In his essay for chapter 14, Michael S. Drake seemingly defends the poor and impoverished against what he considers typecasting by zombie fiction authors. Drawing back to older zombie movies and Haitian voodoo beliefs, he criticizes various facets of zombie fiction as power fantasies where the wealthy and privileged can wreak havoc on the lower classes without remorse. However, the comparisons he draws and language he uses suggests a complete disconnect with the working class. He directly compares recipients of welfare and the proletariat to mindless, shambling, flesh-eating zombies. He implies that they would not be aware of this without academics such as himself explaining the concept in great detail. Furthermore, he shows contempt for the upper classes by portraying them as violent brutes who would happily indulge in horrible acts of violence if there were no consequences for their actions.
His attitude is that of superiority and disdain for anyone outside of his inner circle, which is shared by several other authors in the book. Mary and Carmen Lugo misconstrue the plot of Lakeview Terrace to reinforce their argument in chapter 15, showing either an indifference towards the audience or a lack of integrity on their end. The contributors of Monster Culture seem to, for the most part, thumb their noses and sneer at their own "Others," whether they be blue collar rural Americans or people with higher salaries than they have.
The entire affair reminded me of the Hamilton Boycott and backlash. On both ends, the controversy about the musical was silly, but the responses to the calls for a boycott were anything but. Celebrities and left-leaning figureheads mocked those who supported the boycott, making fun of their lower social standing, education, or inability to purchase tickets. The same people who claimed to stand for the working class in the election demonized those within that very class for not sharing their views.
This sense of superiority isolates people like Drake from the issues everyday people face. In their eyes, their "Other" is just too ignorant to help, and should be subjected to humiliation and shaming tactics. A similar issue plagued some mainstream news outlets during the election. Academics need to be willing to leave their ivory towers and try to understand ordinary people - even those who might not be near them on the political spectrum, or *gasp* did not vote for Hillary Clinton. Political tensions are high enough, so it might be time to drop the narcissism and the buzzwords for some respectful discussions.
Of course, people like Drake could go on living in echo chambers and getting their opinions bounced back to them by their colleagues. It's not like ignoring a changing political climate has ever backfired for people like him before, right?
WORKS CITED:
Levina, Marina, and Diem-My T. Bui. Monster Culture in the 21st Century: A Reader. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, an Imprint of Bloomsbury Plc, 2013. Print.
Levina, Marina, and Diem-My T. Bui. Monster Culture in the 21st Century: A Reader. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, an Imprint of Bloomsbury Plc, 2013. Print.
I kind of feel like you just joined the rest of us in this aforementioned "ivory tower" Cameron, because you seem to be rather disdainful of those with differing opinions and are quick to place people with different opinions into a category of "less worthy." Don't think that by calling out other people for their faults you're blameless. Making such broad generalizations is a very dangerous game, my friend.
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