Is the prevalence of zombies in popular culture related to the economic recession?

As far as horror movies go, zombies started getting a lot of attention again in the early 00’s, when movies and remakes would come forth like mad. I saw this lasting pretty much until now, and I figured it was some kind of fad. Since zombies are extremely easy to work with, why not capitalize them with games, books and TV shows.
There may very well be some psychological link that relates it to current societal or economical happenings, but that’s beyond me. I just like zombies, and I liked them years before they ’‘were cool again’’.

I think people are just preparing for the zombie apocalypse.
It’s coming you know. lol

Don’t see the connection at all, if that was the case everyone would be into Robin Hood, what with the robbing from the rich, giving to the poor theme.
Hee-hee, I actually had a Robin Hood tee shirt when I was a kid & a toy bow & arrow…happy days.

Stories like this support that claim. But I don’t know… those of my friends who are the most zombie-crazed just don’t give a crap about economics or politics. They’re probably the cheeriest people I know, taking what comes and carrying on regardless.

No. The rise in popularity of zombies has been directly related to the improved quality of zombie story writing.

Zombies fascinate story writers because they are an evil that were once us. The possibilities are endless. I suppose with viruses or other abominations zombieism could happen to humanity. Sort of a home species infected. Vampires and werewolves have played out I think. Space aliens are too easy.

Science says that there is a direct relation between a dis-satisfaction with an economic downturn & the presence of Zombies in the entertainment media. I have no idea how Science came up with that correlation – but that is what I read.

Linda where did you read that?

I completely agree with @Rarebear about the quality of writing deserving credit for the zombie craze. Howevuh…

It is the role of the artist/philosopher (writers, painters, sculptors & togs) to exemplify current (and approaching) social conditions in their artwork. Their creations resonate with the deepest psychological concerns of society. It’s not so obviously recognizable. But any good art bridges a recognition between the work and the viewers anxiety in any particular era. It’s a comfort zone at the deepest level. It validates the inner fears and concerns of the audience. It expresses what we already know, in a way that most of us cannot.

But I don’t think it (this recognition) may be summed up as simply “the economy”. Comedy provides for that, on a conscious level. Artwork goes deeper, into the psyche, at a subconscious level.

I’ll liken my profession to the zombie evolution.

As a photographer, my industry has walked a direct parallel to the zombie phenomenon. Back when Ansel Adams was packing his camera up on mule and heading out west, the idea that anyone would be found taking photographs in public was a rare sight. Even more so rare to find anyone developing their own film and making prints. About as rare as seeing a slow moving single mummy on the street. They were easy to dismiss, and non threatening to the professional. A novel observation at best. This was the same era as the first zombie movie White Zombie in 1932. A single zombie that didn’t threaten society as a whole. A single curse from a single witchdoctor was the cause. It didn’t happen to everyone. Not so dissimilar to one being bitten by the photo bug back then. It was rare.

By 1968, the zombies had multiplied in Night of the Living Dead. Just about the same time automatic exposure cameras allowed a greater number of people to pursue photography. It was easier to get film developed and have your own home darkroom too. Schools taught the craft, and multiple manufacturers were advancing the field. I remember the concerns of professionals back then. Anyone can do it now. No intelligence needed. It was taken by some, to be threatening to established industry professionals. The Zombie Togs were upon us. But still, they were very slow moving and easy for any smart professional to avoid. The causes were more global yet still misunderstood. The photo bug was easier to catch.

Fast forward to the last twenty years, and the zombies have become much faster, and more aggressive. It wasn’t a slow process to become a zombie any longer. When it happened, it happened instantly. And the number of zombies had again multiplied. Entire communities and cities were transformed, rather than smatterings walking slowly through a cemetery. The causes were widespread and spilled off into multiple genres. Anything could make you a zombie. Anyone could become a zombie. From the bio plague of Omega Man, to the crossover Alien Vampire Zombies of Life Force. This was the era when professional photographers really started to become threatened. It was very common back then for clients to dump their photographers and start shooting in house. Art Directors began shooting their own jobs with their new auto focus auto everything Nikon. Film scanners and computers were available everywhere so developing/publishing was no problem. The only thing that kept the zombie tog hordes at bay, was the high cost of becoming one.

Enter the current era, specifically with the new movie WWZ soon to release. I’ve noticed from the previews something very different about these zombies. They are no longer individuals. They are now a swarm, akin to a virus attacking a healthy organism. More mindless in one way. But also seemingly more organized, leveraging the power of the massive group. There almost seems to be an angry mob cloud consciousness to them. It seems they have a built up frustration which has exploded, as if to relate the built up frustrations potentially to explode in our real society. It’s as if they believe they deserve something without the education or sweat equity necessary to earn it.

This new zombie rises at the same time when every citizen carries a camera phone. Many news organizations have announced layoffs of their entire photo staff. Some are having their writers take photos with their camera phones. Some are requesting photo content from the man on the street. I believe the NYTimes just ran their first cover photo shot with an iPhone. The Zombie Togs are upon us, coming from every direction. They are toppling established long toothed industries. No one of them is responsible. They are all responsible as only the horde mentality of crowd cloud based resourcing can provide.

If you frequent the photography forums, one of the main topics of discussion is why so many photographers are going out of business. They complain they cannot keep pace with the hundreds of cheap CraigsList photographers offering weddings and portraits for next to nothing. More and more people are also shooting their own portraits with their camera phones. Cost to enter is super cheap. Publishing is no barrier because economy prints can be had from countless online photo labs… and most are just posting images online anyway.

The only pro togs to survive are those who have developed a refined signature look recognized by the most exclusive buyers. Not so dissimilar to the role Brad Pitt plays in WWZ, being the military professional requested for unique situations.

The Zombie craze… It’s not just the economy. It’s a technological evolution thing. The current technology empowers anyone, anywhere to become what they think they can be, thereby threatening established industry. This is not necessarily a good thing. Not because industries will fail. But because the art is often compromised. Most new togs are concerned only with the latest auto features, the specs, the lens tests… none of which have anything to do with the creative aspects of photography. They can be stupid and still enter the field. No education or intelligence required as far as they are concerned.

The camera becomes photography, rather than a tool used to create it. Just as in the recent past when the iPhone became entertainment, rather than a tool used to access it. I can still remember when AOL wanted their customers to believe that they were the internet, rather than a gateway into it.

The medium has become the message. The message is lost. Evil arises when the medium is mistaken for the message… IMHO.

I think it can be related. As I stated in this thread, the presence of zombies in media often accompany social unrest.

I’ll paste it here, so you don’t have to search for it on the other thread if you don’t feel like it:

**Stories of zombies are actually as old the human race. You can find them throughout recorded literature. However, the modern zombie has changed significantly. Most of what we see of zombies today are the result of George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968). He used zombies as a way to criticize the many negative social standards present in the real world – such as slavery, bio-engineering, religion, exploitation, greed and government incompetence. He added post-apocalyptic themes to tempt our innate interest in human survival – how far one might go to merely survive in such a world.

The fact that zombies are usually reanimated humans is what makes it all the more interesting (however gruesome and terrifying it may be). They are usually depicted as creatures who do not feel pain and do not need to eat/drink to sustain themselves…who keeping coming back until their brains are destroyed/severed. One bite and you become one too. All these qualities make zombies terrifying in any form, let alone the human version. Those distinctions make them very different than aliens, vampires, demons, etc.

A post-apocalyptic zombie world forces us to face our own mortality. Mortality, in itself, is a topic that has interested us from the time we became cognitive beings.
There are many people pining for an apocalypse in any form… a new start for humanity – of course this depends on enough people surviving one. This aspect alone, peaks our curiosity.
As time moves forward, the possibility of something apocalyptic happening becomes that much more real. More people are thinking about it (maybe not the zombie aspect, but of something big enough to splinter society as a whole). There are many people, from all walks of life, preparing for disaster.

In short, the fascination of zombies can be seen as a reflection of (and reaction to) our own fears, curiosities and social unrest in the growing unreliability of the world around us.**