World War Z: An Optimistic Zombie Narrative

Given the amount of blood shed in the first 100 pages of Max Brooks' novel World War Z, it might be hard to think of the novel as an optimistic work. Though African Rabies spreads, the dead rise, and quite a few people lose their lives, World War Z comes across as a more hopeful tale than other works, like Romero's films (excepting Land of the Dead) primarily because of its form.

Romero's early films tend to end on down notes. Ben is killed by a posse of the living after being mistaken for a zombie in Night of the Living Dead. The original ending of Dawn of the Dead was not much better. The film originally ended with Fran and Peter committing suicide and the helicopter powering down as it ran out of fuel (At least according to Wikipedia), though this ending was changed to a somewhat ambiguous escape by the time the film was released. Even the update of Dawn of the Dead ends pessimistically. The survivors escape via boat only to arrive at a zombie infested island and an uncertain fate.

What differentiates World War Z from these works is that it is written from the perspective of survivors. Brooks' narrator as well as each of the people he “interviews” in the context of the stories are speaking from a time after the Zombie War, when some semblance of normalcy has returned to society. No matter how gruesome, each person telling a story is telling a story of their own triumph over the zombie menace. This lack of an inevitable doom for the story's survivors lends the film a different tone than Romero's work.

Where Romero seemed to be preaching about fundamental flaws in our culture through the gospel of the dead, predicted the fall of our consumer empire and the end of days, Brooks' message seems to be somewhat lighter. While there is no shortage of social commentary in the novel (governmental organisation, the military, and celebrity culture all receive their share of scrutiny) it seems to be pointing out faults that can be corrected rather than the crumbling foundation of a sinful society. While it may be quite dark, there is hope to be found in World War Z, and I think it is a stronger novel for it.

Camera Lucida

This reading proved to be quite difficult to read and had nothing to do with zombies in a literal sense. The reading explains that photographs are an interesting thing because it traps a person, time, pose, and circumstances of that time all in a still image. He talks about a photograph of a slave market and how that even though we know there is no slavery anymore, in that picture slavery is frozen in that moment forever. The picture is neither alive nor dead but it encompases what was happening in that time period. It shows us another side of ourselves and the victims of those circumstances. The reading also talks about photographing dead bodies, an interesting concept because when we take a picture of the living there is a split that occurs. We know the picture is just a recreation of a person and there is a living person that that picture is trying to mimic. The split is the living and the recreation. When you take a picture of a dead body though the split becomes difficult because it is recreating a lifeless object and there is no living person though we say that is the living part that the picture is trying to recreate. It is here that I think this reading relates to Zombies. Though zombies are lifeless dead bodies reanimated we still consider them living similarly to how we consider a picture of a dead body a recreation of the living. It is a very difficult subject to explain and I could be completely wrong but thats what I took from this reading. The line between living and dead is blurred in the subject of photography as it is with zombies

Shakespearean Sonnets and a little Flash fiction

I must admit writing Shakespearean sonnets is extremely difficult and trying for me; please do not judge my ability as a writer on these poems. I decided to abandon the use of iambic pentameter to allow a little more freedom for writing. These sonnets do not deal with human relationships, but rather other types of love. For example, one sonnet is based on a Christian speaker that deals with the hope and zombie. The other sonnet came from watching the relationship between Robert Neville and his dog. The last piece of fiction does not entirely deal with my project, but I did not want to waste, so I figure I might as well focus on it. I tried to acknowledge the need for violence in human beings in this piece of fiction.
http://https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/cjkaegi/public/Public/Zombie%20Poem%201.docx
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/cjkaegi/public/Public/Zombie%20Poem%202.docx
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/cjkaegi/public/Public/Zombie%20flash%20fiction.docx

Chicago Zombie Pub Crawl

http://www.chicagozombiepubcrawl.com/

In W.J.T. Mitchell's "Surplus Value of Images", Mitchell explores the many aspects of the image. Investigation of its influences on humans, how it defines people, and also this article could pertain to zombies are some of the main points of this excerpt.

Images are powerful on the human mind. Mitchell claims that "we do not merely "see" picture, we "drink" them with our eyes" (80). Like a basic function of life, images may be necessary to the human life. Also, whenever we view images, we are easily persuaded, like in visually stimulating commercials. The second half of the prior quote says that "pictures in turn have a tendency to swallow us up" (80). Humans can become influenced by pictures and images. Maybe it is only a magazine add by the types of images we see can mold the type of person we become.

That idea ties into the next topic I found interesting and it is how Mitchell sort of hints at the fact that images can define people. As said before humans can become engulfed in images have that be the basis of their morals. In the "Surplus Value of Images", on statement says how "artworks [are] the anvil on which one's values [are] tested and hammered out" (82). Loosely, Mitchell may be saying that images are the reason as to why people behave the way they do. Humans see an image, picture, whatever it may be and base their actions off of the reactions to the images.

Now for the zombie aspect, as least how I viewed it after reading this excerpt. Most of the middle section pertains to the type of details that create this relationship. In one paragraph Mitchell talks about species and how they "appear in the world"; most likely in the form of an image (86). A few lines later when he specifically talks about different species he says that "a species is neither good nor bad: it simply is" (86). As soon as I read it, the idea of zombie popped into my head because sometimes, depending on the literature, we have a tough time deciding whether a zombie is a good or bad creature. Maybe we just have to take the zombie as it is, an image. Further along Mitchell explains his idea of iconology. Very briefly, it is just how images can represent something else. He shortens iconology up to be "about the fear of images" (96). Again, zombies can be paralleled to this idea. Of course, as far as we know, no known humans have risen from the dead to become zombies yet, in movies and literature they are still scary. That is where the "fear of images" comes into play. Zombies make humans scared because we view images of them and have reactions to those pictures or words on a page. We do not necessarily have to touch them or any other physical sense be stimulated to know that zombies can be scary, we can tell by looking at an image. In general, the use of images have really helped in aiding the popularity of the zombie as a different type of media than books and literature.

The Walking Dead

(hopefully vague spoilers ahead for vols 3+)

Volume 2 of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead does enough of what the previous volume did. It is establishing new characters while getting rid of others. Right off the bat we are introduced to Tyreese and his group and the viewer is given another strong male lead, one which no doubt comes to blows with the previously established one. The old group and new teammates venture forth into a small gated community to find refuge. But when the shit enevitably hits the fan Donna is lost to the zombies and the group escapes only to find a farming family hiding out from the horde. Shortly after that they go their separate ways and Rick leads his group to a prison stating "We're home".

The Walking Dead takes a few things to some extremes. First, it is highly detailed in its depiction of gore and death (and beware in future volumes it doesn't lighten up, specifically several brutal torturous scenes in vol 6) This is not uncommon for the zombie genre of course. But what is a little uncommon is for a major character to reunite with his loved ones after a near apocolypse. This is one extreme in a more heartwarming direction, while in Volume 2 there are some jumps towards the other side. Again, this happens often in The Walking Dead. As soon as something good happens, chances are something equally terrible is right around the corner.

In The Walking Dead the zombies serve a different role than most zombie films. In the first volume they are established as the enemy, as in most zombie related media. But in the second volume, and moreso in later ones, the zombie is mostly a tool to help establish other characters. The zombies brought all these people together, the situations make the characters act in certain ways, and make other people act in ways that they wouldn't have thought they could act before. The zombies also serve to give the reader even more tangible antagonists in future volumes. The zombies are more of a natural disaster or a force of nature that cannot be truly defeated.

Lastly, being in a graphic novel format, we are given a different experience from books or film. Some may have noticed that the art style changes between volume 1 and 2. The artist of the first volume used a more stylized design for the characters and events. Things that are drawn more cartoony offer a detachment for the reader from the events depicted. We are less likely to relate to a caricature of a human than a photo-realistic image (not to say that these two volumes were either extremes). With comics people can be depicted however the aritist intends, while films give us set people portraying them and books leave it up to the reader.

The Surplus Value of Images

This reading is primarily about how images affect the senses and human decision making processes. The first portion discusses how the soda "Sprite" uses the slogan "Obey your thirst". This slogan is stating that images do not mean anything, and that a person should obey his or her natural senses, as opposed to obeying false images and fake ideas.

The author, W.J.T. Mitchell consistently puts an emphasis on the fact that images are inferior and meaningless. When he says "Surplus images", Mitchell is talking about the profits created for business from images. Mitchell believes that from a business standpoint, images are valuable. Otherwise, they are pretty much worthless.

Mitchell briefly discusses how commercials use a process called value transfer, where the commercials link positive ideas and cultures to a product that may be absolutely disgusting. Therefore, commercials appear to be appealing to the general public because they relate to familiar things.

I think the main point that Mitchell makes within this reading is that pictures do mean something greater than what they are. A picture will often create controversey and provoke ideas into viewers' heads, even if the picture has nothing on it. This is what makes images so exciting and makes photography a unique artform itself.

Seeing With One's Own Eyes

The movie is credited to be one of the most direct confrontations with death ever filmed. It looks into three actual autopsies and documents the procedures preformed upon the bodies which enter into the morgue. The film is supposedly in direct juxtaposition to the fictional documentations of supernatural death which we have otherwise encountered in class.

Called the longest awkward silence ever filmed, Brakhage’s film has no sound. This could have been a choice made because sound typically tells a viewer how to feel about the images they are seeing. The reasoning behind making the film entirely silent may be to add an air of realism in that if the viewer were watching such processes take place in front of them, they would have to experience their own emotions in relation to the visuals rather than what a director decides they should feel when he alters the sound. However, in this removal of sound, Brakhage does seem to strip the autopsies of their realism.

The only faces seen in the film are those of the coroners, and even these are never seen as the autopsy practices are performed on each cadaver. The cadaver’s faces are not seen in full for legal reasons, however it is unclear as to why Brakhage felt it necessary to refrain from showing the faces of the coroners and morgue staff except when they are in situations which do not directly involve the cadavers. Perhaps this speaks to some desire to not connect conscious humans to the condition of death and the actions they are performing which would be horrifying if the bodies used were not already dead and it was in the name of science. That being said, the faces seen in the film are two instances of a coroner, once reporting on a cadaver’s clothes as a cadaver lies on the metal table behind him, half protected from the camera by his white lab coat, and another coroner in the end recording the autopsy process and findings vocally.

The other face which is seen is of a morgue staff member who wears orange gloves, as opposed to the white of the doctors. He is seen briefly before he begins to mop up the floor of the room in which the bodies were essentially emptied of anything which could be valuable. Interestingly, this individual is wearing headphones, implying that he, like the viewer, also does not have the full realism and sound of the situation. Perhaps this is a necessary thing for detachment in the situation.

At the time this film was made, it was revolutionary, hailed as perhaps the first true horror film. While it was an interesting look at death, I feel that the realism was stripped with the sound and it was no different from any of the other images this desensitized generation I hail from encounter. This stripping of realism, I feel, could have been prevented had Brakhage not insisted on using a variety of filters which tinted organs unbelievable colors, experimental angles which makes a freshly rinsed cadaver look like the Hostel edition of Barbie, and unnecessary close up shots that made a hollowed out human chest cavity look more like an artsy meat sculpture of the Grand Canyon.

The Walking Dead vol. 1

In the Beginning of "The Walking Dead," Robert Kirkman provides and introduction, where he describes why he wrote "The Walking Dead" and what his intentions were. He puts a lot of emphasis on how "good" zombie movies were the ones that made you think instead of the flashy gore filled movies. He also emphasized change and how people react to extreme situations, such as a zombie attack. In "The Walking Dead" series Kirkman will be exploring how the characters change and adapt to their new lives after the zombie attack.

In the very beginning of the story the main character Rick Grimes gets shot. Later he wakes up alone in a hospital, very much like in the movie "28 Days Later." As the story progresses he is slowly introduced to what has been gong on around him while he was unconscious. He stumbles across a few people who help him along and he gradually realizes how drastically the world has changed.

In hopes of finding his family, Rick ventures into the city but is quickly overtaken by a zombie horde. Luckily he is saved by a mysterious man who takes him to a camp of survivors. There he is reunited with his wife and son.

This is rather unusual for a zombie story. To me one of the main themes in Zombie movies and stories is strangers coming together to cope with the distinct pain of lost loved ones. They bond over this mutual pain and share stories of their past as they try to create a new future together.

I'm sure Kirkman must have a reason to bring Rick and his family back together but it was rather unusual for this to happen. I'm sure it will have a great effect on how the rest of the story plays out and i look forward to reading the rest of "The Walking Dead" series.

"The Walking Dead Vol. 1" and What it Means to be Living

“The Walking Dead Vol. 1” was my first experience with a graphic novel and to be honest, I wasn’t crazy about it. I think it lacks elements from both cinema and literature. Personally, I find other media to be more effective but none the less it seemed to have many of the necessary elements of a zombie tale. For one, the zombies themselves seemed pretty typical; slow moving, death by head wound and have the capacity to infect with a mere bite. Then we have our protagonist, Rick, whom we of course recognize as the do-gooder who isn’t afraid to push the boundaries, he tells it like it is and assumes a position of leadership fairly soon after he reaches the camp. Lastly, we are forced to deal with the fact that characters whom we come to identify with become zombified, reminding us that we ourselves face that same risk.

The importance of human relations seems to crop up throughout the story, in that of Dale and his deceased wife, the bonding of the women and of course the Rick-Lori-Shane love triangle. Dales finds comfort in the two girls, Amy and Andrea because they are a reminder of the live he knew and loved. Donna, although she may be a bit a gossiper, tries to strike up chat with the other women just to give her something to hold onto. Then there is Shane, who is grasping at a relationship with Lori despite the return of Rick because it’s the only chance at a meaningful relationship that he has left. Ultimately this leads young Carl to fire a shot at Shane, killing him. And the last page of the novel resonates this theme most of all as we a small child trying to figure out what he has done. It forces both Rick and the reader to remind ourselves that we cannot take any relationship or moment of life for granted and that as long as we retain emotion and purpose, we will never be one of them.

I feel the question being posed by “The Walking Dead” is what does it really mean to be living and how do we prevent ourselves from slowly slipping into zombification in today’s world?