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You nailed everything I dislike about the fantasy/scifi genre but have never been able to express properly. Great post!
Thanks. I do not apply my standards to the SciFi genre to the same degree because unlike the fantasy crowd, those writers do face restrictions in that their scenarios have to at least be scientifically plausible. Where the magic/sorcery folks are free to have the impossible happen whenever they want, the SciFi writers know that there are a million science nerds out there who will jump all over them if they postulate a scenario which violates known natural laws. It may be that the SciFi writer will have something which is only theoretically possible, but at least in theory it could be. Immortal vampires and reanimated zombies need no basis in reality because reality is being utterly ignored.
I'm a little afraid that the popularity of zombie movies and TV shows doesn't say much about us a culture. I'm afraid a lot of the motivation behind it is the fantasy of being able to hunt down and kill other human beings without any feelings of guilt or remorse. I'm not so sure that's such a good thing.
Here you voice one of my concerns, and I agree, it doesn't say anything good about us as a culture. Neither does such a show as Breaking Bad, which I'm given to understand is about a high school teacher who decides to start dealing meth with a student. I find it disturbing that this passes for entertainment in what our culture has become.
Here you voice one of my concerns, and I agree, it doesn't say anything good about us as a culture. Neither does such a show as Breaking Bad, which I'm given to understand is about a high school teacher who decides to start dealing meth with a student. I find it disturbing that this passes for entertainment in what our culture has become.
Breaking Bad is a show about a good guy and how he becomes a bad guy. Walt is a fascinating character, and I think you can certainly pity him and hope he comes to his senses before it's too late. But if you like or admire him at this point in the story, something is wrong in your head. That can make not only for great entertainment, but a great moral story as well. Think of King Lear, MacBeath, King Saul, or any of the Greek tragedies. A story doesn't always have to be about moral virtue to make a point about moral virtue.
Most zombie flicks are a different story though. All too often, they just devolve into the characters running around killing things. Is it catharsis? Maybe. I'm just not sure it's a good one, putting your empathy in the role of a person running around killing his neighbors. The better zombie flicks (Romero's stuff, The Walking Dead) do try to be about something more, and they often succeed. I'm just not sure most of the audience is getting the finer points.
Originally Posted by Mark S.
I'm a little afraid that the popularity of zombie movies and TV shows doesn't say much about us a culture. I'm afraid a lot of the motivation behind it is the fantasy of being able to hunt down and kill other human beings without any feelings of guilt or remorse. I'm not so sure that's such a good thing.
While I am a fan of post-apocalyptic tales, I will admit that I too wonder about the trend we are taking as a society...so I'm in a bit of a catch-22 situation. I loved following "Dexter", for example...yet at the same time am (somewhat) of the belief that such violent stories do tend to desensitize the audience. That's not to say that everyone who follows this type of show, or "The Walking Dead", or "True Blood", or any of the gazillion "CSI" and similar crime-scene dramas being aired these days is going to stop caring about their fellow man...but what does bother me is whenever I see some of the comments posted by people when they are discussing such shows. For instance, in the season finale of "The Walking Dead", there was a scene where Carl - a boy of what, 12? 13? - guns down another teen who had been part of an attack on the group where Carl and others lived. The teen was shown as being terrified, and while his response was slow, he was starting to put his rifle down...and that's when Carl shot him. It is addressed later in the show when Hershel, an older man who witnessed this, told Carl's father about it, and stated bluntly, 'He shot that boy down in cold blood'. Yet a majority of the viewers commented that Carl 'absolutely did the right thing...it was kill or be killed'. Not only did they miss the point of the scene entirely, but how they interpreted it - that humanity is completely about self-preservation and that killing in cold blood is justified - did bother me quite a bit. And while most people would never be put in this sort of situation, or act upon it so brutally, it does hint that our society is becoming separated from our humanitarian side.
At any rate, getting back to the original question...what is the draw with these types of shows? I can only speak for myself, and it does tend to come down to 'whatever floats your boat'. Personally I don't care for the vampire genre at all; it has no appeal to me whatsoever. Neither do the multitude of crime scene dramas, where one person has killed another (or multiple others). "Dexter" has been the exception to my rule there, but even with "Dexter" I find myself struggling with the empathy invoked for a serial killer. His character is portrayed as a likeable guy, and when his dark side comes out, the empathy is still there. What is much more disturbing though, are the reports of a couple of people in 'real life' who actually believed Dexter to be some sort of hero, and followed through with becoming killers themselves. Obviously they had to be disturbed to begin with, but again...it does show that violence in television and movies does have an influence.
All that said...survivalist stories have always fascinated me, especially when it is man against beast (zombies), rather than man against man. There is something exhilarating (to me) in watching scenes where one or more people are in peril and are fighting to live, to find safety and shelter in a hostile world. That's what draws me in and holds me as a viewer.
Here you voice one of my concerns, and I agree, it doesn't say anything good about us as a culture. Neither does such a show as Breaking Bad, which I'm given to understand is about a high school teacher who decides to start dealing meth with a student. I find it disturbing that this passes for entertainment in what our culture has become.
That's a very simplistic way of summarizing a show that, I would assume, you have never actually seen?
So many of these shows are a fascinating study in human nature, the way many classic stories and literature have been examining and exploring human behavior for a long time now. As a student of psychology and sociology, I am drawn to this sort of thing but not just for "entertainment", but because they do make me think about "what if" scenarios.
People can through out theories all they want to satiate their lack of appeal for the shows, some may be true for some people, some likely not. I can tell you the appeal of Walking dead for me. I too used to roll my eyes any time, I heard mention of TWD and it's Kind, was never a big fan of Vamp movies either, but have even enjoyed a few of those in the past few years. Don't much care what's liked by the populace, if it doesn't appeal to me, it won't be watched by me, my opinion is the only one that counts in that matter.
It took me a while to jump on the band wagon to even take a peak at the show, zombie themed shows had zilch appeal for me, but, this show gripped me from opening scene. The appeal, losing everything including a reason to go on, seeing how these people give it every ounce of their being to move on beyond the moment to survive. The ability to see beyond their own needs to help each other out. It appeals to some deep set feelings I've had to deal with in losing so much in my own life, I can, metaphorically relate to these characters in some way, so yes, I find the show intensely gripping and soothing to some degree. Whether they survive or not, it's their journey that sustains my interest. Yes I know it's just a TV show, but it's the first of it's kind to touch me like this one did. I am a dead fan for sure.
Its entertainment. Some people like horror movies. Some romantic comedies. Some like reality shows. It really isn't a deep philosophical question.
Why do some people like steak and others don't? You can go on forever trying to figure out why person A likes something and person B doesn't.
No, there are actually very good reasons to analyze trends, likes and dislikes. (And believe me, the entertainment industry does that, for the sake of profit, not knowledge...) It is not all a matter of relative tastes; for you it may be, and then you have no interest in the deeper questions. That is fine, but for some of us it doesn't really get interesting until we reach those deeper levels. The different fads say something about our decades and different realities. The vampire craze in the early 20th century (Dracula movies) had much to do with the repressed sexuality of the time (just look at the swooning female victims ), but I don't see that as much in the current trend (except for very young, insecure teens). To me it looks more like a young person's sense of not fitting into the world, being a stranger, living on the fringes, and maybe even having a sense of "using" others for one's own purposes. And then finding others of one's own kind, and banding together, in their own world of eternal life. Pretty adolescent, really. I guess that's why some of us who are older just can't get into these type of stories, even if they have good narrative qualities. The zombie fad is really incomprehensible to me, but the comments in this thread help me understand--the postapocalyptic fear and power fantasies were expressed by Sci-Fi movies 20 years ago, and now I guess we have zombies (again, because they were there in the 50s, too.) But what's up with werewolves? That has got to be something sexual. The beast inside! Or maybe just a need for anger management?
But what's up with werewolves? That has got to be something sexual. The beast inside! Or maybe just a need for anger management?
Werewolves in the cinema come almost direclty from Jekyll & Hyde. Yes, it's all about "the beast within," the animal nature, repressed violence, etc. Werewolves in myth are a lot more intersting and have a lot more religious connotations. But no one has ever done a movie on that angle.
The best werewolf flicks are:
The Howling, which is a great satire on repression and the whole "I'm okay / you're okay" nonsense of the late '60s and '70s.
An American Werewolf in London is basically a metaphor for male puberty --- I'm starving all the time, I'm growing hair everywhere, and all I want to do is fight and have sex!
Both are great movies, but both suffer from horrible, horrible endings.
Ginger Snaps was pretty good, and it used the werewolf as a metaphor for female puberty. A good story with great performances that suffers from some REALLY bad special effects.
A Company of Wolves is a very interesting, if sometimes overly surreal, take on the werewolf legends from folkore and medieval times. It's still ultimately about repression though.
Silver Bullet gets a nod for simply being Big Dumb Fun. A kid in a rocket-powered wheelchair teams up with Anne of Green Gables and Gary freakin' Busey to fight Reverend Werewolf. Anyone who can't love that doesn't know how to have fun in movies anymore.
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), but I don't see that as much in the current trend (except for very young, insecure teens). To me it looks more like a young person's sense of not fitting into the world, being a stranger, living on the fringes, and maybe even having a sense of "using" others for one's own purposes. And then finding others of one's own kind, and banding together, in their own world of eternal life. Pretty adolescent, really. I guess that's why some of us who are older just can't get into these type of stories, even if they have good narrative qualities. The zombie fad is really incomprehensible to me, but the comments in this thread help me understand--the postapocalyptic fear and power fantasies were expressed by Sci-Fi movies 20 years ago, and now I guess we have zombies (again, because they were there in the 50s, too.) But what's up with werewolves? That has got to be something sexual. The beast inside! Or maybe just a need for anger management? 
