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Over the past two or three years zombies are challenging vampires as the most popular pop culture icon in the US. How can this be explained?
Vampires, of course, are the aristocrats of the horror film genre and have enjoyed a very long and successful run as the most beloved of horror heroes. Zombies - the "living dead" or "lost souls of the undead" - are of more recent Haitian Voodoo origins. Recently, though, zombie portraits appear on more movie arcades, TV ads and game apps, and it seems zombies are making a comeback…so to speak.
Vampires, of course, are the aristocrats of the horror film genre and have enjoyed a very long and successful run as the most beloved of horror heroes. Zombies - the "living dead" or "lost souls of the undead" - are of more recent Haitian Voodoo origins. Recently, though, zombie portraits appear on more movie arcades, TV ads and game apps, and it seems zombies are making a comeback…so to speak.
Why do Americans find zombies so delightfully frightening? There are several theories:
One is that in recent time there have been seemingly more disasters and catastrophes - both natural and man-made - that have triggered a fear of the end of the world (a typical zombie theme is the apocalypse) in our collective consciousness. The inexhaustible media coverage of the 9/11 terror attack, the Tsunami in Thailand, killer hurricanes, tornados, and floods, the Chernobyl explosion and Japanese earthquakes has certainly put apocalypse scenarios into the minds of millions of people, even those far removed from disaster areas.
Another theory is that our modern zombie craze originates from our collective memory of past plagues and disasters, such as the Black Death plague in Medieval Europe, and which has been rekindled by modern day plagues in Africa, flu epidemics and the worldwide AIDS pandemic.
Another theory…and probably the most logical one… is that Michael Jackson put zombies emphatically into pop culture with his 1983 zombie-themed TV special, Thriller, and subsequent film and music videos. Since then, video and arcade games, electronic games, several TV series and zombie horror films have made zombies popular figures of just plain and simple old-fashioned…entertainment.
Coming soon for true zombie lovers, the ultimate zombie prank will be to order on line a photo to canvas custom zombie portrait of yourself or your best zombie-loving friend from the Paint Your Life website. From the photograph you upload a Paint Your Life artist will create a custom zombie portrait that will make a unique and unusual surprise gift for any occasion. Order zombie portraits for your whole family and have a Zombie Party. Then you'll know for sure that what really makes zombies so popular is that they are horrifying fun.
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