One of the most persistent genres in the movie
industry today is about a fictional post apocalyptic world that brought the
human civilization down; featuring brain-dead, flesh-eating, re-animated corpse
called zombie. With an unknown origin, the Zombie apocalypse concept has
conquered the entertainment world, pointing at George Romero, as the first one
to introduce the concept in 1968 when he produced “Night of the Leaving Dead”.
From then on the world has developed an insatiable demand for this type of
stories, both in the boob tube and in print. People are fascinated by two
things: the reanimation of human body into a mindless, flesh-infesting individual
and the anticipation of a hero-like antagonist, leading human battle against
zombies. The fantasy created by this apocalypse concept is quite futuristic at
the same time anticipative. Since the idea is fictional, the mind has no limit
in creating endless possibilities making hero after hero in the attempt to make
the story appealing.
In print, zombie themed novels are popular. In fact,
some of them are used for movies. George
Romero wrote good zombie novels. He is one of the most popular novel writers
whose novels made it to the big screen. The movie adaptations are sometimes
bigger than the book itself. Some of the novels adapted for the big screen and
television have been the most successful novels such as Word War Z by Max
Brooks, Walking Dead by Kirk man Robert, Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, Undead by
John Russo, S.D Perry with Resident Evil Book Series, Friday the 13th,
and some zombie-horror flicks from the writings of Stephen King. There are more
than a thousand books printed, other than those with the novel format.
Fictional and non-fictional books are appealing as long as these books tackle
man’s fight for survival in the post-apocalypse era.
Why do people read Zombie books?
There are people who read nothing but Zombie books.
Their interest in the zombie apocalypse is on a deeper level than anyone else.
These people are the real bookworms scouting every public library as well as
bookstores in their area in search for a new theme for Zombie apocalypse. For
them, a few pages of a zombie book are not enough.
It is hard to identify the reasons behind their
preference in this horror theme, but in an attempt to uncover their
personality, I have conducted a short interview with one of them to identify at
least a reason or two, and here it is:
·
Zombie-themed books arouse curiosity. It
is when the reader wants to find out whether there is truth in this post
apocalypse zombie era.
·
Zombie books are highly imaginative,
creating endless possibilities. The reader, according to her, is drawn by the
ardent desire of the protagonist to fight for survival.
·
It is fun. Having to travel along with
the protagonist emotion makes it compelling to read.
·
The anticipation as to what would happen
to the protagonist at the end of each story creates a different kind of thrill.
There is a combination of anticipation, fear and hope to survive.
No comments:
Post a Comment