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Showing posts from July 6, 2013

Are we zombie, or are we human?

The current deluge of zombie flicks, tv shows, graphic publications and video games, not to mention an incalculable array of of consumer products from T shirts to halloween get ups document our cultural fascination with animated bodies that  move about without conscious, driven only by frantic, subhuman cravings. The idea of zombies has been found in African and South American cultures for hundreds of years. In 1932 a Bela Lugosi’s ‘White Zombie’ was a huge success for an independent film, finding box office success in both small town cinemas and big cities. In 1974 the great Nigerian, afrobeat singer Fela scored his success with the album and track ‘Zombie,’ using it as a metaphor for the Nigerian military. While the idea of an unknown force taking over the mind is a staple of the horror genre, the idea is actually neither ludicrous nor far fetched. In philosophy, zombies are thought experiments used to discuss the degree to which conscious awareness is separate from the physical w