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Zombies, zombies everywhere: how the brain-eaters became mainstream or why they just can't be killed off

22.1.2019

Translation: machine translated

With the "Resident Evil 2" remake, a new zombie game is being released - once again. The undead have enjoyed great popularity for years. Not only because of their attractive appearance, but also because they are a mirror of our society.

The controller almost slips out of my sweaty hand. I'm trembling. I slowly move Jill Valentine down the tea room in Spencer Mansion. As I turn the corner, a cutscene plays. A pale creature bends over a lifeless body and makes smacking noises. Then suddenly I hear bones cracking. A head falls to the floor, the left side of its face is gnawed on. The creature slowly turns its head and stares at me. By now I need a fresh pair of pants. I'll never forget my first encounter with a zombie in the original "Resident Evil".

This moment was also my first encounter with a zombie in a video game. Since then, I've shot off the limbs of countless undead in video games and sent them to the afterlife for good.

The undead are coming, but where from?

The origin of zombies lies in folklore. Haitian tales are mentioned most frequently. In these, sorcerers - called "bokor" - bring the dead back to life. The zombies in these tales are will-less slaves who are unaware of their ego. The origin of the Haitian belief in zombies is thought to be in Africa. This is also where the word "zombie" is said to come from, namely from the Congolese term "nzambi", which means "spirit of a dead person".

Zombies are one of the few creatures that have made it directly from folklore into popular culture without a diversion via literature. According to folklore tales, becoming a zombie is a form of social sanction. A bokor turns someone into a zombie on demand. The victims are punished for past deeds and are banished from the group and thus from society by becoming a zombie. Instead of belonging to the many, they belong to the few. In this original definition of zombies, magic is held responsible for the transformation into the undead.

From sexual exploitation to criticism of consumer society

Zombies entered the collective memory almost 90 years ago. Initially through a travelogue about Haiti by William Seabrook in 1929, the first zombie film "White Zombie" was released just three years later. The film tells the story of a couple who want to get married on a friend's plantation in Haiti. However, the owner of the plantation wants the woman, Madeleine, for himself and commissions a voodoo priest to turn her into a zombie so that he can control her.

The film takes place in a Caribbean setting in the style of the Haitian zombies. In contrast to the social sanction, however, the focus is not on banishment from society, but on controlling the bride for sexual purposes. Here, zombiism is a form of sexual exploitation. From today's perspective on zombies, it's hard to imagine, because who would want to have sex with a zombie from "Resident Evil"? Although, there's nothing that doesn't exist...

Subsequently, films were also produced that took zombies out of Caribbean scenarios. During the Second World War, films appeared in which the Nazis instrumentalised zombies for their own purposes. As with the Haitian zombies and the early zombie films, the zombies here are always controlled and instrumentalised by a higher power. In this case, however, not for sexual purposes, but as weapons.

In the zombie films of the 50s and 60s, zombies slowly took on their current appearance as decaying, walking undead. However, they were still controlled by others. It wasn't until George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" from 1968 that the modern, popular culture zombie was born. Zombies no longer had to perform a function for someone else, but acted on their own need for human flesh.

Although it is not explicitly stated in "Night of the Living Dead" why people turn into zombies, newspaper articles suggest that it has something to do with radiation. Where this comes from, whether from a meteor or even whether the government is responsible, is not clarified. What is clear is that zombies in this form are no longer the result of witchcraft, but that there is a scientific explanation for them. The apocalyptic aspect has also been added. The zombies are responsible for the downfall of mankind. The few humans try to defend themselves against the many zombies. This marks a radical departure from the Haitian zombies: here the undead were the few, in "Night of the Living Dead" the humans are the minority.

The second part of Romero's "The Dead" series, "Dawn of the Dead", takes the meaning of zombies a step further. The film, in which a group of survivors barricade themselves in a shopping centre during the zombie apocalypse, is seen as a satirical critique of consumer society. The film reflects real social conditions in the zombie apocalypse. These films suit a generation that has grown up under the constant threat of nuclear annihilation and questioning its own government. This scepticism towards overpowering organisations such as governments and companies also runs through later zombie works.

The modern undead have a physical and biological drive. One aspect of their mentality persists; after all, they can only be killed for good by destroying their brains. However, zombies also reflect our idea of the connection between body and mind. This can be seen in a scene from "Dawn of the Dead", in which one character explains to another that zombies come to the shopping centre because they are drawn to places that have meant a lot to them in life.

Zombies in video games

After "Day of the Dead", the third instalment of Romero's "The Dead" series, interest in zombie films waned and the undead threatened to sink into triviality. Fortunately, computer games stepped into the breach. The medium is predestined for zombies. Because anyone can be a zombie. They can be placed in all kinds of imaginable scenarios.

In "Wolfenstein 3D", for example, the protagonist had to fight Nazi-controlled zombies during the Second World War. However, they were created by science and not magic and used as bioweapons. "Resident Evil", on the other hand, is set in the near future and the protagonists uncover the Umbrella Corporation's biological experiments. The zombies in this game have turned against their creators and are more in the tradition of Romero.

In addition, zombies are monsters. Apart from their bodies, which are slowly rotting away, there is nothing to suggest their humanity. They have lost it for good. And it's easier to find an explanation for killing monsters than for killing people.

Zombies also reflect social conditions in games. "Resident Evil" is about mistrust of large corporations and biological experiments, which in this scenario do not advance humanity, but ruin it. Since the first "Resident Evil" instalments, computer games have become much denser in terms of narrative. The meaning of zombies is becoming ever more complex and continues to change. I wonder what has changed narratively in the "Resident Evil 2" remake. I'm curious.

By the way: Colleagues Philipp Rüegg and Simon Balissat will be streaming the remake on Thursday, 24 January.

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Kevin Hofer

Senior Editor

kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.ch

From big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.

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Zombies, zombies everywhere: how the brain-eaters became mainstream or why they just can't be killed off

The undead are coming, but where from?

From sexual exploitation to criticism of consumer society

Zombies in video games

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The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom preview – five points that caught my eye

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