.jpeg)
Maybe I’m a lazy, maybe I’m more of
a homebody, or maybe I am just more inclined to a defensive posture, but the
first thing I always examine in any Zombie film is the safety of the house. Is it
defensible? Is there food, water, or weapons? Is it a long-term situation or
merely a quick respite from the walking dead? Is there a way to escape? Or is
it a final-stand/Alamo situation, where the last bullet is always saved for you?
Most of us have examined Zombies in some fashion, what they are or what they
represent, but what about the humans? The survivors? What about the need of the living?
As a leader in the Donner party, I
believe this might be one of the only concerns that actually matters, how do we
actually survive? Human beings need
rest, food, and safety. We need a little R&R from time to time. We need an
oasis from the undead.
In Gilmour’s essay, “The Living World
Among the Undead,” he references the ‘safe place’ as a post-apocalyptic Garden
of Eden. Unfortunately, as Gilmour points out, this Eden usually becomes some
twisted dystopia. That fleeting glimmer of safety and hope is usually crushed,
either by the persistence of Zombies or by the insanity of the inhabitants,
which forces the remaining survivor back into the harsh reality of the
apocalypse. It seems every possible Eden is only a temporary situation.
Unless of course you live here: the Zombie proof house. Did I mention the pool?
So with that in mind, Id like to
turn our attention towards Warm Bodies, or
more aptly named, Romeo, Juliet and Zombies. It has been 8 years since the
Zombie outbreak, the survivors have constructed a GIGANTIC (metal?) wall, they
have weapons, food, and safety. All in all, Id say they were doing pretty well.
Actually, I think they were doing
way better than just well and if Julie hadn’t weirdly fallen in love with a
corpse, I don’t think the Zombies would have ever gotten inside. That said, from a
leadership perspective, everything was pretty well covered.
1. Food- Nobody was starving. There
were some flashes of livestock. The obesity problem is probably nonexistent.
2. Shelter- The wall is massive. It
has regular checkpoints, sentries with infection-checking devices, and
reinforced gates.
3. Electricity- This is a sneaky
one and certainly a luxury in the 21st-apocalyptic century. Anyway
they have it. Well-lit areas, bright houses, and flat screens abound in the
film.
4. Medicine- This seems to be a
concern. Still, sending a group of green teenagers out to scavenge in a clinic
probably shows that it wasn’t the highest priority.
5. Weapons- There appears to be a
distinct warrior-security class. There were some short scenes of training and
then they were handed rifles. So guns don’t seem to be pervasive in the entire
culture, only those with training are permitted to have one, which is sensible.
This also shows the relatively high level of comfort that the civilians enjoy.
Probably because the humans in the film have an ARMY compared to the few measly
bullets that appear in most Zombie movies.
6. Housing- Yes it seems socio-economic
differences have survived the end of the world. There are packed slums while
Juliet and her Nurse, err Julie and Nora, live in a relative castle in
comparison. Its unfortunate, but doesn’t rank have its privileges?
Ultimately, compared to what we
have seen in Walking Dead, “This Is
Not A Test,” and our other short stories, the survivors in Warm Bodies are incredibly well off. Which makes the ending seem
far less believable, even in the context of that film, blowing up the wall?
Letting Zombie children and living children play together? Call me a
traditionalist, but no. I would at least mandate some kind of interim period
first.
I can't decide whether that house is the result of a disturbing co-morbidity of paranoia and extreme wealth (although I guess that's actually fairly common), or a fabulous display of absolute genius.
I feel like it would take me some time and thinking to properly analyze UVM's buildings for a best-possible survival scenario, but off the top of my head, I imagine somewhere large, easily secured and defendable and with quite a few resources. Maybe the Gutterson Fieldhouse complex? I would say FAHC, but #1: there is a lot of glass and #2: something tells me a hospital would be one of the first places to succumb to zombies. The top floors of the Davis center are pretty spacious? The library's bottom floor, (films & maps) is pretty dungeon-like?
I personally believe that the Davis Center is the best building for a Zombie apocalypse. The layout, supplies, and centrality lend it to a great building to spend your time surviving. First, the layout. By having multiple floors, the Davis Center is easily separable. The lack of doors is discerning, but overall, there are many enclosed spaces to run for in a trouble time. The fourth floor is almost entirely divided into rooms, so survivors would have different places to go. Between the tunnel and the double doors, it should be easy to seal off. Three entrances could lend for a difficult time, especially with all the glass, but with a few tables propped against the doors, it should hold.
The supplies. The Davis Center has over 5 places to get food. Furthermore, there are several supplies to maintain these places. Even reading material is plentiful. I think the bookstore might even have a few hockey sticks. Basically, supplies are plentiful.
Finally, centrality. Once the Davis Center is successfully secured, the library is very close. It would seem to be a fairly simple task to connect the two, after the zombies have been thinned. With the tunnel, it would be easy to make food runs to LNL. Overall, the Davis Center would be my location of choice. Or, I'd grab all the food I could and run for the barred windows of the library.
Yo the Bailey Howe is where its at. UVM purposefully made the BH Zombie proof. If the barred off windows didn't give it away I don't know what else would. Food? Check! we got the cyber cafe. Shelter? Check. Comfy couches on the third floor. Weapons? check. we got books on books on book. One biology textbook to a zombie head will knock its brains right out. Not only does the BH get progressively quieter as you ascend the stairs, it also gets safer. If the first floor somehow gets invaded we can just escape to the second floor.
I would have to agree that the BH would be the best to reside. It's practically an impenetrable fortress with its low quantity of windows. The first floor would probably become infested pretty quick because of the big glass front doors, but the second and third floors could stay zombie-free for a lengthy amount of time.
I would also throw my lot in with Bailey Howe, though I think the first place I'd go would be the basement level. The main entrance as you come down the steps has those two heavy doors, which I think could be pretty easily fortified with the aid of a few tables, chairs, and other stuff (probably taken from special collections bc its the only room with windows and it just seems all for the best if none of the zombies spotted anyone inside). Then you've got some secret (or not so secret, depending on how much time you spend down there) doors that are in either event pretty discrete opening onto several different flights of stairs, at least two of which go all the way up to the top floor of the building. Choosing which doors to fortify wisely means privileged access to certain floors while being able to bypass others. It also gives you a way to access the other floors without drawing attention to yourself right away by using the main staircase. This could be especially useful early on as the staircase near the scantron machine comes out right by the reserve desk, which means that it would be easy to filch whatever food there is in the cyber cafe before the first floor gets too 'crowded' and carry it safely back off to the basement. My question would be how do you seal of the upper floors of BH? Would a pile of crap on the main staircase be enough to stop them from eventually making their way up? Or would they (I should really be saying WE) tear through it or pull it aside eventually? A barricaded door is one thing, but a blockade like the kind i'm envisioning seems like it wouldn't hold out for very long. That being said, if there were some kind of breach, you could always block off the rest of the doors to the stairs from inside the stair wells so that you could still use them but nobody could get in. That way, worse come to worse, in an emergency you could always remove one of the blockades and make a run for food, or supplies or whatever. And let's not forget the emergency exit down in the cellar. Snip the alarm and you've got at least one guaranteed out in the event that they do make it down into the basement. Maybe I'm just partial to the media center because I'm down there so much. Maybe I just didn't learn my lesson from Night of the Living Dead. But in this case, my first vote would be the BH basement.
BH basement is a good call now that I think about it. I think its a natural inclination to go high in any building, but the basement (with access to higher floors) seems a prudent hiding spot. There is no food though correct? Could be a problem.
As for the Davis Center- There are a LOT of entrances. The main doors, side doors, bookstore, food court, tunnel, the lounge widows, the downstairs (facing BH doors) the side tunnel thing... But it does have food and theres a lot of service tunnels around that we seldom see. Good for exploration and escape. I think the only way to make Davis work would be to get the keys to those pulldown metal grates that come down from the ceiling. I feel like with those strategically employed that could work too.
This may be firing from the hip, but what about Waterman? Heavy doors, not a lot of entrances, good vantage points, two food places. Is that crazy?
I would agree with Waterman. I think the Davis Center would be too difficult to initially secure and the number of entrances in overwhelming. Waterman would proved the same benefits for food and water and also a few vantage point to look out and see the surrounding areas. Plus there are only a few entrances that would made securing and monitoring the security not that difficult. UVM's data center was also once located in the basement of Waterman, I am not sure what is there today, but there could be some left over generators that could come in particularly handy.
I would agree with Waterman. I think the Davis Center would be too difficult to initially secure and the number of entrances in overwhelming. Waterman would proved the same benefits for food and water and also a few vantage point to look out and see the surrounding areas. Plus there are only a few entrances that would made securing and monitoring the security not that difficult. UVM's data center was also once located in the basement of Waterman, I am not sure what is there today, but there could be some left over generators that could come in particularly handy.