Lazy Zombie will eat your brains

Yet another article has been published about the prominance of zombies in popular culture: ‘Zombies emerge when the economy ebbs‘. I was pretty excited when I saw this as I thought it would have something new to say about zombies and linking the undead to the economy.

It refers to a so-called ‘Zombie Index’, stating “when the going gets tough, analysts say, the tough turn to entertainment in which reanimated corpses embody our collective anxiety.” It backs this up with a reference to White Zombie’s release in 1932 during the Great Depression and 1968 (when Night of the Living Dead was released) as an year of economic downturn. Sounds impressive. Unfortunately, this argument is rubbish.

An article from Time from Dec 27 1968 entitled, The economy in 1968: an expansion that would not quit. Hardly a sign of zombies being linked to economic downturn. Also, if memory serves correctly, there weren’t many zombie movies  during the 70s recession or during the early 90s.

If anything, zombies have been a cornerstone of horror (mainstream and niche) for years now, with Shaun of the Dead, Dead of the Dead (remake), 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, Land of the Dead & Diary of the Dead, not to mention a legion of bad b-movies all made during ‘good’ economic times.

Zombies emerge when the economy ebbs is not a bad article but in essence it says pretty much the same things as Time (Zombies are the new vampires), the Daily Telegraph (Zombies and vampires: why do we love the undead?) and Arizona Republic (Zombies are a rising trend) have each said in the past 10 days or so.

If there are any lazy journalists out there wanting to fill a column with an article about the undead, I suggest you follow this formula.

• Introduce the article by talking about how popular zombies are the moment (you HAVE to mention that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a bestseller and how there World War Z and Zombieland are coming out soon).
• Talk about the history of zombies. Remember there are only six classic films you can refer to so use them wisely: White Zombie, I Walked with a Zombie, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later. Don’t bother googling any other zombie films. They probably aren’t important anyway.
• Good idea to get some quotes. They can either be academics (Canada.com), authors (Arizona Republic and Time) or  just use that Woody Harrelson quote about thinking a photographer was a zombie (Daily Telegraph)
• Talk about what zombies mean. It is important to trot out the same crap that everyone else says: zombies have been used as a symbol of consumerism in Dawn of the Dead and the Vietnam War in Night of the Living Dead. Remember that they also symbolise the faceless crowd and play on fears of contagion.
• You don’t need to think about a new angle. However, if you’re feeling adventurous, make zombies seem even more current, link them to the economic recession. Don’t worry about little things like facts or doing proper research: it will take far too much effort.
• You might want to make a reference to vampires just for good measure.

Surely I should be happy that mainstream publications are printing articles about zombies. But I’m not: there is so much more they could be saying about zombies that is genuinely new and interesting. What about zombies as social media (Lost Zombies)? What about all the zombie flash mobs? Why’s it always the same consumerism/faceless crowd crap academics and writers have been saying for years now?

Of course, there is always my post about zombies (Help! Zombies are surrounding me!)…

Left 4 Dead

My game of choice over the last few months has been Valve’s zombie first-person shooter, Left 4 Dead. Set during a zombie apocalypse, Left 4 Dead captures the immediate aftermath of the end of the world perfectly: the four human survivors have to negotiate thousands of zombies against a backdrop of empty offices, burnt out buildings and broken-down trains, planes and automobiles. However, Left 4 Dead is more than just a brilliant game, its emphasis on co-operative gameplay is highly significant as it echoes a broader movement towards global co-operation on a political, social and economic level.

Co-operation

While Left 4 Dead’s subject matter is generic (the zombie-apocalypse-due-to-pandemic-virus idea comes straight from I, Legend and 28 Days Later), its game play is revolutionary. Co-operation is key and it is one of the few games where you cannot hope to win unless you’ve got teammates you can trust. While there have been games with co-op modes before (such as Resident Evil, Gears of War and the Battlefield games), nothing is on the scale of Left 4 Dead.

This is a game where you have to stick close to the other players: you are relying on them and they are relying on you through an intricate balance of genuine co-operation. If you decide to do your own thing, not only will you die a quick death but you will probably be condemning the rest of your party as well. You are forced to play nicely with others: even if you leave, the game warns you that you’ll be ‘letting your teammates down’.

In the game you are not an individual as much as you are part of a group; a concept common in armies, sports teams and Socialist/Fascist theory but rare in computer games. That a game is effectively encouraging collectivism is significant, not least as recent months have seen a greater emphasis on the collective as opposed to the individual in political circles.

Left-wing 4 Dead?

Left 4 Dead was released in the US on November 13 2008, less than 10 days after the election of a liberal president who openly professed conciliation as opposed to unilateralism. While it would be a stretch to argue that Left 4 Dead is left-wing, it certainly is a game that symbolises a wider cultural shift from right to left. It emphasizes the importance of the team for success rather than the individual; the solitary superhero character prevalent in games and movies (as in Quake, Die Hard, Tomb Raider, Rambo and numerous others) is rendered redundant. This is a game primarily concerned with the collective.

Recent circumstances have forced the political elite to take a more co-operative route. This was on display at the recent G20 summit in London, with the leading powers agreeing to work together and take a co-ordinated economic approach to address the recession/credit crunch. Meanwhile, in the UK, the Labour Government – once so keen to declare their prudent fiscal conservatism – has abandoned New Labour monetarism to effectively nationalise failing banks. This was a display of state power over the market; of public over private and of the collective over the individual.

Elsewhere, Earth Hour in late March saw cities across the world plunged into darkness as people and institutions turned off their lights for 60 minutes, in what the organisers claimed was ‘a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community – a call to stand up and take control of the future of our planet.’ This mass collective action suggests that only if everyone joins together, can climate change be addressed and possibly averted.

Left 4 Dead: A metaphor 4 our times?

Left 4 Dead is a game set in an apocalyptic world where co-operation is the only hope of salvation: only by co-operating with your teammates can you ever hope to escape from the zombie horde. Likewise, recent months have highlighted that only by co-operating on a mass scale can we  hope to avoid another Depression or impending environmental disaster. Left 4 Dead may be only be a zombie game in style, but in spirit it reflects a co-operative philosophy that is increasingly relevant for the contemporary world.

In any case, expect a slew of Left 4 Dead clones to emerge in the near future. In the meantime, Valve will be releasing free downloadable content for both Xbox 360 and PC on 21 April 2009.