Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Oh, I See ... Why I Am Catholic Ain't Good Enuff for Zombies, Eh?

Webster Bull bowed out of writing for Why I Am Catholic and I, for one, have missed him there. Not that the rest of the gang ain't writin' great pieces which I read all the time. But I still miss him.

Now it turns out that Webster's out there writing on the sly at a place I can't even spell, much less pronounce. He's turned his thoughts to zombies (did he think no one would tell me this? c'mon, we're talkin' zombies!), our lives, our souls, and why Catholics might care.
Second, we propose a different view of death in life and life in death than that proposed by zombie flicks. There may be a ring of hell reserved for zombies, creatures who can’t talk and don't think, whose only motive is the consumption of flesh. But no, actually I don't think zombies even exist in the Catholic view of the cosmos.
As is the case with vampires, Frankenstein's monster, et al. Despite that little bit of serious consideration of the monsters themselves, Webster's article is focused on higher things and makes good points about how we live lives of faith.

I, myself, am not so interested in the zombies themselves, per se, but in the nature of the apocalypse and what people do with it. Which is what gives us such gems as Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, The Reapers Are the Angels, and World War Z. (As I mentioned yesterday, I don't really tend to agree with that article.)

(Many thanks to my spy, whose name begins with "F" and ends with "rank.")

5 comments:

  1. We is two good Enuff! You jes wait n sea. ;)

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  2. All of the afore mentioned creatures seem to me to be humans stripped of their humanity. That is what makes them scary. The undead are among us every day, just with better hygiene.

    P.S. You failed to mention "The Walking Dead" on AMC. a very good zombie apocalypse set in Atlanta (home of the CDC)

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  3. If only I had cable ... but alas I must just read of others' delight in that series. Soon I'm sure I'll be able to rent a DVD.

    Frankenstein's monster actually had TONS of humanity, if ever his creator had shown him the least amount of care and love. Ironically, it was his creator who showed less humanity than anyone else in the book and, therefore, was the cause of everyone's grief.

    On the apocalypse thing though, you can read excellent books about those caused by asteroids (Lucifer's Hammer), invading aliens (Footfall), epidemic via released bio-warfare materials (The Stand), and more.

    The most interesting thing to me is not necessarily how the apocalypse is brought about, but what happens to the people when it does. As we see very well in The Reapers Are the Angels.

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  4. You might be able to get the graphic novels on which the TV Walking Dead is based from your local library. The stories are different enough after the set up that you won't spoil the TV show.

    What do you think of I Am Legend? The novella is a really interesting look at a post-apocalyptic world where everybody but one guy have become vampires, sort of. The Will Smith movie was an interesting take on the story. Even though the book and the movie had different endings, I'm afraid the novella did spoil the movie for me, because it was so much better!

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  5. I saw the movie first and listened to the novella later. I liked the optimistic tone of the movie so much better than the ending of the book. Though I could see the excellence of the book ...

    I have heard of those graphic novels and then keep forgetting them because so many people mention the tv series. Thanks for that reminder!

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