The New Age of Zombies

The New Age of Zombie

Era of Zombie Movies Pre 9/11/2001

            The era of zombie movies before 9/11 were very different. I will describe the differences as we go through the paper. Most zombie movies before 9/11 were seen as melodramatic and even comical. You have people who turn into zombies that are walking quiet sluggishly in the search of live people they can eat. To be turned into a zombie you have to be bitten by one first. Then you die and come back as a zombie. Most of the movies before 9/11 the way the zombie apocalypse started was because of a voodoo curse. They were more science fiction than reality so it left the viewer more afraid of the movie than what the movie represented in society. People did not feel that this could really happen. But all of that changed after 9/11.

Era of Zombie Movies After 9/11

            After our country was attacked on 9/11 it changed a lot of how we look at things in our lives. It made us more vulnerable and afraid. We look at situations differently. Everything has a meaning and a probability factor. Zombie movies represent the fear of a terror attack or pandemic that can strike at any time. They no longer represent science fiction and are more real to us. We walked away from 9/11 with a crisis mentality and are waiting on the next strike. You hear bits and pieces of stories of how the government is making new disease to fight with and that means this is possible. The most recent movie about zombies is 28 Days Later and then followed 5 years later the sequel 28 Weeks Later. These movies the zombies are infected with a rage virus. This was man made and was being tested on apes. These types of movies make us question our government and what they are doing in the name of science. With this virus you did not have to die and come back you just turned once you were bitten, these zombies could also run really fast so it is harder to get away from them. This increases the fear of an apocalypse and adds to the anxiety of this happening globally.

Movie 28 Days Later

            In this movie there was a group of kids who went to an animal testing facility that had apes that were being tested on and they wanted to set those apes free. After being told that these apes had a contagious virus that could affect the world they still set them free. The apes were injected with a virus called the Rage virus. The Apes attacked everyone there and killed them. This started the apocalypse on London. This rage virus was spread through blood and saliva. Once bitten you did not have to die to turn you would just turn within a few minutes. It was very fast acting and spread quickly. Once turned you were no longer slow and sluggish you could run really fast which made getting away almost impossible. The military was called in to help contain the outbreak but that did not happen very well. The outbreak was laid out in days:

·         Day 1 Exposure

·         Day 3 Infection

·         Day 8 Epidemic

·         Day 15 Evacuation

·         Day 20 Devastation.

This movie seems like a real possibility to us and makes us question our government and their ability to contain such an outbreak. We also wonder if it is possible that they could mistakenly release this type of outbreak on the world. To make matter worse this movie came out about the same time we had the SARs outbreak in 2002 and 2003. In 2007 just five years later the sequel to this movie came out 28 Weeks Later.

Movie Sequel 28 Weeks Later

            This movie was about the rehabilitation of London and how the American military tried to help with that. They thought they had gotten rid of the rage virus in all of the hot areas and were letting civilians back into London but quickly found out that was not true. They had issued code reds which meant the military would shoot, bomb, and gas the infected areas regardless of non .infected. They had a three step process:

·         Step 1 Kill the infected

·         Step 2 Containment

·         Step 3 Exterminate

They are never able to contain a virus in any movie and that makes us wonder if the government will ever be able to stop something like this of will they even be able to respond to something of this nature. Horror movies are usually out there to begin with and most people a just spooked by the movie but then you have movies like this that leave you feeling that this could really happen it add fear to a whole level.

Conclusion

            In conclusion this article was really an eye opener because I never looked at a zombie apocalypse as something that could happen. I do believe with what the government is working on that we do not know about makes this prospect more real. But you never know what could happen and if you try to prepare for everything that could happen that is all you would get done. That is like the bomb shelters of the past era. How many people built bomb shelter and never needed them. I am beginning to wonder if they are not a good idea now as this might save you from the zombie apocalypse coming in our future. It is something to think about.

References

Birch-Bayley, N. (2012). Terror in horror genres: The global media and the millennial zombie. Journal of popular Culture, 45(6), 1137-1151. doi: 10.1111