Zombie shows and films bite into pop culture

Vampires are out, zombies are in. Zombie-themed shows and films have been gaining a cult following in the recent days, taking over the popularity of vampire flicks.

Image Source: amctv.com

The reign of the American horror drama series The Walking Dead as adults’ most-watched drama series on cable has been phenomenal. In the movies, zombie films are also well-received. Warm Bodies has grossed $63.5 million, Resident Evil: Retribution has been a box-office success with a gross income of over $200 million worldwide, and Brad Pitt's upcoming zombie film, World War Z, is highly anticipated.

Image Source: nytimes.com

 There is seemingly nothing interesting about zombie films. Often, they have a common plot: a post-apocalyptic world where zombies thrive to hunt the surviving humans. And the portrayal of zombies in most films is too gory to be fantasized, unlike that of vampires.

However, thinkers have offered various reasons to why people are hooked into the zombie genre. The most popular one is that people relate to zombies as disempowered, unhappy, and “dead” in times of economic crises. Adam Baker writes in the Huffington Post that the popularity of zombie films is rooted in social realism. Zombies are survivalist tales, “which are parables of resilience in the face of social upheaval.” The gruesome, miserable, and outrageous scenes reflect “shattered communities, social dislocation, and families struggling to find refuge.”

The popularity of zombie films and the social reason behind this fanaticism seems to mean one thing: until the economic crises ends, people will follow these zombies as they haunt for more “braiiiiins!”

Image Source: telegraph.co.uk

 This blog for Golden Globe nominee producer Edward Bass discusses various film topics.