Monday, December 17, 2012

Zombies

I've been pondering zombies. Why in the heck are people so fascinated by zombies? This is a question that actually has ancestors. Why were trekkies fascinated with the BORG? Or an even older question. Why is there a market for horror in entertainment at all?
Two thoughts come to mind. The first raises yet another question that the second attempts to answer. So firstly, it's worth mentioning that all of our various horrors are more or less absurd. And we know they are. Zombies. Think of it. An army of mindless brain eaters. Where's the precedence for that? It's as laughable as the Addams Family. Looks to me like we're trivializing and then debunking our fears as a way of hiding from ourselves the source of our real fears. Question: What is the source of our real fears?
You're not going to like this: I think it's God. Do you remember that feeling that comes when your parents have assigned you a list of jobs to do on their weekend away and you've done half of one of them and now they're coming home in half an hour? That's a legitimate fear. Now multiply that by about a jillion and we've got a serious reason to mask that fear with stupid zombies.

Mary

As an introduction, the title. I'm not calling her St. Mary, the Blessed Virgin, the Theotokos or anything else that might come to mind....