Zombie genre connects with viewers on deeper level, professors say
The success and continuing popularity of the genre may seem unlikely given that zombies are monsters without much personality. How, then, have the undead managed to live on?
By: Sam Benshoof, Forum News Service
"How, then, have the undead managed to live on?
Clay Routledge, an associate professor in North Dakota State University’s Department of Psychology, argues that it’s because the idea of a zombie apocalypse connects with people on a deeper, more meaningful level.
“Part of our fascination with (zombies) relates to our existential drive for meaning,” he says.
In simpler terms, our interest in zombies has to do with our understanding of death.
Humans are interested in the concept of their own mortality, Routledge says, and the zombie genre relates to that.
“We don’t want to die. Death is a problem, and so we’re fascinated with this struggle against it,” Routledge says. “Zombies are very much about that. They’re people who have died and are undead, and this activates a desire for meaning in us.”"
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