Zombies In Pop Culture

Everyone thought it was just a fad.  Some guy, Zack Snyder, was remaking a George Romero flick.  A couple video games were featuring Zombies.  A book, even, was on the best seller list, World War Z.  Yet here we are, a decade later still inundated with the undead. 

A couple of nights ago on one of the most popular television shows on television, currently, Game Of Thrones, Zombies came creeping out of the snow to attack a band of heroes.  Plants and Zombies, apparently, don't get along and still Zombies are on the best seller list, in various forms, and even have their own hit television show 'The Walking Dead'.

To what do we owe the undying (pun, totally, intended) longevity of this current trend.  In decades past the public has chosen Werewolves, Vampires, Ghosts and Slasher type stereotypes to haunt our nightmares.  Each usually corresponds in a certain analogical way.  Vampires being blood suckers sometimes represent corporate greed, for example.  What then do undead human being represent in our world today?

I ask/wonder about this for a few reasons.  One I'm currently reading a Zombie novel that takes place within the Star Wars universe. 

Death Trooper, by Joe Schreiber


And two, I'm always working on one Zombie tale or another.

Reading Death Troopers, I really hope that Lucas has the guts to let others make films, like this, within his universe.  I think if he wants longevity out of his creation, it's mandatory that he do something like this.  Expand the product into other niches and bring in a larger audience.  (Hey, it worked for McDonalds)  And it would be more interesting than re-re-re-re-re-re-re-releasing any of the original films....yet, again.

I think though, if Zombies have infected even the Star Wars universe, even if it's only within a couple books, they just might be here to stay.  For whatever reason people seem to really get Zombies.  They understand that they represent something.  Whether it's the Invasion Of The Body Snatchers type syndrome where we're scared of becoming part of a larger organism and thus loosing our identity or whether it's just the fear of death, people understand the undercurrent within a Zombie story.

Sorry for the bit of a rant-type blog post, it's 1230 and I'm beginning to feel a little undead myself.  I just finished watching the Thrones season finally and was struck at how mainstream Zombies had truly become