# How come in zombie novels and movies, when the virus outbreak occurs... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 16, 2010, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-in-zombie-novels-and-movies-when-the-virus-outbreak-occurs/550377 "2010-08-16T01:48:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-in-zombie-novels-and-movies-when-the-virus-outbreak-occurs/550377/41 "2010-08-17T15:26:11Z")
[quote=“mr.jp, post:40, topic:550377”] > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > **alphaboi** nailed it. Simililarly, the Superman movies take place in a parallel universe in which Siegel & Schuster created a fictional character of that name; in fact, there’s probably no superhero comics or movies at all in that world. I agree with this. Like movies take place in another universe where none of the actors exist. [/quore] Or at least are less famous, or have at least one doppleganger who is less famous. And there’s other variations. There are times when it seems that DC Comics properties exist (as fictional creations, I mean) in the Marvel Comics universe; I can recall Donald Blake (Thor’s mortal identity) once running into a store room to change to his godly self and musing that, while this was basically a bad idea, it did seem to work for Christopher Reeve. They’re not consistent about that, though. > [@](#): > > One thing this reminds me of that really bothers me is Bridget Jones Diary. Here her love interest is called Mr Darcy. He has a character and they have a story very similar to that of Pride and Prejudice. The book exists in this universe. Yet this isn’t commented on at all, if I recall correctly. Well, we don’t get to hear _every_ thought of a fictional character, not even Bridget Jones. She’s so self-involved that I can easily imagine her overlooking the similiarities, since in her mind, nothing in her life has any precedent elsewhere. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-in-zombie-novels-and-movies-when-the-virus-outbreak-occurs/550377/42 "2010-08-17T16:15:54Z")
This, by the way, is covered in the TV Tropes site under [Genre Blindness](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GenreBlindness). Possibly nobody has linked to this yet because like me they fear the site as an enormous time suck. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-in-zombie-novels-and-movies-when-the-virus-outbreak-occurs/550377/43 "2010-08-17T16:29:00Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > This, by the way, is covered in the TV Tropes site under [Genre Blindness](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GenreBlindness). Possibly nobody has linked to this yet because like me they fear the site as an enormous time suck. Or, possibly, they think that linking to TVTropes is not actually engaging in conversation _here_. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-in-zombie-novels-and-movies-when-the-virus-outbreak-occurs/550377/44 "2010-08-18T00:01:31Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > Possibly nobody has linked to this yet because like me they fear the site as an enormous time suck. Or just plain sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-in-zombie-novels-and-movies-when-the-virus-outbreak-occurs/550377/45 "2010-08-18T15:19:45Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > > > This, by the way, is covered in the TV Tropes site under [Genre Blindness](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GenreBlindness). Possibly nobody has linked to this yet because like me they fear the site as an enormous time suck. > > Or, possibly, they think that linking to TVTropes is not actually engaging in conversation _here_. > [@Dan\_Norder](#): > > Or just plain sucks. Yeah, yeah, sure, sure pal. I promise I’ll never try to put this discussion in the context of the broader discourse again. Well, okay, maybe a little more: Individually, we’re all aware that story telling often depends on characters who are bafflingly unaware of the conventions of the genre, despite the fact that they are equipped with other unrealistic assumptions of the genre. Alien invasion stories are old enough that writers no longer bother to treat them as previously unimaginable (I haven’t seen the newer War of the Worlds, so I don’t know how it was handled there). Zombie movies are new enough that you can still milk a little tension out of people not understanding what’s happening, but increasingly this is a source of humor or annoyance rather than tension. Of course, it still beats the convention in vampire stories of couching the explanation of the new Vampire Rules by insinuating that you’d have to be pretty stupid to believe a different set of Vampire Rules. Just shut up and explain your premise. ---
**Author:** ![Sassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-in-zombie-novels-and-movies-when-the-virus-outbreak-occurs/550377/46 "2010-08-18T21:52:25Z")
I recommend to you all Feed by Mira Grant - [http://www.thefeedbook.com/](http://www.thefeedbook.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-in-zombie-novels-and-movies-when-the-virus-outbreak-occurs/550377/47 "2010-08-18T23:04:40Z")
> [@Mr.Slant](#): > > Zombies are not strictly a Hollywood invention. > Cite: > [Zombie - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie) > > Navigate to the heading “Zombies in Voodoo” As pointed out, the connection between the voodoo zombie and the Hollywood “Romero” zombie is tenuous, at best. Depending on what source you look at, the voodoo zombie is not even dead, just a heavily drugged and hypnotized person. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-in-zombie-novels-and-movies-when-the-virus-outbreak-occurs/550377/48 "2010-08-21T04:25:27Z")
> [@Enterprise](#): > > > [@Miller](#): > > > > You’d have a radically different world history if zombies had always existed. > > No, you wouldn’t. See the appendix of _Zombie Survival Guide_ and _ZSG: Recorded Attacks_…it seems that only the advent of air travel, combined with an outbreak in one of the most populous areas of the world, made sure the global pandemic which eventually came to be called World War Z could happen, while otherwise, zombie outbreaks were easily contained. Oh, the humanity! If only we had learned! I’ve been thinking about this,\* and I don’t buy it. The black plague didn’t have airplanes when it killed a third of everyone in Europe, and that disease was less infectious than the zombie virus (every bitten by a zombie gets infected) and less fatal (everyone infected turns into a zombie). If the virus gets into a major medieval city like Paris or Constantinople, it’s curtains for Europe and Asia. Probably Africa, too. [sub]\*Yes, I’ve been thinking about it for two days. Shut up![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-in-zombie-novels-and-movies-when-the-virus-outbreak-occurs/550377/49 "2010-08-21T04:37:21Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > \ > I like to call the fast zombies, “zoombies”, that’s even more fun to say. That’s _awesome_. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-in-zombie-novels-and-movies-when-the-virus-outbreak-occurs/550377.md?page=2)