit, I’ve been keeping an eye on the Zombie media invasion. I kinda like it. On Halloween I watched the premier of the Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead on AMC. It was…GREAT! Like I mentioned before, I’ve always been more of a robot guy. I never had the desire to pick up any of the Zombie centric comic books that have hit the shelves in the past few years (and there have been lots of them).
Blackest Night from DC, Marvel Zombies, The Goon, Fragile…the list goes on and on. Watching The Walking dead however, really spoke to me. It’s not about zombies at all, which at it’s core is probably what the zombie fascination is all about. It’s about loosing loved ones, it’s about being alone in the world and trying to find order in our chaotic society where it feels no one really wants to listen, just tear the very flesh from your psychic bones. It’s about survival at it’s most primal level. Yeah, I may be a little late with my dissection of the whole zombie thing, but when it’s becomes the highest rated premiere of the year on cable, it’s kind of hard to turn away. Now I have to go catch up with 72 issues of The Walking Dead. See, TV is good for comics. Congrats to Robert Kirkman!
Support your local art community! Jason Tamvakis (photographer of this weeks image) is a local artist here in the NYC with a taste for gore and…Zombies. Moving on with the Zombie fascination, there is another side to it. It’s not just about Isolation, it’s about being empowered and indestructible. Tamvakis’ book Dead Sexy: undead undressed captures this. In a nut shell the photo’s depict the Zombie female as fetish, which to me is a woman who has had enough and is not going to take it anymore. It’s sexuality as primal danger and fear. It’s not for the faint of heart, but I think it’s a relevant facet of our current social zombie movement. Survivalism.
Lastly, lets bring this full circle. We’re screwed and we taste like bacon! Last week Japanese researchers working on a robot that has a taste sensor which could identify wines, cheese meats and hors d’oeuvres got a taste for human flesh “when some smart aleck reporter placed his hand in the robot’s omnivorous clanking jaw, he was identified as bacon. A cameraman then tried and was identified as prosciutto.” Let’s prey skynet isn’t aware yet because the last thing we need are Zombie Robots!
Destroy your toasters!
-F
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November 9th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Wow. I gotta tell you, I am SO zombied out that The Walking Dead could be the Citizen Kane of teevee shows and I’d surf right past it. As for comics, Walking Dead, Blackest Night, Marvel Zombies, The Goon and Fragile seem like just the tip of the iceberg.
Then again, zombies beat über-sensitive vampires any day.
I’ve got a great idea for the next big fad: the dead stay dead. Flies and worms and maggots, oh my!
November 9th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Great Idea Mike…It’ll never happen as you know, unfortunately. This is comics….
November 9th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Whops. the above comment was mine, didn’t notice my wife was logged in >.<
November 9th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Loved the article Doc!
The Zombie fascination is well in its on going awareness
It’s been a great many years this has been going on and I was always apart of that
as you know, I have a love hate relation to that type of media and genre
I love them but would hate to be caught by one.
Robots rule too!
The walking dead is the make of a very smart series
It takes you out of your normal playing field and shows you… is it the undead
that will be our end, or ourselves?
Just the thought of that, and Loki and I do stage a lot of scenarios
of what would be the best thing to do incase an outbreak occurred.
(i’ll probably wind up being patient zero)
But the society as a whole is what I fear, no one cares
and its every man for himself, (women and children hey play the hand you were dealt)
Once you get over the fact the dead is up an returning that sweater Diane Joao bought
You gotta ask yourself is it safer being out and putting those maggot covered mugbutts to bed or dealing with the psychology of some ass backward miscreant who wants to rule the group and probably get everyone killed in scene 2?
Ill take my chances outside
Are you Ready for A Zombie Attack
I know I am…..
November 9th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Mike, you gave me a brilliant idea! Something even scarier than zombie people would be zombie maggots, worms and flies!
Do you know how hard it would be to shoot those suckers in their tiny little heads? Now imagine if billions of ‘em were coming after you!
November 9th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
“Do you know how hard it would be to shoot those suckers in their tiny little heads? Now imagine if billions of ‘em were coming after you!”
Life would suck
November 9th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Oh, I don’t know. I know some maggots that run between 5 1/2 and 6 1/2 feet tall. They’re bipeds, too.
November 9th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Felix I really appreciate your analysis of the allure of zombies for the masses…because frankly I’ve never been able to understand the fascination. I’m a little more cynical as to the why’s and wherefore’s of this genre being drilled into our psyches, but your take adds a new layer to consider.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Because I enjoyed the first episode, and plan to watch the second episode at some point, I’m actually less inclined to seek out the comic (which I’ve never read) because I wouldn’t want to spoil the story for myself.
Even though I felt like I’d already seen parts of the first episode before, in the film 28 DAYS LATER.
November 10th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
“Even though I felt like I’d already seen parts of the first episode before, in the film 28 DAYS LATER.”
The only part that is really like 28 days is the beginning, and he supposedely wrote that bit before the movie came out, and saw it and was like….Daaaammmnnnn….which is why they startted with the scene with the little girl i bet. still the rest of the series is great, especially if one forgets the true opening scene, which they made much better than the original comic….the flowers were a nice touch.
November 10th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Because 28 DAYS had the first FILMED version of that scene,
SPOILER
ALERT
I might’ve resisted the urge to remain so faithful to the comic in this instance, maybe have a well-meaning nurse stash him someplace safe, someplace ELSE, to avoid comparison, but I suppose that shit’s inevitable given the subject matter.
November 11th, 2010 at 9:11 am
Thanks Reg. @Kevin, I had the same feeling, but it’s unavoidable, there are certain feels and themes that are necessary for the genre.