Zombies Culture

When Erik King Watts presented to our class last week about zombie culture, it really made me think about the origins of some of things that dominate pop culture today such as zombies. As a history student I would have never thought to connect the dots between modern zombies and the African slave trade that occurred for hundreds of years until the practice was abolished by the British. For me it makes me want to research more into how historical events or actions have impacted our society and our culture. One thing that I always think is interesting is the idea that things such as zombie culture reflect what is important to society or the things that we fear. In the 1950's much of the popular media were about the fear of the spread of communism and the "evil" Soviet Union. Today, just as Erik Watts mentioned, zombie culture taps into our fear of pandemics and apocalypse by depicting it in a semi realistic way except with zombies. The example that most people would use is the Walking Dead and how it is a show about the human experience after the collapse of society and zombies are only a small factor in the events of the show. What takes center stage is interaction with other humans and the need of survival. Overall I would say that Erik Watts made me think in a new way about pop culture and about why our culture is the way it is.