# Why Are Zombies Clothed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407 "2011-10-31T18:34:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/1 "2011-10-31T18:34:53Z")
I mean, if they have been in graves long enough for the flesh to rot, woldn’t the clothes be pretty much gone? They are always portrayed as wearing clothes-why aren’t they naked? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/2 "2011-10-31T18:39:35Z")
It depends on the clothes. If you were buried in a 70s era polyester tuxedo, it’s going to be soaked with gore but otherwise practically brand-new. Plenty of fibers will last for a long long time compared to human tissue. And now, [Zombie in a Penguin Suit](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtdEKIsnEkM). ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/3 "2011-10-31T18:40:00Z")
Because the American public wants Gore, not Bush. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/4 "2011-10-31T18:44:03Z")
Part of it; same reason Bruce Banner’s pants don’t rip. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/5 "2011-10-31T18:45:59Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#): > > Part of it; same reason Bruce Banner’s pants don’t rip. Zombies have stretchy purple pants? ---
**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 31, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/6 "2011-10-31T18:54:52Z")
Joking aside, there’s a real reason behind this. And that is, 99.9% of all zombie stories have jettisoned the “grave digger” zombie. In today’s zombie fiction, there’s typically a patient zero who dies in a hospital or at home or on the street and then gets back up again. Patient zero was never buried and long dead corpses stay dead. If the universe you’re reading about does “everyone comes back” zombies instead of virus zombies, the long dead will typically stay dead. Only the recently deceased will rise. So clothes for everybody! Except for the one or two nude zombies that typically populate every zombie movie nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/7 "2011-10-31T19:16:11Z")
Their flesh isn’t completely rotted away; that skeletons, not zombies (fewer HD, but quicker). Their flesh is rott_ing_, and so is their clothes: It’s all in tatters, not intact. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/8 "2011-10-31T19:28:21Z")
It’s also much like leprosy - they do not register pain and so do not notice damage to themselves. Less rot and more wear-and-tear. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/9 "2011-10-31T19:30:09Z")
World War Z actually does address this, at one point someone comments how zombies are always pictured as being dressed in their sunday best but the reality is that most of them are either naked or in their underwear or in hospital gown because most died sick in bed. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/10 "2011-10-31T19:32:20Z")
This is mentioned in WWZ I believe in the Battle of Yonkers. The interviewee talks about how unprepared they were for the zombies nudity. He says something to the effect of “in the press photos and media you always see clothed zoms… but really most of them are naked.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/11 "2011-10-31T20:48:48Z")
Because people don’t want to see naked zombies and filmmakers probably don’t want to show them- for reasons of makeup budgets and MPAA ratings if nothing else. And I’ve read - possibly in a Straight Dope column - that clothes for the dead are usually slit up the back for the convenience of funeral home attendants. If someone made a zombie movie where all of the living dead had their butts hanging out, it might undercut the drama a little bit. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/12 "2011-10-31T20:53:56Z")
In the seminal movie that made the modern zombie - _ **Night of the Living Dead** _ - there were a couple of naked zombies. Not because the clothes had rotted - no zombies dug out of their graves (through coffin, vault and a few feet of dirt). Presumably, they were from a freezer, or waiting for dissection or something. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/13 "2011-10-31T22:24:27Z")
Because zombies are people. _People_, not animals! Let them retain a shred of dignity, won’t you? Next you’re going to be telling us that a zombie should only count as three-fifths of a person, due to the necrosis. Hmmph. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/14 "2011-10-31T23:41:05Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > World War Z actually does address this, at one point someone comments how zombies are always pictured as being dressed in their sunday best but the reality is that most of them are either naked or in their underwear or in hospital gown because most died sick in bed. Yep, and a hospital gown is hard enough to keep on when the wearer actual cares about trying to keep it on; zombies have no sense of modesty or social awareness. Naked zombies cost more than clothed ones (both in makeup, the highter pay for the performers), but they would most viewers (at least in the US) find them far more disturbing than gore. > [@Marley23](#): > > Because people don’t want to see naked zombies and filmmakers probably don’t want to show them- for reasons of makeup budgets and MPAA ratings if nothing else. And I’ve read - possibly in a Straight Dope column - that clothes for the dead are usually slit up the back for the convenience of funeral home attendants. If someone made a zombie movie where all of the living dead had their butts hanging out, it might undercut the drama a little bit. Tom Savini did his homework for the **Night of the Living Dead** remake he shot. A zombie who reanimated during his burial service is show approuching Barbra; she yells to him for help, then notices his suit falling off (revealing his autopsy scars), finally we get a rear shot of his ass and the mortician’s slit on the suit. He was wearing shoes either. Savini even mentions that other films getting this wrong bothered him on the commentary. Of course most fully made up funeral home zombies would also have their eyes glued shut, cotton shoved in their mouths & down their throats (& other orifices), and finally _their jaws wired shut_. :smack: They be less of a threat and more really morbid comic relief. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/15 "2011-10-31T23:53:01Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Because the American public wants Gore, not Bush. 😃 Well played. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/16 "2011-11-01T17:48:16Z")
I’m thinking the dangly bits would be the first to show wear and tear, and would soon be gone. And guys want to enjoy the movie, not spend it doing that vicarious _owie_ thing they do. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/17 "2011-11-01T19:11:56Z")
_Shaun of the Dead_ featured a nude zombie who’d succumbed to injuries, died and reanimated while taking a shower. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-zombies-clothed/601407/18 "2011-11-01T22:09:24Z")
Video game zombies are more often nude or barely clothed compared to movie zombies, although they’re usually sporting the Ken/Barbie genitals. See the Resident Evil series, Amnesia the Dark Descent, Penumbra (penis zombie alien!), Killing Floor, etc.