Political Correctness vs. THE ZOMBIES!!!!!

The phenomenon of zombies in pop culture is hardly new; just look back to the classic B movie Night of the Living Dead in the 1960's, or Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in the 1980's. While I am in my early 30's, I remember as an adolescent that zombies were not any more popular than say, ghosts, in terms of Halloween costumes or horror movie antagonists. They were not particularly popular, but they were not entirely unpopular either. Recently, however, I feel as if zombies are EVERYWHERE, with more movies being made than ever before, and countless video games including them as the main baddies! Even classical novels are being rewritten with a zombie twist (see for example, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). Hell, I was even witness to a zombie parade this Halloween! Additionally, this past summer, I participated in some research where middle/high school students had to create Flash-based video games, and Zombies ranked among some of the most popular references either in their games, or their ideas for games. So, this begs the question: why are they so popular now?

While walking across the quad at school today, I was witness to a rather large and spread out crowd of undergrads sporting different color bandannas, and carrying Nerf guns. I crossed paths with a few, but didn't really pay any attention to their hi-jinx until I over heard one saying "no, you're on the Zombie team, we're on the Human team!" Instantly, it made sense! So much of our cultural entertainment endeavors (from play, to movies, to books, etc) have been built around having a human enemy, that, in an age of political correctness, zombies are the only politically correct group left to vilify! As a kid, I would hear "old" people recounting tales of playing "Cowboys and Indians". As a kid in the 80's, my friends and I would routinely decide who was to act as the treacherous Russians on the school playground, and who would be the Americans. And yet today, I live in a world where I would be horrified if I encountered children playing "U.S. Marines and Muslim Extremists," despite that it would follow this long tradition of extending current vilification trends into recreation and entertainment.

Granted, zombies are not the only non-human, yet, humanoid figures capable of fulfilling a role of vilification, as one could consider aliens, cyborgs, monsters, and so on. Without a doubt, obsession with vampires is also at an all-time high, though we seem to love them more as protagonists! I think there are probably attributes of zombies that are simultaneously horrific and exciting, which naturally make them good enemies. Couple this with some well-received films with high box office grosses, and you have a phenomenon that penetrates various forms of both passive and active entertainment! 

I think seeing people playing "Zombies and Humans" shows evidence that, by and large, nearly 20 years after I first heard the term "politically correct," we are FINALLY beginning to recognize that it is inherently wrong to vilify ethnicity, religion, race, or gender! Instead, we are turning to zombies! While I cautiously stand aside from making grand value judgments on political correctness and its cultural ramifications, I believe there is clear, everyday evidence that teaching, maintaining, and insisting on political correctness is having some inherently beneficial impacts on our society. This is not to say that violence or aggression toward anything that resembles a human is good or positive, but for now, I'll take college students shooting Nerf guns at zombies over kids firing off cap guns at cultural stereotypes any day!

Finally, rather than start with a disclaimer, I will conclude with one, as I figure this is probably the best spot to save discourse for those who do not care about such academics. My views are clearly based entirely on anecdotal observations, and I am sure that real historical and cultural research might uncover phenomenon entirely different or even contrary. Similarly, it is important to note that I am writing from a middle-class, American-born perspective, as everything above might have vastly different interpretations and meanings through different socioeconomic lenses. Additionally, no zombies were harmed during the conception, writing, or publishing of this blog post.