In the lists of the most popular TV shows
of today, “The Walking Dead”, the AMC drama based on the comic book of the same
name, scores high. Demand for different types of ghosts, vampires and other
monsters has been prevalent for a long time now. Needless to say, it’s the
mystery surrounding these creatures that drag people in front of their TVs and
into cinemas. Zombies appeared in the pop culture long ago but it seems only in
recent months that they have celebrated their triumph over ill-fascinated people’s
imagination. Rotten corpses, despite their inability to move quickly, have made
a reckless charge and successfully seized control. “The Walking Dead”
phenomenon stemmed from a masterfully-planned social media campaign in tandem with
action on the street.
A fantastic example when the political candidate
for the White House race were chosen by Democrats and Republicans, out of the
blue there appeared the independent, rotten contender – A. Zombie. The trick
was that the difference between him and the two other hopefuls – Barack Obama
and Mitt Romney was insignificant. Putting aside politics, both of the
breathing candidate strived for reign over their voters’ minds, while A. Zombie
craved his voters’ brains. Hardly a difference, is there? To top that, A.
Zombie’s slogan was: “You’re dead right, you’ve been wronged”.
Even before that, a social experiment had
been conducted on the busy streets of New York, capturing citizens’ reactions
to dead men walking. Un-dead mingled with the crowd, strolling the streets,
selling hot-dogs and fining people for bad parking. At the first glance, they
stirred fear and anxiety but one could say they quite quickly blended into
landscape of the Big Apple. The nation also witnessed dead serious alert pranks
on radio shows across the country and the appearance of Zombie Boy, who
tattooed his whole body to break into the world of celebrity.
The gadget industry briskly replicated “The
Walking Dead” ‘s financial success. There are dozens of pages on eBay where you
can browse the necessities for a zombie pandemic invasion – for instance, a
post-apocalyptic briefcase with guns, ammunition, aid kit and most importantly,
a survival guide. Who could do without one?
The popularity of these stubborn creatures,
which simply refuse to go six feet under, is stunning. Stunning and seemingly
out of control. Isn’t it a natural reaction to fight of revenants reaching out
for our juicy flesh? People used to only spill ketchup all over themselves on Halloween,
so how is the so-called Zombie Mob becoming ever more notorious and trendy?
More and more crowds of zombie-costumed youths are gathering, smelling of meat
and exuding gurgling moans.
Sociologists’ immediately explained the
phenomenon. Referring to recent research, these ill-conceived desires to dress
up as the walking dead are worrying sings of cultural disempowerment. The holy
trinity of contemporary problems: financial crisis, lack of perspectives and
lack of stabilization seem to be the direct cause of these zombie fads.
Mass zombie wannabe gatherings wouldn’t actually
bother me that much personally, if it wasn’t for Rudy Eugene, who was found
lying naked on the streets of Miami, chewing off a homeless person’s face. Not responding
to police calls and acting like a madman, he was shot dead on the spot. The commotion
caused by the bizarre incident quickly roused people into a frenzy. Alleged prophets
emerged from nowhere and flooded Miami with armfuls of revelations and preached
a foreshadowed zombie apocalypse. At first, experts thought that “bath salts”
were to blame for the incident but thorough lab testing revealed astounding
results; not to bring about new reefer madness but aside from apparent mental
issues, Miami Zombie was high on nothing but cannabis.
And the cannibalism doesn’t end here.
Gillbero Valle, an officer of the NYPD, already nicknamed Cannibal Cop by the
press was sentenced and awaits
punishment for meticulously plotting to kidnap six women, torture, cook and eat
them. When his wife discovered his intentions surfing the web, she immediately
took their kid and moved out, later tipping off the FBI.
Voilà.
Till today, the Zombie Nation in my
dictionary was a lot simpler and less gory. I would picture a brainiac sitting
unproductively in front of the screen, with eyes fixed on Zuckerberg’s wall,
clicking thumbs in a severe boredom. Well, reality never ceases to surprise me.
If the zombie trend continues, I will probably get myself a new cologne – anti zombie
fragrance. You know, just in case.
special thanks to Fred P. for the corrections.
