Zombie Awareness Month: Terror of the Masses
Written by GeekGirlCon Manager of Editorial Services Winter Downs.
I hate zombies.
Oh, sure, zombies have been the zeitgeist for so long that I’ve developed a list of exceptions to my zombie media antipathy–Cherie Priest’s Clockwork Century series, the videogame State of Decay, and most recently the ridiculous/awesome/ridiculawesome TV show iZombie are great examples. However, I realized that the zombie fiction I like all fits into one of two categories. Either it emphasises community-building (particularly of marginalized people) in the post-apocalypse, or it humanizes the zombie characters. On reflection, it’s not really surprising that I favor stories that center character and relationship development over mowing down mindless hordes of enemies.
iZombie: Liv (a zombie) and Ravi (a human) bonding in the morgue. Image source: Entertainment Weekly.
When I heard that May is Zombie Awareness Month, I scoffed. Who isn’t aware of zombies? The lists of zombie films, novels, and games grow longer every month. The CDC uses zombie preparedness campaigns as an education tool. Zombie Awareness organizations have sprung up that imitate other awareness campaigns with ribbons and buttons to advertise their cause. Even hardcore zombie bandwagoners are starting to tire of the ubiquitous hordes.
But there’s an opportunity here to talk about zombies and what they represent in our cultural consciousness.
