Zombies In Western Culture: A Twenty-first Century Crisis
by John Vervaeke /
2017 / English / PDF
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Why has the zombie become such a pervasive figure in
twenty-first-century popular culture? John Vervaeke, Christopher
Mastropietro and Filip Miscevic seek to answer this question by
arguing that particular aspects of the zombie, common to a
variety of media forms, reflect a crisis in modern Western
culture.
Why has the zombie become such a pervasive figure in
twenty-first-century popular culture? John Vervaeke, Christopher
Mastropietro and Filip Miscevic seek to answer this question by
arguing that particular aspects of the zombie, common to a
variety of media forms, reflect a crisis in modern Western
culture.
The authors examine the essential features of the zombie,
including mindlessness, ugliness and homelessness, and argue that
these reflect the outlook of the contemporary West and its
attendant zeitgeists of anxiety, alienation, disconnection and
disenfranchisement. They trace the relationship between zombies
and the theme of secular apocalypse, demonstrating that the
zombie draws its power from being a perversion of the Christian
mythos of death and resurrection. Symbolic of a lost Christian
worldview, the zombie represents a world that can no longer
explain itself, nor provide us with instructions for how to live
within it.
The authors examine the essential features of the zombie,
including mindlessness, ugliness and homelessness, and argue that
these reflect the outlook of the contemporary West and its
attendant zeitgeists of anxiety, alienation, disconnection and
disenfranchisement. They trace the relationship between zombies
and the theme of secular apocalypse, demonstrating that the
zombie draws its power from being a perversion of the Christian
mythos of death and resurrection. Symbolic of a lost Christian
worldview, the zombie represents a world that can no longer
explain itself, nor provide us with instructions for how to live
within it.
The concept of 'domicide' or the destruction of home is
developed to describe the modern crisis of meaning that the
zombie both represents and reflects. This is illustrated using
case studies including the relocation of the Anishinaabe of the
Grassy Narrows First Nation, and the upheaval of population
displacement in the Hellenistic period. Finally, the authors
invoke and reformulate symbols of the four horseman of the
apocalypse as rhetorical analogues to frame those aspects of
contemporary collapse that elucidate the horror of the zombie.
The concept of 'domicide' or the destruction of home is
developed to describe the modern crisis of meaning that the
zombie both represents and reflects. This is illustrated using
case studies including the relocation of the Anishinaabe of the
Grassy Narrows First Nation, and the upheaval of population
displacement in the Hellenistic period. Finally, the authors
invoke and reformulate symbols of the four horseman of the
apocalypse as rhetorical analogues to frame those aspects of
contemporary collapse that elucidate the horror of the zombie.
Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis is
required reading for anyone interested in the phenomenon of
zombies in contemporary culture. It will also be of interest to
an interdisciplinary audience including students and scholars of
culture studies, semiotics, philosophy, religious studies,
eschatology, anthropology, Jungian studies, and sociology.
Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis is
required reading for anyone interested in the phenomenon of
zombies in contemporary culture. It will also be of interest to
an interdisciplinary audience including students and scholars of
culture studies, semiotics, philosophy, religious studies,
eschatology, anthropology, Jungian studies, and sociology.