# Are zombies the new vampires? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-the-new-vampires/534136 "2010-03-28T19:51:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-the-new-vampires/534136/21 "2010-03-29T19:40:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Reginald Shoe would like a word with you. > > EDIT: Dang, too slow. Good catch though 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-the-new-vampires/534136/22 "2010-03-29T20:55:41Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > There’s nothing romantic about _being_ a zombie, nor is there anything sexy or attractive about them. Obligatory Oglaf link (NSFW)! [noparse][http://oglaf.com/rigormortis.html[/noparse]](http://oglaf.com/rigormortis.html%5B/noparse%5D) NSFW! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-the-new-vampires/534136/23 "2010-03-29T21:08:24Z")
> [@](#): > > I was just discussing this with my mom the other day. She’s thinking demons will be hitting it big soon (I think that’s a good guess, but it’s also been a while since we had an aliens craze…). Goodness knows the market’s been more than saturated with vampires lately. We tried Alien, Predator, Independance Day, Mars Attacks - the idea just didn’t take off. Same with werewolves, mummies, and giant creatures. So I guess it’s time we gave demons another shot. But tell killer robots to start warming up. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-the-new-vampires/534136/24 "2010-03-29T22:04:01Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Nazis and zombies are about the only things the heroes can kill anymore without getting angry letters from some “Group X Anti-Defamation League”. How about Nazi Zombies? [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1278340/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1278340/) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-the-new-vampires/534136/25 "2010-03-30T00:02:54Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > I was just discussing this with my mom the other day. She’s thinking demons will be hitting it big soon (I think that’s a good guess, but it’s also been a while since we had an aliens craze…). Goodness knows the market’s been more than saturated with vampires lately. There are already a ton of urban fantasy novels from this decade about demons. None of them has been a breakout hit, though. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-the-new-vampires/534136/26 "2010-03-30T10:38:07Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I read “What Maisie Knew” - great story. But the few exceptions doesn’t dispel the general fact that zombies are not protagonists - they are just plot devices that threaten the protagonists. And vampires can still occasionally function as just a threat but the general rule for them now is that they have character and motivations. Hhhm, I must have missed where the argument changed. First up, zombies frequently _are_ the protagonists – witness the Matheson & Matheson short story “Where There’s a Will” in the collection _The Dead that Walk_. Among others, anyway, including _Breathers_ already mentioned above, and indeed, numerous others. I don’t know how many exceptions are required to make a general fact less of a general fact… That aside, I’m not sure what the argument is here. Sometimes zombies are what you call “plot devices,” which I take to mean that they are just there to further some other aspect of the plot, such as human interactions or something, and their being zombies isn’t really the point. But that’s rare, I think. It’s more often the case that zombies are a crucial part of the plot, the antagonist, frequently even the signifier of a greater metaphorical menace than themselves. In this, they certainly follow in the vampiric footsteps. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-the-new-vampires/534136/27 "2010-03-30T13:44:58Z")
Popping back in to note: the full text of “What Maisie Knew” is available online from Google Books, as an excerpt from **The New Dead** , by agreement with the publisher. Just read it, and it is indeed a damn fine story. Hope this link works: [“What Maisie Knew”](http://books.google.com/books?id=IM8d2vwj8DQC&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=david+liss+what+maisie+knew&source=bl&ots=CmUZTFn_Zs&sig=P6UuA9cylFQRMV9y4yeBjAT8TpY&hl=en&ei=dv-xS7COBoSclgfmq6n_BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA4Q6AEwAg). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-the-new-vampires/534136/28 "2010-03-30T14:28:12Z")
> [@](#): > > That aside, I’m not sure what the argument is here. There isn’t really an argument here. More like a discussion on what role zombies serve in modern fiction and whether they inherited that role from vampires when they were moved into a new role. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-the-new-vampires/534136.md?page=1)