8/28/10
One of the topics we discussed this past semester that interested me the most was the role of zombies in entertainment. Movies, television shows, and the internet have been overflowing with anything zombie related since the zombie craze began. Although there are many metaphors for the zombie in all three of these resources my favorite is the issue of population. In nearly all depictions and discussions of zombies they always multiply in a dramatic rate because they infect those who they feast on. As a result, society becomes overpopulated and society goes into a state of panic and hysteria. Twenty years ago the United States had a little fewer than 250 million people and now in 2010 we are pushing to 310 million. With so many issues of job shortages and companies outsourcing jobs to increase their profit margin, this is an issue that many Americans are currently dealing with. According to the U.S. Bureau Labor of Statistics, currently there is a 9.6% unemployment rate. It may not seem so low, but a mere 10 years ago it was barely a 4% unemployment rate. That is more than double the amount of unemployed in a decade. Overconsumption is another issue that is always portrayed in various zombie films. One of the more recent films that shows this is Dawn of the Dead. Basically, zombies have taken over the city and a group of people were able to run for safety. The place of refuge is in the mall and somehow the zombies all show up to the mall. One of the characters tries to explain it may be “instinct.” As the movie progresses, the people in the mall begin to consume everything around them. It was really amazing to watch this film with that sense of perspective. I realized that we all consume so much and are willing to kill sometimes for that particular item of interest. Unfortunately, close to where I am from a Walmart employee was killed when a group of shoppers during Black Friday broke down the doors and trampled him to death. We are all