So far, we have read/played two Choose Your Own Adventure books/game: Zombocalypse Now, Can You Survive, and "Choice of Zombies". Both books and the game emphasize the importance of choosing the right path for surviving the Zombocalypse. However, compared to Zombocalypse Now, there was a moment that caught me off guard while playing the "Choice of Zombies" game.
During my play through of "Choice of Zombies", I was attacked by a zombie horde. After getting attacked, my character's transition to become a full-fledged zombie was nearly complete. My character was consumed (no pun intended) with hunger, and while thinking about food, she spotted her first victim. At this point, I was given two options: to warn this person to run away, or to take this person's life. I decided to tell this person to run. This person was able to escape successfully. In the end, I turned into a zombie, my entire mind was was focused on my appetite, and I lost my ability to think.
Despite becoming a zombie, my character, for a split second, still retained her sense of self by telling the individual to run away. By letting the individual run away, my character still had apathy before fully converting into a zombie, a characteristic, as we discussed in class, that all zombies lack. This situation reminded me of what we read a week ago in the article "Your Zombie and You", regarding whether you (as in your actual self, pre-zombie) is still you after you become a zombie. The article raises a few points for and against this argument, including an interesting example from Wes Craven's The Serpent and the Rainbow. In Dr. Alan's scenario (in which he consumes zombie powder putting him in a "near death" state) the article proposes that "there may still be a fully active mind inside what appears to be a dead body". If this is the case, the article argues, why not for "reanimated corpses"? (20) I am not very familiar with the zombie genre, but I think that there are strong arguments for and against this theory, and personally, I feel that there could be a chance that a person "pre-zombie" is still the same person as a zombie. Hopefully we are able to continue to explore this issue throughout the semester.
As a citizen of the Muir Survivors, I am faced with the fear of becoming a zombie and losing control of my body. Will I still be aware of what is occurring as a zombie? Will this zombie end up becoming apart of my identity? Finally (although highly unlikely), is there any chance that I might have the capacity to resist the urge to kill, despite becoming a zombie?
I think you are asking one of the fundamental questions of Zombie fiction, what agency , if any, do Zombies possess? I think whether or not Zombie have agency says a lot about the message the writer is trying to convey. The implication of killing mindless corpses is very different than killing people with a glimmer of a personality .
I had the same thoughts as Diana. The online choose your own adventure game was my first experience actually becoming a zombie. While the other books just ended with you getting savagely ripped to shreds, the online adventure crossed into that unknown frontier. It is an interesting debate on agency, affect and identity. What happens once you become a zombie? The idea that I am a passive observer, trapped in my own body creeps me out...what a horrible fate. Part of the scare factor is not knowing what happens!