“Zombie Apocalypse”: What’s With The Fascination?

Ah, the zombie apocalypse. This concept has pervaded American culture for decades, arguably beginning with the classic 1968 horror flick Night of the Living Dead and plenty of movies after that, including Dawn of the Dead and more comedic takes such as Shaun of the Dead and Warm Bodies. AMC’s The Walking Dead remains insanely popular, and fans have even been known to throw zombie-themed weddings in addition to zombifiying themselves for Halloween. So why the continual fascination?

A Scholarly Explanation

Scholars at Stanford University have attempted to explain the zombie fixation, citing people’s changed vision of the future following the use of nuclear warfare during World War II. The horrific events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki interfered with the ability to imagine a “positive future” the way humans of the past did, such as during the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Rather, Stanford literary scholar Angela Becerra Vidergar says the events of the 20th century, “along with movements to increase environmental awareness,” has resulted in serious doubt about continual development of modernized societies, and “instead we are left with this cultural fixation on fictionalizing our own death, very specifically mass-scale destruction.”

“We use fictional narratives not only to emotionally cope with the possibility of impending doom, but even more importantly perhaps to work through the ethical and philosophical frameworks that were in many ways left shattered in the wake of WWII,” she adds.

Other scholars echo this sentiment, and also note people feel more “trapped” by life than they once did.

“We have to ask ourselves ‘why are people attracted to zombies now?’ ” said Sarah Lauro, an English professor at Clemson University. “Part of it may be that we feel threatened by so many things that an apocalypse seems plausible. And part of it may be that we feel trapped in our 9-to-5 jobs, or trapped by a bad economy, so we are like the walking dead.”

 Unpreparedness=Zombie-Like Peeps?

So how does the concept of the zombie apocalypse relate to survival skills and emergency preparedness? People who are unprepared for emergency situations and or long-term disasters are somewhat zombie-like: hungry, tired and probably in really bad moods. And while you don’t want to go around fearing the worst, or worry that zombies are going to eat your brains, it’s still a great idea to be prepared. This includes creating an emergency preparedness kit and coming up with an emergency plan for the whole family. The latter can include creating a long list of family and emergency numbers, educating yourself about emergency routes out of your town or city, setting up emergency power options and more.

While a zombie apocalypse is *cough* unlikely, it’s always a good idea to remain prepared for assorted disasters!

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