And BTW, Ron Paul wants to eat your BRAAAAAAINS...

[redneckgaijin]

So, zombies have been a major meme in fandom for years and years... but in the last year or two, they've exploded into mainstream culture... by which I mean the kind of "Zombies are hunting for BRAAAAINS (don't worry you're safe)" shirts and the like are now being sold not at conventions but at Wal-Mart and Target.

And I've been wondering why. What is so damn appealing about the zombie apocalypse? If you're a zombie (and more than likely you'll end up that way) you either die a horrible agonizing death or were dead beforehand, and then you wake up mindless, shambling, and cannibalistic without any taste or discretion. If, on the other hand, you're a human survivor, congratulations- civilization has fallen, food supplies and electricity have likely gone south for the ice age, and your life expectancy is directly linked to your ability to find reloads for the pump-action shotgun you've salvaged from wherever.

What the hell is appealing about ANY of that?

And then, just today, it hit me.

When the zombie apocalypse hits, there won't be any government or cops to hassle you. You'll be able to take anything and everything you ever wanted without paying. You'll be able to shoot anything that moves (especially if it's moaning for BRRRAAAAAAAINS). The only law will be the law of the Winchester, which you as a human survivor will wield. And, of course, the weak and unfit (read: everybody you don't like) will be eaten alive while you survive and take all their stuff afterwards. Oh- and of course there will be the handsome/beautiful members of the opposite sex who will seek your (obviously superior) genetic material to repopulate the Earth.

In short, the zombie apocalypse is the libertarian/teabagger Utopia. It's the ultimate no-rules, no-consequences fantasy.

That's why the Wal-Mart crowd has got so much into zombies in the past couple years. Zombies are a socially acceptable means of expressing the desires they already have to be total selfish dicks.

(Which makes it all the more ironic that Woody "Legalize Weed NOW" Harrelson played the badass mentor in Zombieland...)

Comments

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

Good one!

[omorka.livejournal.com]

bradhicks had some similar musings about zombie films and the survival-horror genre a while back that you might find interesting.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Y'know, that's the first explanation for this craze which has ever made any sense to me. But it still doesn't explain the otherwise-sane people I know who aren't teabaggers or Libertarians but still like zombies.