Thursday, April 9, 2015

Dumbstruck For Brains


We all know that zombies enjoy a brain sandwich just before mauling another victim. But why are zombies interpreted this way? Popular culture would have us believe zombies are nothing more than a mindless creature (horde) that pillages villages and cries out, "brains," in a dull and coarse voice. Just look at the barn scene in The Walking Dead television series for instance.



Sophia walks out of the barn looking exactly the way everyone would imagine. She has a pale complexion and rotting parts of flesh, glazed over eyes, a scraggly looking limp as she walks, dirty clothing with flies swarming around her corpse, and makes a hissing/moaning noise. There is one part of this scene that really irritates me though. A classical zombie isn't suppose to be intelligent at all. Yet the "zombified" Sophia must possess enough intelligence and motor functions to be able to step over the dead bodies lying in front of the barn. Wouldn't popular opinion demand that this zombie walk on top of the corpses, or trip over them due to the lack of fine motor skills? And.. gee, I don't know.. brains!


Now, I understand that film crews take short cuts for the sake of acting, but popular classification of a zombie would imply that shortcuts cannot be made. At least for all intents of perfecting a zombie. So, now I come to the conclusion that I'm getting sick of the same old zombie. I mean there are all kinds of different takes on the zombie. There is the cannibalistic hillbilly version from The Hills Have Eyes, the classy walking corpse of The Walking Dead and Z Nation, the plague infested/ amorphous creatures from Resident Evil, and of course the comical relief versions from Shawn of the Dead and Zombieland.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a decent classical zombie movie/television show every once in a while, but it is becoming a bit repetitive and unoriginal. Quite frankly, zombies are becoming extinct in my opinion despite the popular demand. At least methodically anyways.

Instead, I'm extremely happy to see some new approaches to zombies.



This show is freaking amazing! Not to mention Rose McIver plays one of the hottest zombies I've ever seen. The show is about Liv, an ex-doctor gone zombie and now works at a morgue, who tries to fight against her nature by holding on to any life she may have left. Not to mention she is a psychic by eating the brains of other people. Talk about original. While there has only been a few episodes thus far, and I've seen them all, I have no doubts that this show will take the zombie world by storm. It is like someone took the idea of Warm Bodies and fused it with the hit drama-comedy Castle. (Except of course that Liv is a zombie rather than a famous novelist). There are so many excellent puns in each episode and tons of room for plot.

I know that die hard zombie fans are going to loath the idea of this show, but I implore upon them to stop being naive and read between the lines. This is exactly what the zombie genre desperately needed, and I'm cashing all in on this idea. I mean, who said that zombies have to be absolutely stupid, walk funny, and wreak of decay? (Rhetorical question folks.)

Now, I know what you all are thinking. This breaks the rules.

Damn right it breaks the rules! 

I'm happy that it does because the genre really needed something new. Seriously. 

7 comments:

  1. Intriguing...!! Btw I would love to make any sort of contribution to your blog :)
    Thanks for stopping by dude :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for stopping by! :) I would love to have your contribution. What exactly would you want to submit to the blog?

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well apart from my book reviews column.. we don't really have anything in common. Its up to you :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wouldn't mind if you gave book reviews. How about you shoot me an email, kmercwriter@gmail.com, and let me know any ideas that cross your mind. :)

      Delete