When was the last you were frightened by a zombie movie? You probably cannot remember. Over the last couple of decades zombies have penetrated our lives in so many ways. Quite a bit of our entertainment is based on the zombie theme and as a result zombie movies do not fall in the horror genre any more.
The Origin of Zombies
A zombie, also known as the “living dead”, is a corpse that has been animated by magical means. In zombie archetypes, a normal person that suffers an injury from a zombie becomes infected. A common script is of the zombie apocalypse in which hordes of zombies attempt to take over the world.
Who would believe it’s been nearly 90 years since the first Zombie movie
The first zombie movie was White Zombie released in 1932. For the next five decades the main zombie contact was through movies, which created a special niche in the horror genre. Towards the end of the twentieth century the zombie concept began to enter other areas of entertainment like music, art, gaming and others. With the extensive proliferation of zombies in other spheres, the horror value began to fall. You obviously fail to get horrified by something you see everywhere – on billboards, in bookshops, at parties and more. This is especially true when children get familiar with the concept from an early age.
Zombies in Entertainment
Let us now explore some of the entertainment types that have made zombies commonplace.
Zombies and Music
The earliest entry of zombies in to pop music was appropriately through Michael Jackson’s music video Thriller in 1983. The dance with a troop of zombies has been preserved as a cultural treasure by the Library of Congress' National Film Registry giving respectability to the concept of zombies. Around the same time the heavy metal band White Zombie took a zombie identity. Later the hip hop trio Flatbush Zombies incorporated many tropes from zombie fiction in their music and even claimed to experience ego death and rebirth.
This kind of music entered homes, not at adult viewing night times, but as a part of family viewing and eliminated the gruesomeness associated with zombies to a great extent.
Zombies and Video Games
The first zombie based video games, Resident Evil and The House of the Dead, were released in 1996. This was followed by a deluge of such games and zombies became a part of popular culture. Experts have opined that with these games people were no longer watching or listening to something external. The players would become involved in the missions through the game play.
- Survival Horror video games put players in middle of zombie apocalypses requiring them to counter horrors and come out unscathed.
- First Person Shooter video games asked players to shoot down zombie hordes or be infected by them and lose.
- Sandbox video games like Minecraft allowed players to create zombie worlds that exhibited realistic behaviour.
Such first-hand experiences made players immune to the horror aspect of zombies.
Zombies and Video Slots
Even in video slots zombies are everywhere, it’s enough. There are even zombie no deposit slot games, and not just 1, too many. Every leading games supplier to online casinos has several in its portfolio. There is hacking and gore in the visuals and animations in many of these slot games but it is not gruesome and horrifying. In fact, many zombie themed slot games include literary twists to the concept.
- Alaxe in Zombieland presents the characters from Lewis Carroll’s famous tale as zombies.
- Zombies vs Cheerleaders is set in a school and based on the hilarity packed and thrill inducing illustrated book series.
Slot games are primarily entertainment forms that also provide players with an opportunity to win money. Horror is the last thing on the minds of those who spin the slot machines, even the zombie themed slots.
Zombie Themed Parties
Themed parties have been the norm for quite some time. If you host a party without setting a theme then you are considered out of sync with the times. Halloween is a particularly good time for people to get into zombie costumes. Just surf the Internet and you will find innumerable sites selling these online. Today you do not have only zombies – you have zombie pirates, zombie nurses, zombie punks and even zombie nuns.
Even for normal house parties you can buy complete zombie packs that include décor, tableware and cake. Something that has so much of a fun element cannot be scary.
Zombies and Children’s Books
The first time children hear thunder they probably get scared. After that it is a normal occurrence. It is the same with zombies. Zombie is no longer a hush word that is uttered only after the children have fallen asleep. Go to any bookshop, online or offline, and you will find zombie books for children. On the lines of the popular Wimpy Kid series there is a set of books Diary of a Wimpy Zombie. Children no longer look at zombies as antagonistic repulsive creatures to be scared of. Zombies have become just another set of imaginary characters like witches and ghosts.
When children grow up they feel no horror when they encounter the more gruesome zombies in movies.
Horror Moves On
In the early days of horror movies, zombies became an instrument and excuse to show gory senseless violence on screen. It was unthinkable that human beings would inflict such brutal savagery on their kind. Today zombies are no longer needed as tools. Slasher movies and other horror genres have enough bloodshed without invoking supernatural elements. Zombies are no longer taken seriously.
