I  hate to admit that I didn’t do this week’s reading, especially given that I love novels and was looking forward to “real zombies” making their appearance in this course. Even though I swear that I grabbed  “Zone One” on my first trip to grab stuff from Brookdale, I can’t find it in that suitcase. I would have emailed Professor Quinby, if not for my sad habit of waiting to the last possible minute to work. I hope to read it sometime following my return to Brookdale. Until then I can only theorize on what happened in the book based on reviews, both on Amazon and from professionals and the excerpt at Amazon.com.

Zombies are a popular metaphor for brainwashed masses. Zombification results in the sense of homogeneity that some argue is  found in embracing popular culture and incorporating mass expectation into one’s life style. Thus I found it interesting that the narrator of Zone One, a person that has apparently outlived the existence of life as we know it, introduce himself as unremarkably common even as he heads out on a noteworthy mission. The average person is capable of overcoming adversity and adapting to new situations. This sort of higher sense of activity or awareness and/or ascension to a higher plain under a religious leader is a fairly big part of why some people fantasize about the end of time. People want to believe that they are important, even if they do not seem exceptional. However, the existence of zombies show that mass lifestyle changes can be problematic if people cannot recognize themselves.I believe the zombie is a personal apocalypse that plays out in the public sphere, affecting the masses both with and without the central demon’s consent. Perhaps, this is what makes zombies, with their obvious losses, a post-apocalyptic staple, both in movies and in video games.