These two opposing schools of thought duked it out all weekend long at the 2011 New York Comic Con between professionals and con-goers alike, heating up various panels and providing plenty of fodder for the general chatter amongst those queued for hours in NYCC's notoriously long lines.
More on Zombie mania and footage from NYCC, after the jump:
The most interesting aspect of Con Zombie Debate 2011, is that it was mostly the fans who were gushing over Zombies and their world ending apocalypses. Professionals in the industry (i.e. panel guests, writers, producers and anyone else who actually gets paid to think about these sorts of thing) seemed a bit more jaded towards the incessant clamoring for more Zombie material and voiced that many of them were quite ready for the obsession to be over and the "next big thing" to begin. Of course, they all want to be the ones who create the "next big thing," so easier said than done.
The professionals sitting on The Walking Dead panels were the exception of course, they were obviously happy as clams that the world has fallen in hopeless, undying (haha) love with their staggering corpses. To put it simply, the longer Zombies stay relevant, the longer they get to do what they love.
Finding a crossover success much like Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga, AMC's The Walking Dead has garnered lots of praise and built a loyal fanbase in a very short period of time (the first episode of Season 2 just premiered on October 16th). In this massive wake of Walking Dead's popularity, Zombies are experiencing a resurgence of relevance in the entertainment industry and pop culture well beyond the interest of the average nerd. However, nowhere was Zombie mania more discussed and dissected than at New York Comic Con where they were the hot topic of some of the most popular panels this year.
A few weeks ago, Nerdsburgh attended Philly Zombie Prom, just one out of many Zombie Events that have cropped up in the last couple of months in cities across the country. Saturday, October 22nd, Nerdsburgh will also be covering the world's first 5K Zombie Infested Obstacle Course Race called Run For Your Lives to be held in the spooky woods of Darlington, MD.
Whether or not this infatuation with the undead will last is not for us to say. All I can say is, Zombies are here. They are funny, they are stupid and they are super hungry. We will continue to cover Zombie parties and happenings as long as you, the fans, are interested. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that we kinda like Zombies too.
Until then, see you at the race...and for pete's sake, try not to get bitten.
4 comments:
Thanks for your interesting article. I consider myself a bone-fide nerd but must confess that I don't get (for lack of a better phrase)the whole Zombie phenomenon. I get the parallels with mindless consumer culture; fears of unknown, unseen enemies (the "war on terror"); the "perversion of the Christian resurrection", as one commentator put it; and all the Apocalypse fantasy scenarios. Do you have any sense of why every conceivable use of Zombies continues to be so popular? What glaringly obvious thing am I missing here? Many thanks.
(Full disclosure: I do play "Space Pirates and Zombies" on the bootcamp partition of my Mac--I love good video games so maybe what irks me is the videogamification of U.S. pop culture.) Please help this confused nerd.
While you could draw endless conclusions explaining the Zombie obsession as stemming from post 9/11 trauma or current natural disasters inspiring a massive "end of days" mentality or draw parallels with the state of modern American consumerism...blah, blah blah.
Wanna know what I think?
I think it's a simple case of art inspiring life. The quality as well as the quantity of Zombie themed movies and television programs has increased exponentially over the last ten years. From SHAUN OF THE DEAD to 28 DAYS LATER to ZOMBIELAND and now, to the wild popularity of AMC's THE WALKING DEAD, Zombies have invaded Hollywood, reintroducing old classics as well as making new ones.
Like we saw with Wizards when the HARRY POTTER books were published, Vampires during the TWILIGHT era and flannel shirts when NIRVANA released their Unplugged album...fads are often inspired by books, movies and music.
Not to mention, Zombies are hilarious as well as scary. And the great part is, there's no pre-requisite or prejudice to become a Zombie...all you have to do it get bit.
Cultural significance...eh, leave it up to the sociologists, anthropolgists and biologists to discern the historical impact of Zombie culture on society.
I like Zombies because I like Zombie movies.
But, don't worry too much about it. The next fad will come along soon enough and we can debate about that one then.
I think you're putting the cart before the horse. You seem to be saying that the Walking Dead was a hit, therefore, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of zombies. But it's the other way around. Zombies have experienced a resurgence in popularity, therefore, the Walking Dead is a hit. This resurgence has been going on for the last 15 years or so. I believe that the rise in popularity of zombies stems from video games. You can probably trace it back to Resident Evil. It seems that from that point on, zombies have been massively popular.
You're right Aaron, I did gloss over the importance of gaming in the timeline of the rise of Zombie popularity. There is certainly something to be said for the influence of the Resident Evil franchise on modern day Zombie enthusiasts. The first Resident Evil was released for Playstation in 1996 but I have to say I wasn't hooked until Resident Evil Zero came out on Game Cube in 2002 (I have always been primarily a Nintendo fan).
Coincidentally, it was also in 2002 that the first movie version of Resident Evil was released along with a slew of now classics such as 28 Days Later (2002), Cabin Fever (2002), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Dawn of the Dead (2004), 28 Weeks Later (2007), Quarantine (2008), Zombieland (2009) and The Crazies (2010). The Walking Dead did not premiere until October 31, 2010.
The turning of the tides of the masses towards a love for the undead can be debated endlessly. Gamers will say it was Resident Evil, movie buffs will contend that they've been Zombie fans since Romero's Night of the Living Dead (even though most of them weren't even alive when it was first released) and some people like Zombies because they just want to be weird and different.
Nobody wants to be at the caboose of a crowded bandwagon so everybody will say they were there first.
Personally, I became a fan of the creepy undead when I saw Evil Dead 2 in high-school in the late 90s. So whether it was Bruce Campbell or the dastardly Umbrella Corporation that first spurred your love for Zombies, we should enjoy the "Zombie Boom" while it lasts because who knows what the next big thing will be?
Also, I found this great post by Dan Birlew called "Why are Zombies so Popular" that covers a lot of these topics as well...
http://www.danbirlew.com/why-are-zombies-so-popular/
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