Zombies

[podling]

I was speaking to dreadpiratetait the other day, and the topic of zombies came up (naturally). It seems that there's been a shift of zombie behavior over the last thirty years or so. I mean, think back. In the early zombie movies, zombies were slow moving, flesh-eating, and tenacious. Part of what made them really scary was the fact that they were relentless. Even if you remove part of their bodies, they just keep on coming. In contrast, the majority of zombies these days are fast moving. Still relentless, still flesh-eating, but no longer slow (with the exception of Shaun of the Dead but then that was a comedy). Zombies now move at a frighteningly fast pace. And I was wondering if it was a cultural thing. The zombies of the MTV generation need to be faster maybe?

I don't know, but I know that there has been a shift in zombie lifestyle. Discuss.

Comments

[mowglikat]

but even in resident evil they were slow moving. They could have a last-second burst of speed, but for the most part they were (as Milla Jovovich said) "conserving...their...energy...for...that...last, final....RAH!"

There were other non-zombie fast moving targets...but no running zombies.

[teapot-farm.livejournal.com]

Damn. It was a really good theory up til that point :)

[piratejenny.livejournal.com]

I don't remember the game so well. I think it was the dogs that always got me. They really need to release it for something other than Nintendo. Bastards.

[podling]

I thought it was on Playstation, actually.

[digriz.livejournal.com]

The original original was. However, Capcom redid it on the Gamecube, updating it with all of the latest graphics, sounds, and effects.

[piratejenny.livejournal.com]

You might be right. See, it's been that long.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Actually, you may have a point there.

IIRC, they are not traditional zombies, but zombie-like through medical manipulation (which, I believe, even the "non-zombies" are.)

Besides, if we can keep increasing processer speed, (mad) scientists could also find ways to speed up the manufacture of lethargic zombies.

Or it could be due to the Starbucks on every corner and overwhelming popularity of highly caffeinated energy drinks found in the convenience stores on the other corners.

[podling]

The thing is though, I'm not sure the root cause of the zombification is that important. I mean, take Night of the Creeps. Those zombies were caused by alien slugs. The most common zombification cause seems to be weird meteors or something, but it shouldn't discount the other causes.

And if it was just about caffeine, wouldn't there be Mountain Dew zombie tie-ins?

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Mountain Dew is a Pepsi product, and Pepsi has distanced itself from Michael Jackson after trying to set him on fire, and Michael Jackson's zombie-filled video 'Thriller' formed a basis of at least one of their ad campaigns, so, as a corporate rule, they shun zombies, just by association.

As for the root cause that is all important. Take the alien slugs - they've got a certain chemical composition, and it creates a certain flavor of zombie. Weird meteors in and of themselves aren't a problem - it's whatever odd cloud of gas, vapors, or other chemical formulation gets dragged along in the wake of the meteor itself that causes the zombification - and then we're back to how different chemical compounds interact with the subject matter.

Of course, zombie films greatly simplify this aspect of the process - supposedly because whatever composes the zombie cocktail is strong enough that it overrides all the variables of genetics, health, and other factors that trouble manufacturers of allegedly more legitimate pharmaceutical products and preparations.

Given that, we might be back around to the fact that they're not striving to show improvement in zombification technologies, but they're catering to the shortened attention span in modern audiences, and if they don't speed it up and get to the point, their viewers will walk out to watch something more their speed, with fast action, catchphrase dialogue, and lots of special effects scenes.

[podling]

I think it's actually still a good theory, but requires a larger frame. Shooter games in general do have a lot of speed enemies. Take Doom, where the creatures weren't zombies. We've become accustomed to seeing faster moving beasties, perhaps.

[phantom_wolfboy]

Actually, some of the creatures in Doom were zombies. In fact, they were the zombies of your character's late comerades.

[podling]

Zombie dogs! They were still zombies, just non-traditional...