“No one would want to be a shambling, rotting corpse,” said Marcus Leaning, senior lecturer in media studies at the University of Winchester. “Yet since the early 2000s, there has been a proliferation of zombies expanding out of traditional media. I am interested in the meaning of zombies to producers and fans.” (Times Higher Education)
‘You should study popular culture if you want to understand society. Zombies reflect the anxieties and concerns people have. One idea is that it’s due to austerity, another that it stems from the ‘‘climate of fear’’ after al-Qaeda. No-one really believes in zombies but it’s a way of thinking about big scary things such as a terrorist attack. It’s cathartic.’ (Metro)
“We’re living through the hardest economic times in most young people’s memories,” Dr Leaning said. “Maybe zombies speak to austerity Britain in a way other monsters don’t.” (BBC)
- Times Higher Education story
- Telepolis (German)
- BBC coverage of the conference (1)
- BBC coverage of the conference (2)
- BBC Radio 4 interview (no longer available)
- Metro coverage of the conference
- Piled Higher and Deeper Comic
- Times Higher Education: Teaching Intelligence: Monster Mash proves highly infectious
- University of Winchester information
- Z-Rated: Protect your home from Zombies
Where have you seen Zombies in popular culture? I’m thinking of the Mini Cooper advert…
