Dead or Alive

I was really intrigued when Eric King Watts was lecturing on Zombie Culture.  One of the things that intrigued me was this idea that people are obsessed with death, I mean I have noticed it as a topic that is usually avoided in conversation and we even refer to it as "passing away."  So I have never connected this fascination of zombies with peoples' obsession of death until now.  However, my stereotype of society is that "they" (is if I'm not part of it) are perpetually negative.  We like shows that are sad and violent.
Given my stereotype, the next thing that intrigued me was also a little bit surprising to me.  The idea that even in the zombie shows and movies, we look for signs of life.  Turns out my judgement is a little skewed, we are a people that still search for hope in the message.  Now that I am aware of this underlying theme, I am eager to look for it in shows that it is less obviously present in, like the walking dead.
One other thing, that actually earned this blog post it's title, was something that came up after his talk during the discussion time.  When a student asked about the tendencies of women to be sexualized even in zombie form my interest got snagged.  I love that our discussions can allow me to explore ideas I had never been aware of.  Dead or Alive, women are sexualized.  And even if the zombie women themselves aren't sexualized you know these shows or movies are set up in a way that gives the sexualization of the humans a platform.