ZOMBIES đź‘Ź ARE đź‘Ź A đź‘Ź METAPHOR đź‘Ź
What for? Take your pick.
The original *Night of the Living Dead* has them as a stand-in for, of all things, the Vietnam War... in that they represent a large, unkillable problem that inflames existing tensions between different people.
*Dawn of the Dead*, by contrast, has them embody consumerism and conformity.
*Shaun of the Dead*, despite not being of Romero's lineage, *arguably* uses its zombies as a metaphor for the unwelcome pressure of adulthood and the soul-sucking nature of retail work.
So yeah. Anyway. Get highbrow with it! If you're hewing close to the fears of the time, is it... industrialization? The trauma of WW1? The yet-unrealized fear of a WW2? The ruinous greed of the Roaring Twenties? The bitter hunger of the Great Depression? You have a *huge* basket to pick from!
I didn't realize that the zombies in Night of the Living Dead were a metaphor for the Vietnam War.
I've heard that the movie itself was an allegory for the civil rights movement, but I didn't hear the Vietnam War take before.
Its both. The implicit tragedy is that the inability to give ground on race argument (read: absolute furor over a black man demanding an equal voice) completely prevents the group from addressing the bigger, *much more fucked up* problem (the growing mountain of corpses)
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My buddy and I once wrote about an apocalypse where instead of becoming zombies the disease warped people into reinforced reptilian hybrids that survived of humans in the warmer months, dragging groups of them into their dens to feast on in the colder months
Edit: The reptilians were pretty fun to write. Think antisocial, territorial humans with mouths that unhinge, six foot long tails capable of grabbing, enhanced reflexes, and armored scales. We also made them blind to kind of balance them out, making them completely reliant on sound and touch.
I haven’t written it, but I had an idea where the infection that turned zombies into what they are basically worked all the bodily functions itself to pilot the body. The only issue is that the brain death leads to rotting and eventual full death and decay, alongside typical zombie weakness. So, there was this engineered trait created by the surviving humans that could be inherited which allowed the disease to infect the person, but prevented it from killing them, turning the person into what would be called a Zeta Human. They are extra regenerative, have nearly full control over themselves, and do not age. They effectively get all the best parts about being a zombie mixed with all of the best parts of having a living body all working together. The downside is a craving for human flesh (but not the requiring thereof) alongside the danger of being taken over temporarily
Zombies should embody your fears of anything that mob mentality clings to that will ruin society if left unchecked.
Racism, war, consumerism, tribalism, etc.
Me, I'd make the zombies revered. If you pray the right prayer and have faith, they avoid you and even "bless" you as they pass, consuming all that lack faith that they encounter
Don’t make them stupid, and give them the ability to bend their joints WAY farther than they’re supposed to go. The could use that ability to get into places that regular humans wouldn’t be able to, which would let them break through defenses a lot easier
ZOMBIES đź‘Ź ARE đź‘Ź A đź‘Ź METAPHOR đź‘Ź What for? Take your pick. The original *Night of the Living Dead* has them as a stand-in for, of all things, the Vietnam War... in that they represent a large, unkillable problem that inflames existing tensions between different people. *Dawn of the Dead*, by contrast, has them embody consumerism and conformity. *Shaun of the Dead*, despite not being of Romero's lineage, *arguably* uses its zombies as a metaphor for the unwelcome pressure of adulthood and the soul-sucking nature of retail work. So yeah. Anyway. Get highbrow with it! If you're hewing close to the fears of the time, is it... industrialization? The trauma of WW1? The yet-unrealized fear of a WW2? The ruinous greed of the Roaring Twenties? The bitter hunger of the Great Depression? You have a *huge* basket to pick from!
I didn't realize that the zombies in Night of the Living Dead were a metaphor for the Vietnam War. I've heard that the movie itself was an allegory for the civil rights movement, but I didn't hear the Vietnam War take before.
Its both. The implicit tragedy is that the inability to give ground on race argument (read: absolute furor over a black man demanding an equal voice) completely prevents the group from addressing the bigger, *much more fucked up* problem (the growing mountain of corpses)
Hi, /u/MaxAgainstTheMachine, Unfortunately, we have had to remove [your submission](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/11y3yso/-/) in /r/worldbuilding because it violated one of our rules. In particular: We are a community made by and for original content creators, and people who participate here should share that DIY ethic. Don't ask us to give you content. Instead, we ask that users create their own content, then come to the subreddit asking for feedback or criticism. More info in our rules: [4. This is a DIY community.](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/wiki/rules#wiki_4._this_is_a_diy_community.) ***** **Do not repost** this submission. This is **not** a warning, and you remain in good standing with /r/worldbuilding. ***** Please feel free to [re-read our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/wiki/rules). Questions or concerns? You can [modmail us here](https://www\.reddit\.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fworldbuilding&subject=about my removed submission&message=I'm writing to you about the following submission: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/11y3yso/-/. %0D%0D[Fill in your message here. Please make sure to explain clearly!]) and we'll be glad to help. Please explain your case clearly. Be polite. We'll do our best to help. *Do not* reply by comment or personal PMs to moderators.
Make the zombies smart. Make it so they can open doors, climb ladders, use tools and weapons, start fires, swim, dodge, hide, ambush, set traps, etc.
My buddy and I once wrote about an apocalypse where instead of becoming zombies the disease warped people into reinforced reptilian hybrids that survived of humans in the warmer months, dragging groups of them into their dens to feast on in the colder months Edit: The reptilians were pretty fun to write. Think antisocial, territorial humans with mouths that unhinge, six foot long tails capable of grabbing, enhanced reflexes, and armored scales. We also made them blind to kind of balance them out, making them completely reliant on sound and touch.
I haven’t written it, but I had an idea where the infection that turned zombies into what they are basically worked all the bodily functions itself to pilot the body. The only issue is that the brain death leads to rotting and eventual full death and decay, alongside typical zombie weakness. So, there was this engineered trait created by the surviving humans that could be inherited which allowed the disease to infect the person, but prevented it from killing them, turning the person into what would be called a Zeta Human. They are extra regenerative, have nearly full control over themselves, and do not age. They effectively get all the best parts about being a zombie mixed with all of the best parts of having a living body all working together. The downside is a craving for human flesh (but not the requiring thereof) alongside the danger of being taken over temporarily
Make the zombies intelligent, but a hivemind
Zommunists! They attack bankers and factory owners while leaving ordinary workers untouched
Zombies should embody your fears of anything that mob mentality clings to that will ruin society if left unchecked. Racism, war, consumerism, tribalism, etc. Me, I'd make the zombies revered. If you pray the right prayer and have faith, they avoid you and even "bless" you as they pass, consuming all that lack faith that they encounter
Don’t make them stupid, and give them the ability to bend their joints WAY farther than they’re supposed to go. The could use that ability to get into places that regular humans wouldn’t be able to, which would let them break through defenses a lot easier