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  • Essay / The representation of zombies as a negative spirit of humanity

    The representation of vampires and zombies has evolved over time. While vampires have developed a non-monstrous and even romantic object of human admiration, zombies have infiltrated culture as one of cinema's most popular monsters. They have evolved over time from an element of the Voodoo religion, representing the manifestation of the anxieties caused by slavery, to a very different role today in modern media. With the humiliating nature and consequent place that zombies occupy in their representation, zombies arouse fear of the worst possibilities of an unexamined life. The zombie can be interpreted to represent everything that could arise in the negative mind of humanity. Zombies now have largely religious connotations, particularly Christianity, with references to things such as the seven deadly sins, the end of the world, and other more typical religious concepts such as good versus evil within us . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essay The evolution of zombies changed with the westernization of folklore, with the media as the main influencer. The media has partly shaped religion, and vice versa. Secularization is the concept that religion plays less importance and has less influence on a nation or people in general. With the rise of technological conveniences and the free availability of all information, media has become the most prevalent influencer. As Stephen King suggests, “the horror film has become the modern version of public lynching,” fictional stories serve a purpose for humanity. Plot lines and character development in pop culture serve to influence the audience toward certain concepts, fears, and ideals for the future. In "Vampire Gentlemen and Zombie Beasts" is an analysis and description of the zombies' claims that religions, such as Christianity, can be applied to their benefit. A religious concept evoked by zombies is their involvement in a greater purpose or meaning in life. Tenga and Zimmerman argue in “Vampire Gentlemen and Zombie Beasts: A Rendering of True Monstrosity” that the depiction of zombies can lead audiences to grasp meaning in life; “Zombie fiction warns that in a world without history, humanity will be assimilated into a global herd without purpose or meaning.” This alludes to the concept that a world without religion would be similar to the depiction of humans becoming zombies, a very powerful metaphor, in which humanity no longer has the ability to differentiate between good and evil. Zombies strike fear into the worst possibilities of an unexamined life, representing everything that could arise in the negative minds of humanity. Zombies represent humans after death, with the behavior of the corpse of the person to whom they belong, but in an exaggerated way. In this way, they are able to remind us of our ever-present feelings and judgments about ourselves. In “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” we appreciate the ability, as King claims, to “restore our feelings of essential normalcy.” "While horror relieves us of the judgments between good and evil within us, zombies represent beyond that. They also represent, as Zimmerman and Tenga point out, "evolving versions of the history of the confrontation between the living and the undead.” More than any other monster, zombies are close to the human form but in a grotesque and unconscious reincarnation.viewers of the visualization of their inevitable future in death, as they are essentially walking versions of decomposing human bodies. They also relax into a depiction of death as an inexplicable horror that can be as much a relief as it is entertaining. King explains: “It pushes us to put aside our more civilized and adult penchant for analysis. . . this invitation to sink into symplicity, irrationality, even pure madness" notably channels the necessity of religion through their conceptual role in the afterlife, as a definition of Christianity says, "every bad action is a sin ". The most important sins to be aware of are the seven deadly sins, and most of them are found in the zombie representation, as a sermon by Father Kocik says, "we call them 'mortal' because they cause spiritual death.” As most of the human race is exposed to or actively believes in some form of life after death, zombies belong to the fantasy of the type of experience that might be possible for us. Although zombies and vampires are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to monster depiction, they still have some similarities in which they represent some of the Seven Deadly Sins. One of the seven deadly sins, and probably the most recognizable, that vampires and zombies represent is gluttony. Gluttony is when there are extreme desires to consume much more than necessary. Christian leaders also add that it is “the pursuit of this pleasure as an end in itself”. This is seen when zombies and vampires relentlessly consume their food (humans), in an equally aggressive and endless manner. Zimmerman and Tenga recognize the path of the zombies: “they are the poor, who work constantly but never have enough; their predation on humans is a subsistence requirement that has been denied to them.” They are mechanical, bloodthirsty and aggressive in their hunting. They do not care about the well-being of everyone and manage to destroy societies. Zombies are notoriously gruesome in their springing into action without a second thought, like many monsters, while vampires have essentially the same caricatures, but are seen as a more romanticized type of monster. The most cardinal and grievous of all sins is pride. Pride is identified as a dangerously corrupt selfishness, when one puts one's own desires and impulses ahead of the well-being of all. Zombies and their incessant, indulgent consumption are similar to consumer culture which also relies incessantly on marketing and advertising to create devoted voracious customers. In “Vampire Gentlemen and Zombie Beasts,” “zombies spread across borders, erasing human memory and transforming everything in their path. into a crowd of thoughtless and undifferentiated consumers. This is similar to the consumerism prevalent today, with almost all of our everyday products designed, with the help of science, to be addictive and create monetary benefits for large, aggressive corporations. The authors acknowledge that "terrifying in their numbers, zombies are 'a literalization of what has already happened' in our mechanized, depersonalized, consumer-fueled age." In this way, zombies terrorizing cities in modern movies are similar to our product-hungry reality. Another deadly sin that zombies represent is laziness. Laziness can be described as a sorrow for spiritual good, a lack of feeling for self or others, or a state of mind that gives rise to boredom, apathy,.