THE DEAD TIMES
DEAD ARE COMING...
Never called Zombies
Why are Zombies never actually called Zombies? I have been asked this question by, literally, one person so it's time to communally ponder a solution. Now It may seem daft, if it's a Zombie, it's got to be called a Zombie right? In the film World War Z the ravenous ghouls are quite clearly referred to as "Zombies" on more than one occasion and Zombieland kind of has to use the Zombie label to get the point across. Well, and I may be about to blow your mind here but it is actually surprisingly difficult to find Zombie films where the undead are directly referred to as "Zombies", despite them obviously being Zombies. Land of the Dead calls them "Stenches", Garage: Bad Trip - "Cadavers", and "Walkers", "Biters" or "Lurkers" inhabit The Walking Dead universe. Even in the granddaddy of all Zombie films, Night of the Living Dead no one ever uses the Z word, only referring to the reanimated dead as "Ghouls".
The main, and most obvious, reason for this in my mind is a natural result of these movies taking place in worlds without Zombie media; universes where no one has any idea what a Zombie is or even any knowledge of "Zombie" as a word. I've mentioned this concept before as a ploy writers use to keep the undead fresh and scary (more on this later). Thinking about it, if you witnessed the dead rising from the grave, the name "Zombie" probably would not immediately jump to mind (even after calmly walking away from the mindless ghoul shuffling after you). This is summed up excellently in Dawn of the Dead with a reply from Peter telling Francine that the Zombies are nothing more than people resurrected by some unseen and perhaps other-worldly, force.
They're us, that's all, when there's no more room in hell.
A slightly more pragmatic reason for Zombies to be called something other than Zombies is that it gets information across more quickly. For example, if someone runs past you shouting; "The Zombies are coming, the Zombies are coming - run for your lives" it does not give you much to go on, especially if you have no idea what a Zombie is. If that person was instead to say "the Biters are coming" or "the Cadavers are coming", you've got some concept of what is going on; "Biters" implies something that needs to work on its table manners and "Cadavers" implies dead things. It does not always work of course. "Walkers" used by Rick and the gang in The Walking Dead does not really convey a sense of danger - it gives an approximation of speed I suppose and this might be useful, letting people know they have a few seconds to prepare for the arrival of, what could be, nothing more than a typical group of hill walkers.
Possibly though, it is as simple as no one believing in Zombies; no one even considering that something even remotely resembling creatures brought to life by movies and video games can ever possibly be real. To us outstanding followers of the macabre, Zombies are serious things not to be taken lightly but for the majority of the human race, to be frightfully honest, the dead coming back to life is nothing more than a sick joke. Taking the example above of a panicked man or woman hurtling through the streets, would most people heed the advice of the screaming passer-by and follow suit? No, of course they wouldn't; some people would maybe take flight, yes, and some may actually move toward the danger just to see it for themselves though, sadly, the majority of people would ignore the raving individual completely as a lunatic. This disappointing trend is actually one of the main plot points of movie World War Z; weeks, days or even months before the attack by the risen dead, a memo was sent warning of the impending threat. However, because this memorandum contained the word "Zombie", no one cared, immediately dismissing it as a hoax with, unbeknownst at the time, terrible consequences for the entire human race.
Lastly, and possibly most importantly, the word "Zombie" is everywhere now - everyone knows what a Zombie is to a least a basic degree; a reanimated dead person that eats human flesh, is generally unpleasant to be around and can only be killed by a shot to the head. Zombies are nothing new anymore and even worse, they are often the targets of humour in laugh-out-loud comedies such as Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland. In other words, dare I say it, Zombies are a tiny bit boring. People, especially cinema-goers, want to be blown away with originality; they do not want 'just another Zombie film' but want something new and scary. It's reminiscent of the hypothetical problem in Jurassic World where customers just don't find living, breathing dinosaurs exciting anymore - the magic was there initially, when the first dino baby was brought back to life but, ever since that miraculous moment, the wonder has been fading away and will eventually die off completely.
Simply changing the name makes the lumbering dead people that little bit more exciting; you thought they were Zombies but perhaps there is more to them, perhaps the rules have changed slightly, altered, twisted, mutated.
DESCRIPTION:
This article examines why Zombies are not always called Zombies in movies and other Zombie media; why does The Walking Dead always call them "Walkers" for example? Possible answers for this curious conundrum are given and I arrive at a very worrying and startling conclusion: Zombies are just not that cool anymore.
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DATE UPLOADED:
26/08/2018