Zombies: The Supernatural and the Reality - Essay Example

Zombies: The Supernatural and the Reality Zombies had been both entertaining and phenomenal characters featured in movies that dwell with horror and gore. They are creatures of the underworld, raised from their graves and tasked to haunt the living on earth. As a product of everyone’s thrill for the supernatural, zombie films had become a traditional way of showing the ghastly part of human folklore and imagination. This paper will discuss the role of zombies in the film industry and their accompanying perception in the real world. It will first tackle the very definition of the word. Thereafter, the implications of zombie will be dissected unto what the current human society regard to as real-life zombies. The Zombie: Its Entity and Meaning At the first glance, the word zombie is perceived to be a negative term implying horror and terror. Every human being accounts the word to be those creatures that torment the living, creatures associated with ghastly images of the flesh-eating un-dead. In a denotative sense, the word zombie means “a person who is believed to have died and been brought back to life without speech or free will” (Merriam-Webster). In this definition, an image of terror and gore is not associated with the word. However, mysticism and the supernatural aspect are implied by the re-awakening of the inanimate or the dead. It is with such that modern films depict zombies. Movies portray them as supernaturally brought from their graves, dominating the land for man-flesh. The typical zombie characters portrayed in horror films are those that possess traits of the soulless body. The dead human becomes a victim in a way that the body is deprived of "deprived of will, memory, and consciousness, speaks with a nasal voice and is recognized chiefly by dull, glazed eyes and an absent air" (Ackerman, 474). In a sociological set-up, such entity becomes an anti-social individual who becomes a horrifying cannibal (Garneau). Politics and the Existence of the Zombies Whatever negative connotations are attached to zombies, these supernatural beings are sought after in films because they twist the imagination of the ordinary citizen. However, going into the deeper implications of zombies upon human reality, one can see that there are different views to interpret their presence in the film industry. High-grossing movies such as “The Night of the Living Dead” and “The Land of the Dead” all give testament to the kind of society the one can have when mishap comes into context. This can be related to political affairs. In reality, political authority is important in order to have stability. However when political mishap occurs, control and assurance is suddenly lost. In a political sense, structural realists call a society devoid with the proper heading a zombie state. These zombie states are those sovereignties which lack solid government institutions, thus the society they govern over are let loose (Drezner). This means that people are not subjected into proper control. Execution of laws and decrees is not carried through and effectively do not reach the people. A probable outcome expected from a zombie state is anarchy (Drezner). This inference actually makes sense because zombie films portray a society which lacks order. In the mentioned films, chaos is present within a community swarming with flesh-hungry zombies and hysterical escaping human beings. Anarchy due to political disintegration also reflects the same case. People go out of control because of the absence of peace and order. Power-hungry politicians – the primary cause of political meltdown – turn the nation into a zombie state. They, themselves, become the zombies of their society. These mindless beings turn the ordinary citizen into a zombie who can loot and cause trouble because of the anarchical society. Liberal institutionalists have the same sentiments with structural realists. Their approach focuses more on the strength of the policies rather than the institutions who execute them. They imagine a bandwagon mentality which exists amongst the people. “Kill or be killed” is the main concern of liberal institutionalists. It’s either the people should join the zombies or be devoured by the prevailing system (Drezner). Such is a question of benefiting and becoming the flesh-eating monster or forever existing as the scared human being who lives a subsistent life in the context of a corrupt zombie state. Neoconservatives are frank enough to give an anti-thesis to this zombie state. According to them, the presence of a strong and powerful human hegemony can be the solution in a zombie infested state. This human authoritarian is expected to be the source of reconciliation and change within the existing system (Drezner). Like in the movies, the establishment of a formidable human post at the centre of a zombie community allows the survival of the race and also produces the retaliatory force against the zombies. These neoconservatives propose the formation of a dictatorial community as the primary anti-thesis against the anarchical society spear-headed by the zombies. In such case, lawlessness would be suppressed and peace and order would eventually be produced. As what is stated from the paragraphs above, the presence of zombies within the film industry does not only serve the need for entertainment. These movies, in a subjective manner, connote a deeper meaning and understanding of the society and the politics attached to it. The gore and the ghastly image of zombies feeding on the flesh of human beings can represent the corrupt political leaders and influential individuals who take advantage of the innocent citizens of the community. With such pretext at hand, corruption can spread amongst the “uninfected” citizenry. This bandwagon mentality produces the rampant presence of the zombies within the community. Eventually, the entire system eats the nation and a zombie state is produced. Indeed, the movies speak to the people. They represent the undesirable anarchy produced from a possible political instability. The World of Medicine and its Zombies Zombie films and the implications of such upon the realities of human life can be seen not only in politics but also in medicine. The world of medicine is a wide field of scientific interests which creates myths and supernatural talks. The study of the biology of the human body can transcend into the most bizarre. The medical practice of surgery associates itself with the possibility that zombies can exist in real life. Medical students are compelled to practice the worst in order to pass for a medical degree. Dissections of human cadaver are common ways in order to train these students for the real life complications of medical surgeries. In medical schools, the presence of arrays of cadavers is a regular sight. What is horrifying about such are the tales which follow the practice of dissection of cadavers. In the first chapter of Mary Roach’s book entitled, Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers, a detailed account of stories about decapitated heads on platters are narrated. The chapter tells about the utter importance of the human head when it comes to dissection practices. The first parts of the chapter recounts the gore encountered by the decapitators in their task of removing the heads from the bodies of test subjects – cadavers of course. This part also tackles how the students view the decapitated heads within the surgery rooms. In detail, the author writes about the heads to be in comparison as those of roasted chickens. The size and the shape are tantamount with one another. Like the roasted meat which drips of its juices, the decapitated heads are put unto platters as well in order to catch the cadaver’s excess fluids (19-37). Further into the novel, particularly on the fifth chapter, Beyond the Black Box: When the Bodies of the Passengers Must Tell the Story of a Crash, the author narrates how investigators trace the events that led into any horrific plane crash through the positioning and the state of the cadavers upon the crash site. The scientific and analytic sciences work together in order to solve the puzzle of such incidents. What is mind boggling about such tales is that the picture of what the dead bodies might look like upon the process of investigation. The severed body parts, the burned flesh, the decapitated heads and the twisted body parts are all reminiscent of the image of gore and ghastly supernatural catastrophes (113-131). The work of Roach is both smart and commendable because the author explores on the unknown perspectives of human life. She details the dead and their role in the present society. Like what was discussed in the first chapter, the author presents a graphic description of the importance of body parts in the lives of medical students. Roach gives the readers the impression that the dead have an important role in making the society educated through medical exploration. The fifth chapter, on the other hand, is constructed in an intelligent manner. Like Sherlock Holmes, the author creates an air of investigative inquiry within a mishap through the interpretation and analyses of cadavers. Forensics and the application of inference are used as primary tools that would solve a particular incident. In other cases, human commas also give credence to what the given examples present. The zombie state can be obtained from the case of John Sanford’s article entitled, When are you Dead? The writing recounts the story of how a young man had fallen from a cliff and had sustained multiple head injuries which led to the complete paralysis of his body. Aside from being in comma, the implications of the irreversible brain damage that he had acquired compelled his parents into a decision of removing his life support and donating his organs. The article details the statements of the young man’s doctors about the victim forever stuck in a zombie-like limbo because his brain was permanently incapable of other functions but surviving. Sanford is very direct to the point when he describes the life of an incapable body due to brain malfunction. He digs into the realities that subject the victim into utter disability and puts him in the case of being a literal vegetable. The implications of fear and pity are taken from the analytical discourse that Sanford had presented. He focuses on the procedural conditions of organ transplant with relations to the particular state of the human brain. The writer also concentrates on the point of view of those around the patient / victim. He gives notice on the emotional side of the families who wish to end the suffering of the affected amidst the living but damaged brain. Although his approach is very technical when it comes to medical terminologies and the documentation of methodologies, he sees to it that the readers get his point – a real life zombie is not to be feared from but to be pitied with rather. Conclusion The accounts within Mary Roach’s book and John Sanford’s article give testament to the zombie experience presented by contemporary horror films. Blood and gore prevalent within the movies are well appreciated in the cinemas. However, like in Roach’s work, when subjected into the reality of human existence, the experiences associated with them become all too real. The horror that first time medical students had to go through in human dissection relives what supernatural films create. This instigates the fear and the impression of being involved with the dead. It can also stir one’s imagination with the un-dead while in the process of human surgeries. In Sanford’s publication, the state of comma from victims can portray a very real zombie. The physical attributes and the way of living that the incapable had t go through is a concrete exemplar of what zombies are in the medical world. However, fear and gore should not be associated with the mentioned in Sanford’s article. Human understanding and aid should be directed to fellows who are subjected into the zombie-like limbo. Works Cited Ackermann, Hans W., and Jeanine Gauthier. "The Ways and Nature of the Zombie." Journal of American Folklore 1991: 466-494. Print. Drezner, Daniel W. “Theory of International Politics and Zombies.” ForeignPolicy.com. 18 August 2009. Web. 22 April 2011. Garneau, Genevieve. “Zombies - World, Body, Life, Time, Person, Human.” DeathReference.com. Web. 22 April 2011. Roach, Mary. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Connecticut: Tantor Media, Inc., 2008. Print. Sanford, John. “When are you Dead?” StanfordMedicine.com. 2011. Web. 22 April 2011. Read More