Recently, I’ve been wondering why zombie-hunting and -killing is so popular. I mean, it seems like people are very divided when it comes to military fiction, some think its cool, others think its despicable. When it comes to zombies, people are still divided, but the ones that don’t like zombie fiction tend to have issues with its unreal, and not (as with military fiction) moral, qualities.
I haven’t done any real research on this issue, so I’m kinda just winging it here. But if somebody asked me, I’d say that the above was the case. Assuming I’m right, I’d like to make a brief analysis of why zombie fiction tends to have a broader accept and appeal than military fiction.
Personally, I think military fiction sometimes turn a blind eye to moral issues such as civilian casualties and the respect for human rights and other humanitarian conventions. The enemies at worst, even though they are human, are portrayed as barbaric monsters who deserve noting more than a bullet through the head. At best, the enemies become figures for target practice, as if they only exist during combat. Only the emotional consequences of the “heroes” are portrayed. Military fiction that has the above properties tend therefore to glorify war, which, obviously, a lot of people have a problem with. However, it should be noted that some forms of military fiction deviate from the above analysis. Notable examples include Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now and Platoon.
Zombie fiction, on the other hand, seems to be quite another ballgame. Here, I would like to quote Sean Roberts:
- A zombie will, without exception, attempt to devour the living.
- Zombie-ism is contagious. A person attacked by a zombie will, invariably, become a zombie. If the person was killed by a zombie, zombification will be almost instantaneous. Persons wounded by a zombie will take longer to zombify but will, in the end, do so.
- Zombie-ism is incurable.
Zombies are walking dead. Presumably, if something as morally defining as a soul exists, then zombies have no soul. They certainly have no consciousness. All they have is, well, instincts. Zombies by definition don’t care who they kill, they will kill all the living. The living are targets and the only way to avoid having to flee all the time is to “kill” it. Zombies cannot be cured, so “saving” the zombies is out of the question.
Anyone trying to survive during a zombie apocalypse need to know that survival ultimately depends on throwing moral convictions away that would hinder the extermination of the walking dead. As audience, we know this, there are no two ways about it.
Zombies are not evil. Many of us no longer entertain superstitious norms such as good versus evil. If zombies are portrayed as evil, the suspension of disbelief will shatter. Zombies must be killed. If a person gets bitten, she will turn into a zombie and ultimately raise the threat level of her loved ones. It is more correct morally to kill a zombie than to run away from it or try to save it.
The contagious undeadness of the zombies makes any kind of moral questions about killing them superfluous. Unlike sentient adversaries, zombies cannot be convinced to stop their killing, a ceasefire is impossible, negotiations… well, I think you can figure that one out for yourself.
Points so far:
- Zombies are tremendeously dangerous, they will devour you without hesitation. If you hesitate, you die and become a threat to everyone you love. It is, in fact, more moral to kill a zombie than it is not to.
- Zombies cannot be argued or negotiated with, since they’re not sentient.
- Zombies are undead, you cannot kill them in the conventional sense. Because they are undead, what remains in their skulls are not persons, it is simply brain craving instincts.
Despite zombie killing’s being morally correct. Zombie fiction excells at showing situations where moral conflicts are highlighted. Such examples world be the bitten friend no yet turned zombie, what to do infected areas containing zombies as well as civilians, whether to flee from a gigantic zombie assault even though you leave loved ones behind fighting a lost battle and so on.
Still zombie fiction can saturate the thirst for both violence and military techno-fetishism as we have seen most notably in the “28″ movies.
Additionally, a career of “zombie hunting” may be persued without looking like an action crazed maniac. A quick search on the net reveals that there actually is a handful of quite popular zombie hunter communities on the net. These groups can freely follow their interests in weapons, tactics, military gear, self defense etc. without running into moral problems.
Images:
zombies on the orange line by James Calder
frodoApocalypse by . Athalfred .
Additional links:
Great Questions of Speculative Moral Theology - Zombies on The Feudal Spirit
Zombie Squad
Zombie Survival & Defence Wiki
The Post-Apocalyptic Workout
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
3 Comments | In: horror | tags: morals, zombie hunting, zombie killing, zombies. | #
