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marmar

(76,989 posts)
Fri Jun 8, 2012, 10:10 AM Jun 2012

What Does Our Obsession With Zombie Stories Tell Us About Our Politics?



AlterNet / By Kristin Rawls

What Does Our Obsession With Zombie Stories Tell Us About Our Politics?
Between widespread feelings of political disenfranchisement and growing economic inequality, it's easy to feel as if we're facing a zombie apocalypse.

June 6, 2012 |


Zombie chatter reached unprecedented cultural prominence last week when reports of two murders involving cannibalism appeared in the national headlines.

But since the 2008 financial crisis, zombies have had quite a resurgence in popular culture. First, it was the comedy film Zombieland, followed by 2010’s sleeper hit, AMC’s "The Walking Dead." During the summer, we’ll get two youth-themed zombie flicks, the high school film Bad Kids Go to Hell and a stop-motion film called Paranorman from the creators of Coraline.

Zombies are everywhere these days – there’s even an Osama bin Laden zombie film coming to the big screen this summer. But why might zombies be so omnipresent at this moment in time? Maybe between widespread feelings of political disenfranchisement and growing economic inequality, it’s easy to feel as if we’re facing, say, a zombie apocalypse.

A year ago, a CBS poll suggested that, “Americans have long felt they have little say in government. But the trends are troubling: While 58 percent said they have little say in what government does in 1990, that figure has risen to 69 percent today. In the new survey, 85 percent say that people like them had too little influence on American life.” ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/155783/what_does_our_obsession_with_zombie_stories_tell_us_about_our_politics_/



7 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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What Does Our Obsession With Zombie Stories Tell Us About Our Politics? (Original Post) marmar Jun 2012 OP
Du rec. Nt xchrom Jun 2012 #1
Zombie apocalypse lessons (off the top of my head) ChicagoRonin Jun 2012 #2
Every ones of these has the ring of truth . . . Brigid Jun 2012 #3
All 5 points seem pretty legitimate to me 4th law of robotics Jun 2012 #7
We are relentlessly searching for politicians with brains. rug Jun 2012 #4
We will build attack drones faster than these zombies or whatever their name is kenny blankenship Jun 2012 #5
A rose by any other name.. cbrer Jun 2012 #6

ChicagoRonin

(630 posts)
2. Zombie apocalypse lessons (off the top of my head)
Fri Jun 8, 2012, 10:38 AM
Jun 2012

1) The government will fail you
2) The military cannot protect you
3) We are ill-equipped to deal with environmental catastrophes
4) Modern society is a fragile collection of interdependent systems; if one goes down, we all go
5) To paraphrase the Joker from THE DARK KNIGHT: People are only as good as society allows them to be. When the chips are down, these so-called 'civilized people' will turn on each other

Brigid

(17,621 posts)
3. Every ones of these has the ring of truth . . .
Fri Jun 8, 2012, 10:27 PM
Jun 2012

Whether I'm watching "The Walking Dead" or Rachel Maddow. Or a particularly good George Carin clip.

kenny blankenship

(15,689 posts)
5. We will build attack drones faster than these zombies or whatever their name is
Fri Jun 8, 2012, 10:47 PM
Jun 2012

will be able to reproduce themselves or recruit. We'll drone them right out of existence, by God, even if we have to pawn the Washington Monument, Washington State, Mt Vernon and Washington DC off to China to pay for it.

DRONES! More Drones and we can fix all our problems!
Drones! Drrro-o-o-n-n-e-s!

 

cbrer

(1,831 posts)
6. A rose by any other name..
Sat Jun 9, 2012, 04:36 AM
Jun 2012

Indeed, "Zombie" is a collective term for all these phenomena. Didn't it spring from the video game sub-culture?

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