The majority of zombie narratives
paint a post-apocalyptic world wrought with chaos. Aside from Spoiler and Shaun
of the Dead, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of returning to social order
following a zombie outbreak. It’s the
ultimate form of anarchy, where the social contract ceases to govern the
actions of man, all sociopolitical institutions are eradicated, and we find
ourselves left in a state of nature. I think that is what I find so interesting
about the zombie genre. Unlike other horror films that paint a relative degree
of coexistence between the monster and man (yes, I do acknowledge that this
generalization does not apply to all horror films across time and space), the
zombie epidemic results in the ultimate struggle for mankind to sustain or
regain civilization. While Underworld gives me hope that we can live in harmony
with vampires or werewolves (sorry, lycans), this is not a possibility in the
zombie narrative.
Given the widely accepted
construction of the zombie, there is no reasoning with one because it does not
have the capacity for reason. Following the outbreak and ultimate spread of the
zombie “virus,” chaos and the complete break down of social order would ensue. In
this state of nature anything and everything goes, it’s “nasty, brutish, and
short” (the only thing I’ll ever remember from Hobbes). I’m always left
wondering whether we would even be able to return to some degree of normalcy
following such an epidemic. In the state of nature there are no rules or laws
governing our actions. There is no grand authority or ultimate truth guiding
us. Instead, we are left to our own devices, relying on nothing but our own
moral compasses to point us in the right direction. It’s not the zombies that
scare me most in this scenario; it’s the other humans.