I've been working on a loose theory over the past six months and finally started writing a draft essay today. The idea is to connect the work of thinkers such as Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell regarding the relationship between myths, legends, fairy tales, urban legends, and other popular fictions with the CONTEMPORARY zombie myth and attempt to discern some meanings from that. My theory is that the rising popularity in the zombie myth is an indicator that informed individuals around the world are becoming increasingly apprehensive about the potential advent of conditions such as epidemic, acute poverty, severe famine, protracted warfare, or severe epidemic of disease. This essay is my attempt to explicate and support my theory well enough to publish it on my blog and elsewhere (and as an article here if admin wants it).
I can't find any existing material that deals with this topic in a thorough manner anywhere on the internet, so I figured that someone ought to say something. It gives me the opportunity to train my skills against a virgin subject and could initiate a good dialog in the field of zombie philosophy.
I'd like to invite everyone to contribute ideas if they find the subject intriguing. It doesn't have to be in any kind of academic format.
I'm only interested in ideas, references, and other meaningful work that deals with the zombie myth as it relates to human social psychology. All meaningful contributers will be credited in my final draft, of course.
Here is the outline:
What are myths
-Jung/Campbell
-"public dreams/private myths"
Defining zombies
-Appearance & behavior
-Biological status: alive? dead? undead? terminally ill?
Finding meanings in the zombie myth
-Older myths pit man against nature, beasts, and more recently machine - this is human against human-cum-subhuman.
-Shadow of dehumanization propaganda
-Zombies and Poverty (definitions, connections)
-Zombies and Famine
-Zombies and Plague
The symbolism of Poverty, Famine & Plague
-greek, roman, celtic, chinese, native american, african, etc
Collective & instinctual memory of Poverty, Famine & Plague
-history of acute scarcity triggered by war, disease, drought, and ecological exhaustion
-common signs of onset, coping strategy, and common outcomes
Implications of the rising popularity of the zombie myth
-???
Summary: "get ready, beaches - the zombies are coming."
That outline may be Greek at this time for everyone except me. If so, I apologize^_^
I realize that the scope is quite broad in a way, and I'm guessing that it may narrow down some as I progress. At any rate, I don't plan on dealing with any one part of the outline in exhaustive depth; they're just general concepts I want to hit on.
Thanks!
"Yeah, they're dead. They're all messed up." |
I don't think this is well-trod ground. However, I've seen a few college student/researchers going on this site to explore the same topic, through some loose polling.
Frankly, I think you might be able to do it better.
My question for you is: do you want to keep it your own work or a collaborative effort?
Here's an avenue you might want to explore:
Mad cow disease, the prions that is, have been loosely linked to diseases in New Guinea... apparently the result of cannibalism (!). Something called "kuru."
Some tribal cultures in New Guinea were so desperate for protein sources... especially the women who had even less access, that cannibalism was a way to sneak in a little meat.
What arose, however, was the appearance of an illness, that caused shakiness, loss of nervous control, mad laughter, then death.
Could this be part of our deep taboo against the eating of human flesh? Could this be where an eater of this flesh could be perceived as inhuman, a disease-carrier, a zombie?
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Cannibals-and-Mad-Cows-42510.shtml
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/04/030411071024.htm
I messed with Texas.
As I've mentioned before, one of the (founding) members fo ZPI wrote an honors thesis about zombies as a reflection of our culture. It was interesting. I think this is a popular line of research and is growing in popularity all the time.
All that needs to be said is this: FIRE = BAD
that's great! is there a copy of it in circulation somewhere? i'd love to read it.
i don't want to do redundant work, but obviously most subjects are broad enough that there's room for several people to comment on different facets. i'm interested in looking at any existing work on the topic. if my main points are already being made, i'll save my energy for doing work-related stuff that actually makes me moneyXD
i assumed the idea had occurred to others, but i looked and haven't been able to find anything useful. that's why i started this thread.
"Yeah, they're dead. They're all messed up."
It's not available for public consumption, but I'll see if I can convince her to make it available. And don't worry about duplicating work. When a field is fresh and new, there needs to be multiple perspectives. Even if you agree with her, adding your opinion to the mix can't hurt.
All that needs to be said is this: FIRE = BAD