10/10/2009

What's with all the zombies? By David Sirota

I've heard many people wonder what the attraction is about vampires. Tonner's Zombie-like dolls have appeared on the scene in the last few days. Have we become a culture that worships the dead, the almost dead and the somewhat dead?
Today this piece appeared in salon.com. It's not about dolls but it's interesting.

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Image from: http://www.netfreestuff.co.uk/

In a recently published study:
four Canadian mathematicians/graduate students did a mathematical analysis of a hypothetical zombie outbreak to determine the likelihood of human eradication, should such an attack ever occur. According to their model, “a zombie outbreak is likely to lead to the collapse of civilization, unless it is dealt with quickly. While aggressive quarantine may contain the epidemic, or a cure may lead to coexistence of humans and zombies, the most effective way to contain the rise of the undead is to hit hard and hit often.”

2 comments:

  1. I think we have always worshiped the Dead, Terri.

    Look at Elvis Presley, John Kennedy, Princess Diana, King Tut.. even dead relatives. Glorifying the dead is what we do. Suddenly when they are dead, they weren't so bad. We look past their short-comings.. people almost seem great. None of these people are zombie figures.. but they certainly are dead.

    As for dolls.. there can be an edgieness in gothy dolls.. dirty.. dark. Almost romanticly dark and evil... like Twilight.

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  2. I think it's funny to see Tonner doing zombies, I never would have predicted it. Action figures yes, and maybe some hack (literally) OOAK barbie artists. But this was a funny surprise.

    In the action figure world, zombies are not something you pay for. They are one of the few projects that will use up the last scraps in the spare parts bin, lol. Failed repaints, broken limbs and damaged clothing can finally be combined into a useful figure ;-)

    Fascination with death? Sure, our primitive history required that people pay attention to death. People had to learn how to avoid it in a time when we could not get public safety warnings on CNN. I think we all have an instinct to look and learn when someone gets hurt or dies.

    The other thing that will keep zombies' popularity 'alive' is that they are the perfect horror movie monster. They're simple, they're plentiful, and there are no moral problems in killing them.

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