Comments on: socialists and zombies

By: Aaron Davies

Aaron Davies — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:54:30 +0000

Iron Dream is a weird and fascinating book. (As is everything by Spinrad. Except possibly Bug Jack Barron, but I have issues with stream-of-consciousness writing, ) I highly recommend you read it.

By: Fledgling Otaku

Fledgling Otaku — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:40:51 +0000

the thing is that you could take the idea in two directions – as a warning of socialism, or as a rebuke to those who warn about socialism. If done right it could be both simultaneously.

Aaron you just blew my mind with the Iron Dream bit. Thats brilliant and intriguing…

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:12:28 +0000

I’ve always thought that zombies would be a great metaphor for socialism. Indeed, I think it would be interesting to look at existing zombie movies through the lens of socialism and see what comes out. I was thinking about doing something like that during my 6WH marathon…

For example, the original Dawn of the Dead seems like it’s a very anti-capitalist, anti-consumer film. It takes place in a mall and the sorta hollow life that the protagonists fall into (hollow because they’re consumers!) stresses those themes. But the zombies in that film? They are clearly socialists. There is no private ownership in zombie society. They allocate resources (i.e. food) as they find it. You don’t see zombies hoarding resources, nor do you usually see zombies eating a body by themselves. The limiting factor seems to be how many zombies can physically surround the food. There is no greed, there is no hierarchy, there is no emotion, hell, there is no money in zombie society. There are no poor or rich – all are equal.

Also, considering that the film was made during the cold war, it’s tempting to correlate the spread of zombies with the spread of communism that everyone seemed to fear back then.

Now, the film would still be an allegory about capitalism and consumerism, but it’s the humans in the film that really stress that sort of thing, not the zombies. At the end of the movie, it’s the greedy capitalists (led by Tom Savini!) who break into the mall and screw things up. And I’ve already mentioned the hollow life the protagonists lead.

Interestingly, the 2004 remake does away with most of the humans, leaving a much clearer dynamic – socialism vs capitalism. Of course, the capitalists lose in both movies, so I’m not sure what the real point is, but whatever:p

By: Phelps

Phelps — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:04:27 +0000

So the guys in trenchcoats are the communists?

By: Aaron Davies

Aaron Davies — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:12:27 +0000

lovely. i'm not sure what the cavalry represents tho--the only thing it calls to mind is spinrad's the iron dream. (which come to think of it your whole concept does…)

By: David Thompson-Hall

David Thompson-Hall — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:30:02 +0000

Oh my, I like this idea a lot. One might be able to do it as a short film, and get the idea across pretty well.

Anyone up for a little YouTube project…?