Metaphorical Zombies

First of all, my apologies, but I am very, very tired. 

The idea of the zombie as a representative of our national consciousness and ideology is an interesting one, but - to get this out right off the bat - I do wish that Drake would explain Beck's concept of the "second modernity" clearly and plainly. What, exactly, is that and what does it mean? Is it like the new tech boom, or a second industrial revolution? If he explained it further in the essay I couldn't find it, and because it's the crux of his argument, I think it bears some increased scrutiny and attention. Trying to read this article with "second modernity" in mind without knowing what it meant was frustrating. I don't... disagree with Drake, at least I don't think I do, but I felt slightly unprepared having not read Beck's essay to compare with Drake's. But maybe that's just me, and maybe I missed the "second modernity" (which sounds more and more like the second coming the more I think about it) or misread. Hey, it's late. 

Something that Drake does point out, and clearly explain, is the origin of the zombie in Haitian Vodou. He quotes David Inglis, who points out that "the Haitian fear is not of zombis... the fear is instead of becoming a zombie" (Drake 231). The zombie represents the enslaved condition of Haitians and of other West Indian countries/former colonies, a condition that they have a horror of returning to. This history of the zombie isn't entirely unfamiliar to me - an interesting way to experiment with Drake's ideas is with the text Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. A postcolonial prequel (I know, I know) to Jane Eyre, it explores the life of Mr. Rochester's first wife, Antoinette (Cosway) Mason, in Jamaica, before she became the "madwoman in the attic." 

SPOILERS BELOW: 

After her marriage, Antoinette's husband renames her "Bertha" in an attempt to distance her from her mother's madness, which Antoinette/Bertha ultimately inherits despite his efforts. Over time, Antoinette/Bertha becomes increasingly paranoid that Rochester is trying to turn her into a "zombie" by taking her name - if he takes her name he controls her. If I remember correctly, this renaming is obeah, a term used to refer to West Indian folk beliefs, witchcraft, and sorcery. It's black magic, obviously not good. The point I'm ultimately trying to make is that the zombie does not necessarily need to represent national consciousness or national ideology, even though, in Wide Sargasso Sea, I think it does - in addition to several other metaphorical meanings. Zombies represent those stripped of power, the victims of institutional oppression. At their core, like everything else it seems, zombies are about power. I think a quote from Harry Potter is a nice closer/philosophical snack to munch on: "there is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it." 

Attack of the Social Media Zombies

Although I do not find gore-filled depictions of zombie apocalypses particularly scary, the idea of turning into just another member of a zombie horde is unsettling. Being human involves being an individual and having some sort of agency over our own decisions. A zombie, on the other hand, merely obeys its base instinctual drive to consume and spread. Even a small scratch from an infected host could lead to your undying allegiance to the undead horde, and the odds of surviving a zombie apocalypse decrease as the size of plague grows. The only hope you have left is for time to take its toll on the rotting carcasses and decay their flesh from the bone.

http://i.imgur.com/ms6iWay.jpg

The tragic reality of living in a zombie infested world is that you must become like the zombies themselves in order to survive. In The Walking Dead, the lead protagonist, Rick, learns this through his struggle to keep his family and himself alive. Rick learns the dangers of interacting with both the living and the un-living, rationalizing his problematic decisions with the axiom, “you kill, you die”. As Rick begins to fully comprehend the state of his world, his view changes to “you kill, you live”. Rick is becoming a zombie himself, not through infection, but by aligning his core motives with that of the undead. His zombification will be complete when he begins to believe ‘you live to kill’. At that point, there is no turning back.

http://media.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/136/2016/07/11/181927_600.jpg

The parallels between zombie plagues and modern consumer culture are what I find truly terrifying. Commercial and ads are now constantly hiding away in our pockets. Aside from phones turning people into real world equivalents of zombies (ex. Pokemon Go zombie outbreak of 2016), phones provide a way of reinforcing mob behavior. Technology has allowed us to condense everything into a small package to be easily consumed through social media, and this ease of consumption is what makes social media addictive. Social media is built around virulent behavior through its use of likes, shares and retweets. A good example of virulent mob behavior produced by social media are ‘challenge videos’. This viral sensation causes the host to upload a video of themselves preforming a ‘challenge’, ranging from pouring ice water on their head to eating spoon-fulls of cinnamon for no apparent reason other than being part of the collective. The social media zombie functions similarly to the fiction zombie, obeying its base instinctual drive to consume and spread, but, in this case, consume and spread kitten videos, 'dank memes', and BuzzFeed articles.

http://www.zerotoalpha.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/social_media_zombies.jpg

I believe our own society is reaching a point of no return, where our social media zombification will be complete. We are transitioning from ‘you consume, you live’ to ‘you live to consume’. Living without participating in social media is becoming more difficult. In order to survive in modern society, one must become a social media zombie. So share those hashtags, click on some ads, enjoy those ‘dank memes’, and join the rest of horde.

Are Humans Scarier Than Zombies?

Look around you.  Our society is in a current state of upheaval.  Every day there is a new story in the media about protests turned into riots turned into destruction and looting, or a new victim of police brutality, or another officer ambushed and killed, or a murder-suicide.   Seeing the violence and aggression happening in the world today I can't help but to agree with Bishop’s point that, “...Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic series, sheds a harsh light upon the potential devolution of humanity - that we have become chaotic creatures of selfishness, violence, and unchecked aggression who do more damage to ourselves and the world around us than any reanimated corpse ever could” (74).  Terrorism is still a real threat, neighborhoods and communities aren't as safe as they used to be, and we are so quick to spew hateful words that we forgot what it means to be kind and to look out for one another.

It's a harsh reality and I often wonder how we got here.  We are no longer in a hunter-gatherer society where survival is our first and often only instinct yet we are still in kill or be killed mode.  Is it the media perpetuating violence?  Is it the shows we are watching?  Have we become so focused on ourselves that we are blinded to the plights of others?  When we see those in need do we help or do we look away?  There is so much hate in the world right now; so much aggression and close-mindedness that it becomes hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But the question is, how do we go back?  Do we really want to be a worse nightmare than zombies?  How sad is that?!  How do we restore a sense of community, unity, and respect for one another?  We don't have to agree with each other to listen and understand.  We all have such unique experiences and perspectives. We come from different backgrounds, different cultures, and different religions.  There is plenty of hate in our history without us adding more to it.  We may not be up against a zombie apocalypse, but we still have very real threats and so far we are not handling them well.  I don't know for sure how to fix it and it may seem like childish ideals but I believe we can become a race of respect and empathy.  It may take a while but if each person commits to a new way of thinking I believe it could happen… 

Well... this blog got a little heavy, so to lighten it up a bit, here’s a "zombie" scene from the movie Stepbrothers:

Sources:

1. Bishop, Kyle W. “Battling Monsters and Becoming Monstrous: Human Devolution in The Walking Dead." Ed. Marina Levina and Diem-My T. Bui. Monster Culture in the 21^st Century: A Reader. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, an Imprint of Bloomsbury Plc, 2013. 73-85. Print.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6hOMKQTC7w