ghosts & admissons

WTF George, you invented this shit...how could you let this happen?

Just saw George Ramero’s “Land of the Dead”, I supposed it’s a bit past due considering I’m an expert and all. I have, however, read a lot of my colleagues in the fields' work regarding this film and there was a lot of commentary on how the zombies are learning to use tools or working together. I’ve argued this position for a while that there is inherent ability even after death to progress as a being, but my biggest concern was the apparent oversight of my compatriots at the evolution of the genre.

There’s one scene where a zombie is staring into water and then decides to walk along the bottom across the river to get to the city/buffet of human goodness. Zombies are conditioned, that’s the whole humour in them, they walk around pumping gas or doing needlework because that’s what they did in life. They are an undead expression of the futility of our lives and how we’re bred to consume. But no one is conditioned to walk along the bottom of the river. The zombie realized that it was dead , that it didn’t need oxygen. He had a level of self awareness at its dry and decaying lungs and was able to acertain that it wasn't to his detrement. He was aware of his limitation. He thought about it, then just started walking.

I supposed it would be different if the zombie used to be an Olympic swimmer and it sort of just swam out of habit, but I think this is an unsettling departure from the purest form of zombiedom.

posted by El Chupacabra @ 3:30 PM