Did you enjoy Warm Bodies? Here are my
thoughts:
Amidst the musical montages of teens trying on sunglasses
and listening to vinyl records, I sat there wondering where is the carnage?
I abandoned all hope for a decent film and accepted Warm Bodies as collateral
damage from the twilight franchise...Anyways as a male citizen I felt a deep
connection to the plight of our main character Julie. How do I describe
Julie? If Hayden Panatiere and Kristen Stuart had a love child, Julie
would be that little nugget. Julie problems: “Daddy you never
let me do anything.” “My boyfriend won’t hold my hand.” “This town
is too small for me.” If only someone could exhume the world.”
(yep, she said exhume the world.) Beneath the teen angst and zip up
hoodies I found some thought provoking questions.
I. As debated in class, can you survive a zombie apocalypse?
Physically, yes. You could be a badass muthertrucker slaying
zombies left and right, but what is your quality of life like? Are you
living in a mansion like Julie and her father John Malkovich or are you living
in the slums. Many of the characters in zombie fiction are just trying to
survive….A good day is when nobody in your group dies. The comforts we
all take for granted would probably not be around. As expressed by
Julie and her cute friend Nora: no Internet, no makeup and a very limited love life.
We can’t all be like Glenn from the Walking Dead and find a hot southern
belle at an isolated farmhouse. Citizens of Zombie fiction get so
caught up on ‘surviving’ (not becoming a zombie, not dying,) that they lose
sight of why they want to survive in the first place. If everyone you
ever cared about is dead, is life worth living?
II. What does it mean to be alive?
Are we all just stumbling through life like zombies, or is
there something more to our existence? Many of the living characters in Warm
Bodies are filled with ennui and despair. Hardened by their
experiences, they cannot empathize with one another or communicate their
thoughts and feelings. The zombie apocalypse ultimately severs everyone
from the traits that make them human. The character, R, craves to feel,
to remember, to love….he hungers for more than just a zombie life. R
seems to have more agency and affect than half of the living people hiding out
in the walled city. The juxtaposition between the heartfelt zombies and
withering survivors provides deep insight into what it means to be human.
III. Your Zombie and Your Identity.
On the concept of zombification and personal identity there
is the question: What makes you the same person today that you were
yesterday? After zombification are you still the same person? As
discussed in Your Zombie and You there are two theories: psychological
continuity and bodily continuity. However, philosopher Derek Parfit
refutes these theories and says that the greater the number of q-memories the
greater the degree of survival (retention of personal identity). In warm
bodies, R explains that the reason zombies eat brains is to feel more
human. As R munches on Perry’s brain he gets flashbacks of Perry’s
life….It’s as if R obtains more q-memories with the more brains he eats.
These q-memories help him retain his humanity and personal
identity. Point being, if a Zombie Apocalypse happens,
memories are key to survival. We cannot forget what it means to be human!
Lastly, remember the final scene in Warm Bodies with the
city wall falling down? Anyone else have a strong sense of foreboding?
Anyone else think the falling wall was a symbol for Julie's uterine wall collapsing when a zombie baby claws its way out of her?
I'm not entirely sure if maintaining your humanity and surviving go hand in hand. I'd like to think that in the case of a zombie apocalypse, we would all be saints and save puppies and children from zombies out of the goodness of our hearts. However, in most of what we've read and seen, the people who let their morality be their guide usually don't survive as well as those who focus simply on staying alive, no matter the cost. There is also usually a strong clash between the two different types of people. In the choose your own adventures, I usually found that making selfless choices got me killed. I don't think memories are the secret to survival - I personal would find it hard to carry on in an apocalypse knowing that all my memories are gone and the life I once had is probably never coming back. I feel like I would have to accept what was right in front of me and not dwell on the past.
It's Stewart not Stuart, duh. Clearly you're behind on your KStew/RPattz tabloid buzz. for shame, Don Juan, for shame.
Also. This: "Lastly, remember the final scene in Warm Bodies with the city wall falling down? Anyone else have a strong sense of foreboding? Anyone else think the falling wall was a symbol for Julie's uterine wall collapsing when a zombie baby claws its way out of her?"
sweet baby jesus, what even.
Now that all of the critically important elements of this post have been addressed: I liked how you integrated the bit about q-memories - I thought that was a really interesting premise in the film; the idea that the reason it's all about the brains for zombies is because they want to remember what it was like to be human. I think it gives some sort of, I don't know, MO, or sense of rationality to zombie behavior, beyond just a constant hunger and drive to consume.
That last image you give is classic. Touche.
"Citizens of Zombie fiction get so caught up on ‘surviving’ (not becoming a zombie, not dying,) that they lose sight of why they want to survive in the first place. If everyone you ever cared about is dead, is life worth living?"
I thought this section of your post was particularly interesting given the reading for tomorrow in "This is Not a Test". It made me think about the interesting interaction between Sloane, who is constantly thinking of ways she can get killed and the rest of the party who his desperately trying to save themselves and their loved ones (given the opportunity). Sloane clearly comes across as a classic example of thinking life is not worth living, given the fact that everyone she cares about has either abandoned her or died and how envious she is about the tight family bond she sees between Trace and Grace.
Then again, the twins relationship is also evidence to the contrary. After they discover the injured man in the parking lot is not their father they accept the death of their parents and continue doing everything they can to survive (at least until pg. 139). This may be because they still have each other to rely on however, we can also assume that Rhys and other survivors have lost family members and are still willing to do everything possible to survive. I feel the only conclusion that can be made from this text is that the level of a survivor's effort to survive is directly related to their quality of life before the apocalypse and how much hope they have of returning to that reality.
When I first saw the trailer for Warm Bodies, my initial reaction was, "Dear god, they've done twilight to zombies." I imagined a world where 10 years from now, the standard image of a zombie was one that could fall in love. The "gritty" zombie shows would no longer be the walking dead, it would be a True Blood-esque world of zombie romance. I mean, who knows, maybe this season loveable Sookie will find a nice undead suitor...in the decaying sense, not the blood sucking sense.
Although Warm Bodies did pleasantly surprise me and I did find more depth to the story than a simple zombie romance, I still fear for the future of the genre. Will the future be team edward/jacob/or brrraaaaaains?