Looking Around.....

I found two articles today both with different takes on why zombies have become so much more popular in the last 10 – 15 years.  The first article I read was from The Huffington Post.  This article theorizes that zombies have become more popular because the economic recession allows people to better identify with the hard-bitten survivors of the zombie survival horror genre than with other currently mainstream media.  The second article from Fox Business's website takes a much more philosophical approach, the author believes that the zombie phenomenon is cyclical in nature; its popularity growing and waning with time.  The first article makes the argument that the older zombie media is more like the “nerd from high school who eventually grew up and shows up at the reunion as a millionaire.”  The is not a cycle but more of an evolution of the genre.  I think I agree with the first article here.  Older zombie movies don’t explore the topic and repercussions as well as the newer material . 

But I do have questions.  Why doesn’t the older material explore the subject more?  Why have the stories changed so much?  What’s changed in society to encourage the evolution? Why do people better identify with a zombie apocalypse survivor then say a vampire hunter?  How are zombies different from other popular creatures?

I think part of this evolution has to do with how versatile zombies are.  They are a very straightforward threat that can be used as a metaphor for all kinds of storytelling.  Another reason that the media is so popular in my opinion is the depictions of the decay of civilization: the wrecked cities, the abandoned cars, and all the other signs that our once mighty civilization is gone.  I believe these are all draws whose combination is unique to the zombie genre.  That’s my 2 cents anyway.