Zombies on the Braaaaains
Zombie apocalypse dreams last night - probably connected to seeing a few minutes of a Saw movie just before bed. @whee! I was wish a group of survivors who had set up around a few houses in the ruins of a sparsely-built area. I came across some kid and was showing him the ropes when we got back to find the houses under attack. These zombies were tearing down doors and proving more resilient than usual to the frequent metal bat or crowbar to the head, prompting some discussion about how they're getting tougher and what to do. Finding a suitable place to wall off was a favored suggestion, even perhaps using something like school buses as a basis for the walls.
I wondered, but my dream never actually answered whether we were dealing with infectious zombies or global ones. The latter scenerio, which seems less common in media these days, has always seemed to me the scarier one. No matter what precautions you take as a survivor, if someone dies quietly in the night, you've got a zombie inside the perimeter!
In killing a little time today, I read through a bit of Warcraft fiction about Genn Greymane. It brings to mind how sad the assault on Gilneas is (even if the storyline sort of drops off) and how horrid the Forsaken are. More zombies. Heh.
Should sentient undead have a right to exist? Or propagate? Even if they're perfectly nice individuals, that seems ultimately destructive to an ecosystem. They might not consume, but they don't give anything back either.
I briefly tossed around the idea of a post-fantasy-apocalyptic game/setting for a bit - a massive magical war having devastated the world, leaving monsters and golems and such with "humans" as a scattered minority. At a glance, it's an easy combination, with society falling back into a feudal sort of arrangement with small-ish communities focused on defense. But fantasy stories are usually about heroes trying to save the world. Post-apocalyptic ones usually seem to focus more on what elements of human nature do and don't survive, and the struggle to maintain modern ideals when faced with harsh realities of simple survival. That's not to say I don't see any value in blending the two, but I think it would deserve a close look at what the game/story is meant to accomplish before going ahead with.
I wondered, but my dream never actually answered whether we were dealing with infectious zombies or global ones. The latter scenerio, which seems less common in media these days, has always seemed to me the scarier one. No matter what precautions you take as a survivor, if someone dies quietly in the night, you've got a zombie inside the perimeter!
In killing a little time today, I read through a bit of Warcraft fiction about Genn Greymane. It brings to mind how sad the assault on Gilneas is (even if the storyline sort of drops off) and how horrid the Forsaken are. More zombies. Heh.
Should sentient undead have a right to exist? Or propagate? Even if they're perfectly nice individuals, that seems ultimately destructive to an ecosystem. They might not consume, but they don't give anything back either.
I briefly tossed around the idea of a post-fantasy-apocalyptic game/setting for a bit - a massive magical war having devastated the world, leaving monsters and golems and such with "humans" as a scattered minority. At a glance, it's an easy combination, with society falling back into a feudal sort of arrangement with small-ish communities focused on defense. But fantasy stories are usually about heroes trying to save the world. Post-apocalyptic ones usually seem to focus more on what elements of human nature do and don't survive, and the struggle to maintain modern ideals when faced with harsh realities of simple survival. That's not to say I don't see any value in blending the two, but I think it would deserve a close look at what the game/story is meant to accomplish before going ahead with.
Cat and I had a discussion about zombie apocalypses. I mentioned that I don't find them depressing, like she does -- but then I admitted that in most cases, I don't look at it from a personal standpoint. Instead, I go into survival mode -- I shift to looking at it as tactically as possible. I try to ignore the fact that everyone is dead, that people I care for are dead, and that there are animals starving in pet stores and death all around me. I know I couldn't function if I focus on those (and thinking about it now upsets me). So, I look at it as a puzzle. A problem, which needs 'solving'. If I can look at it in that frame of reference, then it doesn't bother me, because I'm distracted with tactics, and survival, and not having to deal with it emotionally. Which is why zombie movies tend not to bother me. Because while these people are fighting for their lives, rather than dealing with them as human beings, I'm looking at how they're functioning in a tactical way. *shrugs*
ReplyDeleteHmm. Interesting that your reaction would be such when you're one of the most idealistic people I know. Certainly that's the mindset to take if you're in such a (impossible) situation and want to survive. And for your average zombie movie, where you usually only get a couple-hour glimpse of life shortly after the fall of civilization, it's usually hard to convey anything beyond that. Actually, one thing I really liked about The Walking Dead is getting to see characters who've been been dealing with the situation for a while. There's some struggle over what risks are worthwhile, weighing known versus unknown and survival versus something more.
ReplyDelete