Further to this post on the alleged political subtexts of zombie films, it seems the debate refuses to die.
In The American Prospect, Paul Waldman argues:
[A]t heart, the genre is a progressive one. It’s true that fighting off the zombie horde requires plentiful firearms, no doubt pleasing Second Amendment advocates. And in a zombie movie, government tends to be either ineffectual or completely absent. On the other hand, when the zombie apocalypse comes, capitalism breaks down, too – people aren’t going to be exchanging money for goods and services; they’re just going to break into the hardware store and grab what they need…
But most important, what ensures survival in a zombie story are the progressive ideals of common cause and collective action. A small group of people from varying backgrounds are thrust together and find that they can transcend their differences of age, race, and gender (the typical band of survivors is a veritable United Nations of cultural diversity). They come to understand that if they’re going to get out of this with their brains kept securely housed in their skulls and not travelling down some zombie’s gullet, they’ve got to act as though they’re all in it together. Surviving the tide of zombies requires community and mutual responsibility. What could be more progressive than that?
Over at Ace, Mætenloch takes a different view:
[F]irst of all common cause and collective action are hardly unique to the left – most of the difference between the left and right is how collective action should be implemented – top-down or bottom-up, government-based or strictly voluntary. And furthermore insofar as zombie movies actually have a political viewpoint, I would argue that it’s more a conservative one. As Margaret Thatcher once said, “The facts of life are conservative,” and the facts of the zombie apocalypse seem even more so.
Most z-movies end up with a small band of survivors holed up with guns fighting off zombie hordes, planning a way out to safety with no assistance from authorities. At the very least this suggests that conservatives and libertarians would be the most prepared to survive a zombie-filled world. Even if you’re not into guns, it’s good to have at least one neighbor who is, just in case. And while most movie plots revolve around a collective plan to escape, the emphasis is on individual action and responsibility. Z-movies usually contain a mini morality tale where a weak character through cowardice or distraction allows zombies to get through and kill other characters. Personal responsibility is not a virtue unique to the right, but it’s something that you generally only see celebrated in conservative-themed movies.
But the most telling point in favor of zombie movies being conservative is how they view the zombies themselves. The movies don’t bother focusing on their back story, motivations, or how or if they feel. The zombies are an implacable force that must be destroyed. Sure they may have been human friends and family once full of love and life, but now they are the undead who hunger for human brains or flesh. No moral equivalence here. And while occasionally a character expresses some sympathy for the zombies, no one ever tries to negotiate or find common cause with them. It’s pointless. They’re zombies, they’re hungry, and they have to be destroyed.
Readers keen to deconstruct the politics of cheesy horror films are welcome to sit through Boris Sagal’s 1971 offering, The Omega Man, based on Richard Matheson’s novel, I Am Legend, in which Charlton Heston struggles with the technophobic undead on the streets of Los Angeles:
Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
There’ll be a test on Friday.
It’s funny how both left and right want to lay claim to zombie films like they’re great moral parables.
“…like they’re great moral parables.”
Well, I suppose they can be parables to some extent, but it’s usually in pretty general terms. Teamwork, responsibility, courage, etc are obvious themes, but I’m not convinced they can be appropriated by any one political tribe. Maybe a film about a group of smug student pacifists being besieged by flesh-eating zombies would make a broader point, but I doubt it would make for great cinema.
Some critics claimed that Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later was a “powerful message” about “car-addicted, computer-dependent, urban life” and the “useless ephemera of consumerism.” But that “useless ephemera” proved vital to the characters’ survival at least a dozen times, so I’m not sure what the “powerful message” actually was. There’s a clearer example in Boyle’s more recent (and much better) film, Sunshine. One of the crew makes a point of displaying her moral credentials and telling everyone how much she cares about this and that. Her urge to be seen as caring jeopardises the mission and, given the nature of the mission, risks the survival of all humanity. I suppose you could read something into that.
I’m not especially into zombie movies. I think of “The Omega Man” as a sci-fi zombie hybrid.
I wish more of these movies had some brain food. BSG showed it was possible to put big ideas into TV space opera.
Aren’t zombie movies about resisting conformity? Being a zombie is the ultimate form of unthinking conformity. Therefore, the resisters have got to be characterised as right-wing individualists who just want to be themselves and are willing to fight to avoid being (literally) consumed by the masses.
Also zombie movies always end up with scenes of claustrophobia, again, a way to represent the stifling effect of mass society. Just like being on the Tube, really.
Georges,
“I wish more of these movies had some brain food.”
I can’t claim to be en expert on the genre, which I generally avoid, but zombie films tend to be more, er, visceral than cerebral. Attempts to get lofty with the premise aren’t entirely successful, e.g., 28 Days Later. I did like Sunshine, and I enjoyed it more after watching it a second time. Some of the detail can be missed on first viewing. Although it’s science fiction, it does have zombie-esque elements towards the end. And plenty of Biblical allusion.
“I think of “The Omega Man” as a sci-fi zombie hybrid.”
I forgot how bad that film is. But the zombies are hardcore environmentalists. Obviously. 😉
“BSG showed it was possible to put big ideas into TV space opera.”
I’m missing it already. No more hybrids, no more jumping, no more ruthless use of the airlock. After that, you can’t really go back to TNG or season one Voyager.
“or season one Voyager.”
*shudder*
[sigh]
Also missing the heavy clunk of the ruthless airlock, and that peculiar frisson of the frozen guilty or possibly innocent victim bumping down the flanks of BSG. When in doubt, better to be safe than sorry.
“The zombies are an implacable force that must be destroyed.”
The left only tries to “understand” people they already agree with anyway. When they ask “why do they hate us?”, the “us” they have in mind doesn’t include them. That particular “us” is Margaret Thatcher and Henry Kissinger and Dubya. When somebody hates them, the left, specifically, they never ask “why do they hate us?” Instead they ask “what drives these maniacs to be so evil and irrational that they don’t love us?”
Imagine a lefty asking “Why does Rush Limbaugh hate us?”
See what I mean?
“Also missing the heavy clunk of the ruthless airlock,”
Yeah, none of that girly “stun” setting from Star Trek.
Bob Hope on Zombies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a6YdNmK77k
The man was ahead of his time:-)
“Always Aim for the Head”
That’s what I like about this place. Practical advice.
And never, ever allow people who’ve been bitten by zombies to stay with you behind the barricades. No good can come of that.
http://www.best-horror-movies.com/images/return-of-the-living-dead-2-head-bite-small.jpg
The theme (musical) from Omega Man was composed by Ron Grainer who also did music for Dr. Who, The Avengers, and such. I love that soundtrack no matter how many plot holes the movie had.
For a complete multicultural experience though, check out Chinese jumping zombies …
e.g.
http://www.trashvideo.org/zmdb/view/index.php?page=movie&id=323&type=movie&mode=Country&key=China&start=0
The zombie films in George A Romero’s epic cycle contain a linking thread in its sympathetic portrayal of black characters – from the character tragically shot by troops in Night of the Living Dead to the zombie leader in Land of the Dead. This motif might be seen as a trademark feature of Romero as evidence of a playful authorial intent. Another motif, the developing consciousness of zombies – first materialised in the hare krishna zombie in Dawn of the Dead, further developed in the zombie Bud in Day of the Dead, and almost reaching full cognition in the zombie leader in Land of the Dead who manages to lead the zombies in a form of collective action through a series of grunts and other sub-vocal exhortations, reaffirms the sophisticated and sustained vision of this master auteur.