Zombies weren’t always so threatening.
It took a lot of work and juju to turn a person into a Zombie. They mostly stood around until the Zombie master gave them commands. Even then, they were primarily insistent; nothing stopped them from carrying out their instructions. And they weren’t infectious.
In Piers Anthony’s ‘Castle Roogna’, they were pretty nice people, had a lot of friends, fell in love, and did other ordinary things.
The first record of zombies in literature goes to the English poet Robert Southey in 1819. Later, Richard Matheson published ‘I Am Legend’ in 1954. Sparked by that idea, George Romero directed ‘Night of the Living Dead’ in 1968, and zombies became insatiable, highly infectious, deadly creatures driven by a killing desire for brains.
Most of the TV shows and movies copied this idea. It seems there is limited originality in the entertainment media.
We saw a shift in 2005. Inspired by an old folk legend, Tim Burton produced ‘The Corpse Bride,’ suitable for children and adults. Later in 2019, ‘iZombie’, a comedy crime drama TV show, ran for several seasons.
I am not disappointed that the Zombie thing ran its course.
Read the whole thing at The Knife Edge.