Zombies Everywhere

It seems these days you cannot walk six feet without running into a zombie!  The Walking Dead set a record recently for the largest viewing audience watching a season opening television show (and it was the fourth season).  The Internet Movie Database lists some 53 (yes…53!) movies released or about to be released in 2013 alone that have zombies as characters in the movie.  The list goes from World War Z (which got the most hype because of Brad Pitt) to, I am not making this up, A Zombie Love Song.  Finally, at the university where I work the student body just participated in Zombie Zumba (It seems even the undead need to keep fit).

It appears there is a cycle when the popularity of witches, vampires, werewolves and zombies rise and fall and now it is the zombies turn to be most popular.  This is true, not just in the United States, but all around the world.  Professor Sarah Lauro of Clemson University has studied Zombie Walks (basically a flash mob, but the participants dress as zombies).  Dr. Lauro has documented zombie walks in 20 countries, the largest drawing over 4,000 participants.  Dr. Lauro believes that when times are unsure and people feel more powerless about their lives for the future, zombies gain popularity.

Zombies represent death and our fears.  They are the great leveler as all people are plagued with the undead.  And we root for the movie or TV hero who has the courage, strength and wisdom to take care of the zombies as they symbolically take care of our fears and our fear of death.