Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human

In an age where anxiety pervades our culture, Better Off Dead explores whether the zombie resembles our pre-historic past or acts as a mirror showing our present day foes. The zombie is ubiquitous in popular culture: from comic books to video games, to internet applications and homemade films, zombies are all around us. Investigating the zombie from an interdisciplinary perspective, with an emphasis on deep analytical engagement with diverse kinds of texts, Better Off Dead addresses some of the more unlikely venues where zombies are found while providing the reader with a classic overview of the zombie's folkloric and cinematic history. What has the zombie metaphor meant in the past? Why does it continue to be so prevalent in our culture? Where others have looked at the zombie as an allegory for humanity's inner machinations or claimed the zombie as capitalist critique, this collection seeks to provide an archaeology of the zombie-tracing its lineage from Haiti, mapping its various cultural transformations, and suggesting the post-humanist direction in which the zombie is ultimately heading. Approaching the zombie from many different points of view, the contributors look across history and across media. Though they represent various theoretical perspectives, the whole makes a cohesive argument: The zombie has not just evolved within narratives; it has evolved in a way that transforms narrative. This collection announces a new post-zombie, even before the boundaries of this rich and mysterious myth have been completely charted Copyright 4 Contents 5 Better Off Dead 1 And the Dead Shall Rise 13 ‘‘They are not men . . . they are dead bodies!’’: From Cannibal to Zombie and Back Again 17 ‘‘We are the mirror of your fears’’: Haitian Identity and Zombification 32 Undead Radio: Zombies and the Living Dead on 1930s and 1940s Radio Drama 47 The Zombie as Other: Mortality and the Monstrous in the Post-Nuclear Age 58 And the Dead Shall Walk 69 A Dead New World: Richard Matheson and the Modern Zombie 75 Nuclear Death and Radical Hope in Dawn of the Dead and On the Beach 89 Lucio Fulci and the Decaying Definition of Zombie Narratives 106 Imitations of Life: Zombies and the Suburban Gothic 124 All Dark Inside: Dehumanization and Zombification in Postmodern Cinema 147 And the Dead Shall Inherit the Earth 167 Slacker Bites Back: Shaun of the Dead Finds New Life for Deadbeats 171 Zombie Movies and the ‘‘Millennial Generation’’ 183 ‘‘Off the page and into your brains!’’: New Millennium Zombies and the Scourge of Hopeful Apocalypses 195 Playing Dead: Zombies Invade Performance Art . . . and Your Neighborhood 213 Selected Biography 285 Contributors 293 Index 297 The zombie is ubiquitous in popular culture: From comic books to video games, to mobile apps and homemade films, zombies are all around us. Investigating the zombie from an interdisciplinary perspective, Better Off Dead addresses some of the more unlikely venues where zombies are found and provides the reader with a classic overview of the monster's folkloric and cinematic history Though the contributors represent various theoretical perspectives, the volume makes a cohesive argument: The zombie has not just evolved within narratives; it has evolved in a way that transforms narrative. This collection announces a new post-zombie, even before the boundaries of this rich and mysterious myth have been completely charted. Book jacket