Saturday, January 22, 2011

[pueyzztd] Zombies are not amusing

As you jokingly prepare for the zombie apocalypse, realize that those weapons you are stockpiling you will be using against actual, living, human beings.

Create a film which dually depicts a class struggle and a zombie outbreak.  This can be done with the same actors in different costumes and makeup, and rapid flips between the dual perspectives even within the same scene.

In the film, a class divide has become so severe that that the two classes can no longer relate to one another, no longer effectively communicate since they have so little in common.

From one perspective, the proletariat, frustrated at being the "have-nots" of society, are violently revolting against the bourgeoisie.

From the other perspective, the bourgeoisie, not being able to relate to these revolting proletariat, mentally picture them as zombies to dehumanize them to be able to stomach brutally mowing down an actual, living, human being with a chainsaw.

The bottom of the social pyramid is always the most populous, so it seems no matter how many they kill, they just keep coming.  The difference in education between the classes makes the "zombies" seem impossible to communicate and reason with; they seem to operate purely on rage.

This of course is a parable and warning for our current society, and consequently any zombie film can be viewed in this light.  Such violent class revolutions have happened before, e.g., the French revolution and the Communist revolution, and their outcomes were ugly: one made Napoleon absolute dictator and Emperor, and the other put the Communists in power.

As the gap between the wealthy and the poor continues to grow, we see signs of this schism: that crazy guy on the city bus you are scared to sit next to, perhaps you avoid the bus altogether, perhaps you've joined the white flight to the suburbs.  On the other side, the poor commit street crimes against those more wealthy than themselves: they do it because they no longer see their victims as fellow human beings deserving of respect; the class distance is so large.

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich lectures, "How Unequal Can America Get Before We Snap?"  A zombie outbreak is what the "snap" will be like.

1 comment :

Suzanne said...

'Living' Zombies already attacked in Leicester last month: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-13823427

Perhaps this was a prelude to the more serious 'zombies' in the form of the young people looting London, Manchester, and other parts of the UK over the last few days.

As for more real information and ideas of what to do about it, I'm quite impressed with the Equality Trust - http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/