Zombie apocalypse: Difference between revisions
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Often the specific cause for the reanimation of the dead is indeterminate or, if known, cannot be controlled by broad countermeasures with available technologies. In either case, there is no way to stop the dead from rising after the phenomenon has begun. The zombies are usually non-sentient and bestial, motivated by a need to consume living humans or at least fulfill an imperative to retransmit an infection by biting or clawing their victims. |
Often the specific cause for the reanimation of the dead is indeterminate or, if known, cannot be controlled by broad countermeasures with available technologies. In either case, there is no way to stop the dead from rising after the phenomenon has begun. The zombies are usually non-sentient and bestial, motivated by a need to consume living humans or at least fulfill an imperative to retransmit an infection by biting or clawing their victims. |
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This leads to vast slaughter and very personal terror during encounters with the undead. Individually the zombies are physically unremarkable except for being unaffected by any but one specific kind of wound (traditionally decapitation, or the destruction of the brain). However the zombies attack |
This leads to vast slaughter and very personal terror during encounters with the undead. Individually the zombies are physically unremarkable except for being unaffected by any but one specific kind of wound (traditionally decapitation, or the destruction of the brain). However the zombies attack im masses, swamping all resistance in unending waves, heedless of casualties that would discourage a living force. |
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It is also a hallmark of the genre that attempting to defeat the undead by inappropriate means will often have a calamitous result for the main protagonists. As an example, seeking to destroy them by fire may simply turn them into shambling torches who can set fire to barricades, building or supplies vital to the surviving humans. The demoralizing effect of seeing conventional tactics and arms as well as wonder-weapons fail to stop the horde is generally profound as well. |
It is also a hallmark of the genre that attempting to defeat the undead by inappropriate means will often have a calamitous result for the main protagonists. As an example, seeking to destroy them by fire may simply turn them into shambling torches who can set fire to barricades, building or supplies vital to the surviving humans. The demoralizing effect of seeing conventional tactics and arms as well as wonder-weapons fail to stop the horde is generally profound as well. |
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Revision as of 14:21, 16 August 2008
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The zombie apocalypse is a particular scenario of apocalyptic fiction that customarily has a science fiction/horror rationale. In a zombie apocalypse, a widespread (usually global) rise of zombies (reanimated corpses) hostile to human life engage in a general assault on civilization. Those killed by zombies in turn rise as hostile zombies themselves. This causes the outbreak to become an exponentially growing crisis: the spreading "zombie plague" swamps normal military and law enforcement organizations, leading to the panicked collapse of civilian society until only isolated pockets of survivors remain, scavenging for food and supplies in a world suddenly reduced to a hostile wilderness.
Common elements
There are many elements common to most depictions of a zombie apocalypse. In the context of the story the generation of zombies is unprecedented; such a thing has never been seen before and is impossible by any reasonable definition, leading to responses of initial disbelief and, after the evidence becomes undeniable, psychological shock. Usually the authorities are slow to understand the true nature of the threat, first responding with inaction or inappropriate tactics and thus giving it time to grow beyond hope of containment.
Often the specific cause for the reanimation of the dead is indeterminate or, if known, cannot be controlled by broad countermeasures with available technologies. In either case, there is no way to stop the dead from rising after the phenomenon has begun. The zombies are usually non-sentient and bestial, motivated by a need to consume living humans or at least fulfill an imperative to retransmit an infection by biting or clawing their victims.
This leads to vast slaughter and very personal terror during encounters with the undead. Individually the zombies are physically unremarkable except for being unaffected by any but one specific kind of wound (traditionally decapitation, or the destruction of the brain). However the zombies attack im masses, swamping all resistance in unending waves, heedless of casualties that would discourage a living force.
It is also a hallmark of the genre that attempting to defeat the undead by inappropriate means will often have a calamitous result for the main protagonists. As an example, seeking to destroy them by fire may simply turn them into shambling torches who can set fire to barricades, building or supplies vital to the surviving humans. The demoralizing effect of seeing conventional tactics and arms as well as wonder-weapons fail to stop the horde is generally profound as well.
Narrative
The stories usually follow a single group of survivors, caught up in the sudden rush of the crisis. The narrative generally progresses from the onset of the zombie plague, then initial attempts to seek the aid of authorities, the failure of those authorities, the sudden catastrophic collapse of all large-scale organization and the characters' subsequent attempts to survive on their own. Such stories are often squarely focused on the way their characters react to such an extreme catastrophe, and how their personalities are changed by the stress.
Subtext
The literary subtext of a zombie apocalypse is usually that civilization is inherently fragile in the face of truly unprecedented threats and that most individuals cannot be relied upon to support the greater good if the personal cost becomes too high. The narrative of a zombie apocalypse carries strong connections to the turbulent social landscape of the United States in the 1960's when the originator of this genre, the film Night of the Living Dead, was first created.
List of zombie apocalypse fiction
The below lists are in alphabetical order.
Books
- Book of the Dead (and sequel), edited by John Skipp and Craig Spector
- Cell by Stephen King
- Dead City by Joe McKinney
- Dying to Live by Kim Paffenroth
- Monster Island / Monster Nation / Monster Planet by David Wellington
- The Rising / City of the Dead / Dead Sea by Brian Keene
- Tomes of the Dead : The Words of their Roaring by Matthew Smith
- World War Z by Max Brooks
- The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
- Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito, an apocalyptic satire conceived as the perfect opposite of a zombie apocalypse
Comic books and manga
- 28 Days Later: The Aftermath by Steve Niles
- Deadworld
- Highschool of the Dead by Daisuke Sato and Shouji Sato
- Marvel Zombies, originally by Mark Millar, later by Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, a comic book series by Robert Kirkman
Film
- 28 Days Later
- 28 Weeks Later
- Braindead
- Dawn of the Dead (1978)
- Dawn of the Dead (2004)
- Day of the Dead (1985)
- Day of the Dead (2008)
- Dead & Buried
- Dead Next Door (The) (1988)
- Dèmoni
- Diary of the Dead
- Fido
- Land of the Dead
- The Last Man on Earth
- Night of the Comet
- Night of the Creeps
- Night of the Living Dead (1968)
- Night of the Living Dead (1990)
- Night of the Living Dead 3D
- Planet Terror
- Rabid
- REC
- Resident Evil
- Resident Evil: Apocalypse
- Resident Evil: Extinction
- Return of the Living Dead
- Shaun of the Dead, in which an apocalypse was overcome by the British military.
- Shivers
- Zombie Diaries (The) (2006)
- Zombie Flesh Eaters
- Zombie Flesh Eaters 2
- Zombie Holocaust
- Zombie Strippers
Television
Video games
- Dead Island, An upcoming game due to be released in 2008 for PC and the Xbox 360
- Dead Rising, on Xbox 360
- The House of the Dead, on PC, Sega Saturn, and Arcades
- Left 4 Dead, on PC and Xbox 360
- Resident Evil, on various console and computer platforms
- Stubbs the Zombie in "Rebel Without a Pulse", Game released on PC and Xbox using the Halo combat engine.
- They Hunger, on PC a Half-Life Modification
- Urban Dead, a browser-based massively multiplayer zombie apocalypse game
- Zombies Ate My Neighbors, on Super NES and Sega Genesis
- Zombie Panic! Source, on PC a Half-Life 2 Modification
- Zombie Master, on PC a Half-Life 2 Modification
Other
- Xombie, Flash cartoons by James Farr
- Zombie Squad, a non-profit charitable organization that uses an upcoming zombie apocalypse as its shtick
See also
References
- "Zombie Movies from Hell". The Gothic Lilith eZine. Retrieved 2007-04-27.