Zombies In Popular Media
“I like the philosophical questions the best, so the zombie movies that really challenge us to think about how we react to other people and what it means to be part of community are really useful. In that regard, I like Invasion of the Body Snatchers quite a bit. We’ll also use a Showtime movie from 2006 called Zombie Honeymoon, which is really great. The production values aren’t fantastic, but the movie has a lot of meat to chew on, so to speak.”
“I’ve developed a system to warn students about the rigors of the class. Basically, I have this long email that says: “Welcome to the class – are you sure you want to take it? It’s really hard.” One of my students characterized this as the “go away” email. You know, I don’t see it that way so much as making sure that when they get there they know it’s not just watching a movie every day and talking for a few minutes, but rather it’s a semesters worth of work in three weeks.”
“I like to think that zombies have hit a zenith since the mid-2000s that they hadn’t gotten to yet, in terms of being a figure that will be perennially available in the way that vampires are. They’ve hit a kind of cultural zeitgeist where really anyone you talk to can tell you a couple things about how zombies work, and that’s going to keep them in the conversation in a way they haven’t been before that.”
