The Purpose Of Zombie Movies

The deeper purpose of zombie movies, even the finely crafted and intricately philosophical Korean movie that came out in 2016, Train To Busan, which I recently forced myself to see because it is acclaimed as the best zombie movie of all time and I wanted to understand it; is to throw into our faces all kinds of violence and mayhem, and then to teach us to turn our backs on those who are wounded, bloodied, and diseased, to stifle our natural human urge to help the fallen. The zombie genre teaches us to care for and protect only those who are like us, those who are not "infected". This is, of course, despicable.

The ending of zombie comedy movie, Shaun Of The Dead-2004, is an exception to the rule to kill all zombies, when the protagonist locks his zombized best friend Shaun in a small shed in his backyard because he cannot bear to kill the hapless Shaun but must contain Shaun's zombie urges. This was funny and silly and sweet; but still the zombie genre is all about killing the infected.

The Purpose Of Zombie Movies

by Annmarie Throckmorton, copyright 2023