# Sudden resurgence of zombies in popular culture **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 4, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555 "2009-10-04T16:14:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/21 "2009-10-05T15:15:02Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Actually, a quick perusal of action-movie lists from 2008 and 2009 doesn’t seem to reveal any that have middle-eastern terrorists as the primary villains. What’s _24_ been doing lately? African terrorists. Who got an assist from a Blackwater-like company (and eventually, a conspiracy of a dozen Blackwater-like companies to take over the US). ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/22 "2009-10-05T15:23:48Z")
One problem I can see with Middle Eastern terrorists is they’re hard to distinguish. You look at a Nazi in uniform, you know he’s a Nazi. You know nobody wearing that uniform is a good guy (at least as Nazis have been portrayed in pop culture), so you can kill him without a moment’s thought. Same with a zombie, or Star Wars stormtroopers. Zombies are pretty freaking obvious. Not so much with an ME terrorist, though. I mean, unless you’re in a cave and there’s a squad of guys packing guns running at you, they’re difficult to tell apart, having no unique image. There’s often potential room for doubt. I mean, hell, it’s what many of them rely on in the real world. So they’re difficult to use for straight-up cannon fodder. ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/23 "2009-10-05T16:20:59Z")
Interesting question, and something I’ve been wondering about for several months. I noticed that even when I chose non-zombie books, zombies would unexpectedly appear in them. I was playing 2 zombie/apocolypse games at the same time. Zombies and apocolypse. Why the both? Apocolypse as our fears, and zombies as our hope of surviving it? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/24 "2009-10-05T16:26:49Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > It’s like any other trend in popular culture. > > It keep coming back to life. 😃 It’s the time of the season. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/25 "2009-10-05T16:59:49Z")
I think part of the rise of popularity of zombies has been the gradual evolution of Vampires from shuffling undead revenant antagonist to Hunky Sparkle Vampires protagonists. The tipping point was Buffy starting to date the undead. However for the ultimate bad guys, here are more [Nazi Zombies](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1278340/) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/26 "2009-10-05T17:03:12Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > I think part of the rise of popularity of zombies has been the gradual evolution of Vampires from shuffling undead revenant antagonist to Hunky Sparkle Vampires protagonists. The tipping point was Buffy starting to date the undead. The tipping point was way before Buffy. [http://www.madelinebaker.net/images/amandaashley-330-Langella\_cape.jpg](http://www.madelinebaker.net/images/amandaashley-330-Langella_cape.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/27 "2009-10-05T17:13:20Z")
Yeah, but Buffy was The Slayer. She opened wide the door to the coolification of the undead. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/28 "2009-10-05T20:46:25Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Prior to the release of Romero’s original _Night of the Living Dead_, zombie movies were pretty much a moribund genre. How many classic zombie movies can you recall from before that time? Only two: _White Zombie_ and _I Walked With a Zombie_. > … > I prefer to reserve the term “zombie” for the voodoo-created type. Let’s call the current creature something different. I do find it odd that “zombie” is the term that attached to the genre, even though not only was there already a term for a flesh-eating creature - “ghoul”, that is in fact the term used in _Night of the Living Dead_. > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > They weren’t rotting corpses hungry for braaaains - or any other body part. According to a previous thread on zombie movie sub-genres, the brains business was actually an innovation of the O’Bannion zombie films. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/29 "2009-10-05T22:28:48Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > I do find it odd that “zombie” is the term that attached to the genre, even though not only was there already a term for a flesh-eating creature - “ghoul”, that is in fact the term used in _Night of the Living Dead_. Ghoul works for me. Although I think ghouls were generally alive… Picky, picky, picky… ETA: We need to get **CalMeacham** in here to weigh in on this topic. Waddya think, **Cal**? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/30 "2009-10-06T00:06:22Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I thought that middle-eastern terrorists were the new generic bad guys? Nah, it’s not “Politically Correct” and we live in a world where no-one wants to offend anyone. Also, someone from the Middle East is not automatically a “Bad Guy”- your average Middle Easterner is just like you or I. But Nazis? You had to join them, and by joining them, you got a snappy uniform which identified you a member of the League Of Evil, and basically said “I endorse [del]Hedley Lamarr[/del] Adolf Hitler And The Evil For Which He Stands” The only other group that reaches that same level of Instant Evil Bad Guy-ness are Imperial Stormtroopers, and there are still people (myself included) who don’t necessarily see the Empire as “Evil”. Also, it’s a a bit hard to take Stormtroopers seriously when you know they’re all clones of a Doctor from an NZ Hospital Soap. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/31 "2009-10-06T02:37:56Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > The only other group that reaches that same level of Instant Evil Bad Guy-ness are Imperial Stormtroopers, and there are still people (myself included) who don’t necessarily see the Empire as “Evil”. Then you truly are lost. Just kidding. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/32 "2009-10-06T04:06:59Z")
I blame it on Vampire Fatigue. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/33 "2009-10-06T04:35:18Z")
I agree the rise of zombie-themed movies et al. has a lot to do with developing a Generic Bad Guy–not to mention the possibilities for creative mass slaughter. But I also wonder if the usual elements of “end of the world” art play a bigger part. The apocalypse as a social game-changer provides ordinary folks with the opportunity to prove their latent awesomeness, a chance for working-class stiffs to be the heroes they knew they always were and thereby expose the injustices of current class structure. ---
**Author:** ![Karweenie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e79b87/32.png) [@Karweenie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karweenie)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/34 "2009-10-06T05:05:23Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Also, I’m sure most on this board have already read it, but _ **World War Z** _ by Max Brooks (son of Mel!) is an instant classic and the best zombie book evah! Amen. That book is just the right blend of fiction and down-and-dirty documentary. > [@](#): > > We are afraid of diseases that are 100% preventable and yet inexorably continue to spread mostly due to ignorance and apathy. We are scared that the government is incompetent, negligent or actively out to screw us and in case of a real massive emergency it would fail miserably in protecting us. We are afraid even the most powerful army in the world would take years to adapt to fight an unconventional enemy. Moreover, zombies are a democracy of horror: whereas in vampire stories the vamp usually has to like you to turn you, a zombie plague is indiscriminate. The possibilities for delightful catastrophe are enormous. ---
**Author:** ![Haunted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/898d66/32.png) [@Haunted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/35 "2009-10-06T11:40:41Z")
> [@](#): > > According to experts – and, yes, there are zombie experts – it’s because for all their limitations, the brain-rotted, animated corpses are so darned versatile – helping reflect whatever our greatest fears happen to be at the time. What a crock of crap. Anyway, vamps have been more popular than zombies for a while now. There have been more vamp books, TV shows, and movies than zombie entertainment over the past few years. It’s like vampmania or something and it’s getting old. I think that true zombie fans, the ones who daydream about what they would do during the zompocalypse, like zombie entertainment because zombies are (relatively) easily defeated but still quite dangerous. You can imagine yourself fighting them and it’s scary, but not too scary. Kinda like riding a rollercoaster. Fighting an army of advancing vamps is a losing proposition. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555/36 "2009-10-06T13:56:06Z")
> [@Haunted](#): > > Fighting an army of advancing vamps is a losing proposition. Yeah, it’s like trying to ice-skate uphill. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sudden-resurgence-of-zombies-in-popular-culture/512555.md?page=1)