Final Reaction to Zone One

What an intense ending. Finally we get to the end of the book, and that's where all the action was hiding? Who would have known... huh? ;) In all honesty I feel like I would need to read this book a second time to fully understand and catch all of the details. I definitely could have predicted that someone was going to die, but I was surprised that it was Gary. All of the foreshadowing with Mark's 'bleeding-through' visions sets the reader up for a suspenseful moment, but wow! What is most surprising here is that the novel broke it's own rules, which is that straggler zombies do not attack. For the first time in the entire novel, a skel bites someone, and it just so happens to be Gary. I did not find myself very emotionally attached to the character, though, which I didn't notice until he died. I was disappointed to never hear from Caitlin again, but most disappointed that Mim never made a return. After Gary is bit, and the team is separated, everything falls apart from there, leaving Zone One in shambles with the defense wall gone and zombies everywhere. Mark decides that he is going to learn to swim here, by walking into the sea of dead. I thought that the dark, hopeless, cliffhanger ending was very Colson Whitehead-esque, and I don't think he could have pulled it off more smoothly. I enjoyed the book overall, with my biggest complaint being bored at some points.

Zone One Week 4

FINALLY! This ending of the book would be the point of which everyone has been waiting for! In the story we have rules of the zombies. we have two types. 1. they run and eat. 2. they just stand frozen. However a fortune teller bite off a thumb and thus the entire rule book is thrown out! The frozen zombies were animated and they have hordes of zombies re-infesting Zone One. All the hard work Mark and everyone is now gone. So Mark was right in the case that it'll only get worse. He also started before that he can't die at all, or really he hasn't died. He goes out in the sea of dead and starts mowing them down. How can all their years of work be gone in just a few days? Is Whitehead hinting that he might write another book in the sense of the end of the Apocalypse? The World my never know...

Okay i kind of liked the idea of the book more than the writing. The end was the best part, but the entire books plot dry and lifeless just like the zombies. But if he wrote more on the world reforming in a new era after the zombies it would be a great story and have a new threat or a new horde of zombies infesting Buffalo. 

Zone One: Week 3

I was hoping for more action in the third reading, but alas.... more talking. I mean yeah more talking! Ah, who am i kidding? I hate the book so far. They writing is becoming even more detailed and the story is barely moving along. We do learn more about Mark and his three different stories he tells people so they don't get to really know him, he still doesn't trust anyone, and even though they are his family now, he can't be vulnerable.  We start to see people leaving left and right too we don't hear from the, again at all. What happened to them? Why does Whitehead add this aspect to the story? I really think its because it shows that's nothing is permanent and people will die around you if you don't keep moving.

Zone One Week 2

Week 2: This part of the book is still the same as the first, barely anything but with last days. Even through the entire part of the book of death, death, and more death, they seem to have fun with one skel. It was a good light scene to show that not everything in the world that is bright is gone, they still have their sense of humor and they know when to act and when to fight. With their last days they explain to each other, it gives us a background and understanding of who they were and how the apocalypse changes them.

Zone One Week 1

Week 1:
This was a pretty interesting take on the Zombie Apocalypse. With the whole idea that its nearing the end of the of the apocalypse, and civilization is finally rebuilding itself. Mark Spitz is a sweeper that cleans up Zones and helps clean up the outside world, he seems to think the world as they know wont come back from the dead or be rebuilt in anyway. All hope in him is lost. As everyone explained in  class the book was waaaaay to detailed for me, it just goes on and on about little things left and right. Also the book didn't really flow between the past and present that well... I would rather spend my time reading a book that gave a little detail and have me imagine the rest. the book so far is an interesting start on a different kind of Zombie book.

Last of Zone One Readings

So the day comes where there will no longer be anymore reading of this slow paced, detailed story. Ultimately the book had an excellent process for describing the setting in such detail and giving a very good feel of what it may be like to be in such a situation. At the beginning of Sunday I found it interesting when they discussed the finding of different suicidal corpses. It help establish how intense the plague was for everyone. the status of these people's lifestyle got to intense to handle, to the point that they felt it was easier to kill themselves rather than live. It makes me think that if a plague was to occur, people would most likely be left in terrible living conditions and would no longer be able to handle. I felt the overall idea of the story was very interesting. To see less action but more of the rebuilding phase of civilization was unique and insightful. Colson Whitehead developed a very unique, dark setting that i could easily imagine myself in.

Final reaction

Well we have finished the book and I am sad that this was the end but man was the last reading insane! I do think it was nuts how the lieutenant killed himself and how he would have been able to benefit from the counterfeit medicine operation that was going on and maybe that would have prevented the inhalation of the grenade that killed him. From there we follow our groups unfortunate last mission into Zone One and man was it eventful. If only Gary would have just given the gypsy lady one reassured shot he might have been able to keep his finger and not die so tragically. Finally though all of the quick sentences where Mark kept saying its bleeding through came to light with Gary’s bite and it was interesting to see the skell sit there as long as it did before attacking Gary. Then the truth really came out though with Marks return to Won Ton for medicine and the breaking of the wall as he said civilizations always fall no mater how good the defenses. Miss Macy really opens up telling the soldiers that her visit was a pure publicity stunt and how there was no summit but whilst reading I had a feeling that in the end that would have been the case. It saddened me though not to know what happened to Caitlyn after she ran from the gypsy holdup. In the end though it crazy to see Mark somewhat concern his fear of swimming it would have been better to swim in water not an ocean of the dead.

zone one pt 3

It was really interesting to see Mark finally warm up to someone and give his obituary to Mim. Mim was a very dynamic character and it was disappointing when she never returned from the pepper run. The story seems to be moving at the same rhythm, developing the characters through flashbacks and conversation. Although the character development and flashbacks are beautifully detailed, and necessary for the reader to understand the story, I find myself a little bored with the slow pace. None the less, Whitehead takes on the three-day timeline logically. The last part of the chapter was pretty intense and exciting though, so that was a nice change. We have read some pretty gruesome skel kills already, but Mark's glory moment on the car was bad ass! I feel like this scene is preparing us for a really dramatic ending perhaps. I sure hope there is more action like this!

Forgot to do part two.

I find it very interesting that the marines that die in battle were just burned with the rest of the skel's. I guess in such a chaotic frenzy there isn't much time to do proper burials. I also find it interesting how the different characters few the skel's. Spitz at one point wants to leave copy boy Ned alone but doesn't know why. Gary likes to torment the skel's in this book and it's actually considered a healthy release for people with PASD. Also there was a reference to people putting up physical barriers to block out the skel's but also psychological barriers to make it through the day. Made me think about how stressful that must be and if anyone could be the same after the apocalypse. Some people think its all going to pass and everything will go back to normal while people like mark spitz realize that the world will never be the same and there is no point in thinking about it. Very interesting to me how different people deal with different situations.

Zone one 3rd blog

I liked this weeks reading because there was finally some action. We see Spitz have a kind of hero moment when he doesn't jump off the bridge but instead jumps on the hood of a car and takes out a fairly large group of skel's. And I thought the new characters were interesting. Mim has a pretty unique last night story and also a crazy story about a guy named Abel who basically lost his mind and lured skel's to her first groups house. I like how the action picked up in the last 20 pages. The bombs blowing up and the chaos. I kind of wish the whole book would have been this action packed. I guess it's better late than never though.  As far as the actual story goes I really have no idea where its headed. So far the only thing I find interesting is the development of the characters.

Zone One: Part 3

In the third portion of our reading, I expected more development of the story itself but it continues to elaborate on flashbacks from earlier times. Whitehead has done an excellent job developing the characters using their past experiences, which allows us to relate with them a little more. I still feel it is very easy to loose interests in the actual story though. I did find that introducing Mim was a key factor in this novel. Mim showed a different point of view on the Last Night stories considering she was a mother. Through Mim, we see that peoples pasts really did affect how they act in a post apocalyptic world. Mim also gives the author a chance to allow Mark Spitz to show trust in someone and also allows us to see more of his story and learn more about his character. I feel that the story still feels slow and hasn't picked up enough for me to fully be interested. Although I find the story slow, Whitehead has done a good job showing a difference between the past and the present and the affect this plague has had on people and their lives.

Reaction pt3

Finally we meet Mim! As I was reading through this book I thought to myself will there be anyone Mark warms up to enough to tell the obituary? We also see Mark doing a lot of looking to the past with and a little to the future with Mim. Ironically the thing he most hates about Mim is her belief that Buffalo exists. But there for a while he has found someone and potentially fell in love only for that inevitable day where she goes out for some pepper and never comes back. We see that she didn’t leave him or run off when Mark tells us that all of her stashed packs were still there. So what other option does he have but to continue on. I really liked this section of the book because we see into Marks mind his being if you will quite a bit. We finally understand the troubles he’s seen to get to the present day. Yet again he finds a small sanctuary where he thinks maybe they could hold out until this thing is figures out. But keeping Mim’s advice fresh in his mind he always stashes the pack which was a good idea. Because once the someone goes nuts it’s a free for all as we see with the residence of the country house. As I read I keep getting these quick snippets of Mark or Caitlyn talking about a bandage seeping through. I think as we go on we may see that Mark has finally let his guard down enough to be bitten and is on his death bead recapping his travels to the present day. This is only a theory though nothing more.

Zone One Reaction pt 2.

After surviving all of the endless rambling and reminiscing, which I find extremely hard to read through but still significant, I have come to find myself indifferent about this book. I'm not quite favoring any character, although usually, I'm immediately attached to the main character. I wonder if the author does this on purpose, it feels like he does to create a sense of being lost, or hopelessness. Caitlyn we haven't learned much about still, yet she is leader. I find it interesting and related to our class theme of gender roles, how the two teams Nova and Omega are lead by women. I find this interesting because I am doing my exploratory essay on a topic of gender roles. In every other zombie movie or book, men take the lead role, no matter what it be. Driver, killer, leader. But here we see equality for the most part, distributed among the living, all working together to bring this shambled city back to life. My favorite thing about this book so far is the abstract qualities that stray away from typical zombie-genre stereotypes. Such as the women leaders, practically functioning government, and stagnant skels. The unique aspects make the rambling worth reading through.

Zone One: Pt 2

The most interesting thing to me at this point in the story is the different ways in which the survivors act towards the zombies and each other in order to cope with what's going on around them and in order to keep moving forward and living their lives. For instance when Mark and team are clearing out a building they find a lone skel and play guessing games about the backstory of the skel, where it came from, why it came here, who it was before it turned etc. In a time of strict business and not much room for fun, it's pretty interesting that these silly moments shared among this group between killing zombies/being killed by zombies are actually incredibly significant and important. These people need these moments to stay in touch with who they were and who they still are buried under all the zombie apocalypse nonsense.

Zone One: Part 2

In the second part of reading Zone One, there is still an exhausting amount of side stories and explanations. At times it is a little difficult to follow along with. Although there is a large amount of flash backs and thought, it does help develop the setting to further explain the world now and then. In the second part of reading this book, they went on to explain more about what the survivors were doing, why there were doing it and their goal for the city. I found a lot of this was explained in the portion where Mark Spitz arrived at Fort Wonton and was speaking with the Lieutenant. The Lieutenant discussed their mission and the goal to rebuild the city sections at a time using barricades. I liked that they went on to explain, briefly, what Kaitlyn and Gary were doing when the plague started. It reminds us that they were individuals and had their own normal lives but now are together as a team and a family. As the stories progress, it is interesting to see the pasts of these characters and show how their differentiating personalities and pasts help one another work as a team.

Zone one section two reading reaction

It is interesting to see in this section of the book the origins of our character’s Mark, Caitlyn and Gary. Up until this point we don’t really know anything about theses characters other than the work details they were put on and the living conditions they are in. I really like how Mark has his various versions of his last night story, only brandishing the copy needed per the person he comes across. Earlier on in the book it struck me quite confused to see over and over again Gary’s character refer to himself in the 3^rd person as if he were the 3 brothers all wrapped into one shell always saying “we” seems odd to me as if he has a psychosis that has yet to rear its head only waiting for the breaking point or the time he has to share his last night story and then he snaps. Gary as a character interests me, he doesn’t seem like the person to take orders from a young somewhat upbeat sorority type girl. Caitlyn we still know the least about her other than she is in some sort of managerial position over the guys, always enforcing the “regs” even when it comes to a minuscule candy bar. I hope as the novel progresses we can find out some of the hardships that helped Caitlyn come to the position and place she is at as of the moment she’s a different yet awesome character. With that being said for omega team I did also notice that Nomas’s team was also lead by a female Angela. Its interesting to see when all this chaos is happening that in the book females haven’t lost their equality in society while so much has reverted back to a former time occupied by less technology. Lastly I like that while all this chaos from the plague is happening from the outside looking in it almost looks like a normal city with persons aimlessly roaming the streets and parks all be it they are reanimated corpses, but still the city is still alive and we see that in many descriptions that we are given by Mark.

Zone One Reaction

I thought the book started extremely slow with a fuzzy transition from childhood to adulthood without out any explanation as to what is going on until Mike is attacked by a zombie. The over explanation and attention to petty details can be nice in some stories but in this cause it it really distracted from what was happen and I found myself bored and wanting to skip ahead. The character started extremely bland with the only one having any personality at all in the first 30 pages being Gary and that was mainly because of a grin. So far I am unimpressed with the book and hope it can redeem itself in the chapters to come. So far it remind me of Lord of the Flies and I did NOT enjoy that book at all.

Zone One Reaction

At first, the book seems slow.  The descriptions are detailed and paint the scene extremely well, and characters are really introduced. As the story progresses and we start to see more and more of the world around our main character, I began to enjoy the small things. The whole picture started coming into focus and made the storytelling method much more enjoyable. Without the microscopic attention to everything in view, there would be no setting, no anticipation. I liked the way Gary was introduced and shown from the single perspective as well. It makes for a very vivid reading experience. I liked the way the zombies haven't destroyed society, but rather have just driven it in a different direction. These new implications for humankind are interesting to consider.

Zone One Reflection

          For me the book was kinda hard to understand what he was describing especially on the first couple of pages. But I thought it was weird that Buffalo had them take up orders like check the ID of the dead like there height and age and other things like that when it would be a lot easier to check the living. I also found that the people in Buffalo were still as greedy as before everything went down because they wanted to find people of the big companies so that when it was all over they could be given tax cuts.

          I also thought it was interesting that there were skels that would attack you and ones that were frozen in there daily routine like some part of there mind was still still there. This book to me is good but at the same time written so sophisticatedly and riddled that its kinda hard to understand a lot of what he is saying.

Zone One 1

Zone One 1

It was kind muggy thinking for me to understand the whole picture what they talked out. Mark Spitz was alone till he found more people so he can build up an army to battle with. He scouted the zone one out there and figured out what he needed to do something with what he saw there. 

I don't get it about human resource. HR seem to check out who the dead people were and zipped and put somewhere.It seem that Mark tried to tell the people to clean up the zones what he want to see but he need to figure out what caused the people being dying.

Walking Dead/Vampire Gentleman Reaction

Reaction to Walking Dead and Vampire Gentleman Article

                My reaction to the article and the reading was one I didn’t quite expect. I actually found myself opening up to the possiablity of acceptin zombies as a ligiament form of horror. Never before had I thought this. I had always pushed zombies aside thinking them to be nothing more than silly, groaning, corpses. I have never really delved into what they could actually represent, what there origins were, or why there were so popular. It was also cool to read how much vampires have changed from being the center of the horror gene to shifting out and into an entirelly different genre in general.

                I had always been a fan of vampires, though found myself less interested as the fanbase was split between making them complete hidious monsters and sexy humane beasts. I had been a fan of the past vampires that were a bit of both. Seductive enough you overlooked the beast that was within andwaiting for you to drop your guard so they could strike. Zombies just didn’t have that appeal for me. Having been introduced to some of their background and having read an actually decent depiction of zombies in The Walking Dead I actually found myself impressed and wanting to read more.

Article Reactions

Wow I know this is really late but here it goes:

Article One: Everything Quentin Tarantino Really Thinks About Violence And The Movies

I thought this was particularly interesting, both the video and the quotes.  I was intrigued when Tarantino completely shuts the interviewer down when asked about why he thinks movies and violence is unrelated. He becomes irate when asked a simple question then keeps repeating he has said all he has to say over the past 20 years. When reading his statements from interviews over the past 20 views he just states the same thing over and over and just keeps saying that there is no link between movies and real life violence… as if his word is enough and just because HE wasn’t effected no one else can be. While I agree that there is a link between fantasy violence and real violence I don’t believe it is the soul blame of media.

Article Two: Violent Media Poisoning Nation’s Soul

The author of article two takes considerable time explaining WHY violence in movies should be censored without really backing up anything with solid research. The author keeps alluding to they believe that the movie “Dark Knight Rises” helped cause a shooting. While well written it is written based on pure opinion, not a single fact backed up which of course leaves it open to the readers opinion. Having a conflicting opinion I did not find the article sufficient. I would think someone sharing the author’s opinion would find the article likeable. I did not.


Article Three: “Columbine, Whose Fault Was It?”

  I actually liked this article the most despite not being a fan of the author. I agree completely with Manson on the fact that violence hasn’t changed it just the publicity of it. He also states that people are pushing the blame on the wrong thing. When you leave children to their own devices around things like fantasy and never help them distinguish what is real and what is not what do you expect?

Zone One: Part 1 Response

My reaction to the first 10-20 pages was, to put mildly, not good. The writing seemed dense and full of superfluous descriptive language, to the point where I was tempted to skip paragraphs on paragraphs of metaphorical language and 'tangent' side-stories just to find out what was actually happening in the present tense, the now. For instance, when the main character is doing his sweep of the abandoned law firm he kicks open a door and three zombies jump him. It takes literally pages and pages and pages before 30 seconds in real time happens. I'm sitting there thinking "Holy crap there's three zombies trying to eat this guy!" while having to get through four pages of memories the main character is thinking about while this happens. It's great to have some depth but god damn I'm a bit more interested in the main character getting attacked at the moment.At first this was a turn off and just felt like unnecessary rambling (which I still think it was to a very small degree) but after finishing the first 80 pages I'm definitely starting to enjoy the story and am getting more used to the writing style.

As I've read on, the dreary thoughts and murky feelings that surround the main characters thoughts is starting to become less of a turn off and more of a representation of the context of the story. I really like the way the characters are being built, and how much time is spent exploring the depth of the different characters. One of my favorite things so far was how each survivor at this point seems to have their own weird quirk, something they cling to that on the surface seems pointless but in actuality is probably part of why that person is still alive. For instance how Gary still talks as if his two twin brothers were still alive, saying "we" this and "we" that instead of "I". It's weird but it's something that helps him stay sane in such an insane world, and ultimately something that helps him survive.

Zone One Response: Part 1

     Colson Whitehead has a way of painting a picture with words. He goes into very deep detail to establish a vivid setting that is easy to picture. Although I tend to get lost in the long explanations, it is important to have a strong setting for the reader to picture. It was very interesting to see the angle the writer took with this story and developed a bit of a different post-apocalyptic world than your average zombie story. He has a government that is established and in control to add a sense of normality and hope for the survivors in the book. While most zombie stories have the focus of surviving the mass hordes of human eating zombies, Whitehead developed a story of reconstruction and development of a new culture.
     I really like the route the author took when producing the characters in the main sweeper team. The overachieving college girl, the "average joe" and the mangily, unpredictable crazy fellow. Their different personalities highlight each other to make interesting conversation and interaction. It is very interesting to see them interact and work as a team through this rough and rugged landscape. Having Mark Spitz as such an average person helps people place themselves in the story and come from his point of view on things and relate to him.
      The zombies in this story are very unique because they are not the typical zombie we have come to know. They are stranglers, left behind, rather than the hordes of flesh eating monsters. Mark Spitz seems to look at them as corpses rather than monsters and relates them to people he knew in the past. I like a lot of action and with such few skels around, the story at times can get a little dull. Since there are less skels, it allows for the story to develop and focus more on other aspects such as the characters interaction with each other, the reconstruction of the city and the details of the setting. Overall, it is an interesting book and I look forward to further reading into the lives of Mark Spitz, Kaitlyn and Gary.

Reaction to Zone One reading

I find it interesting that this novel is creating a society around the zombie apocalypse. In every other zombie novel, tv show, or movie it seems like what's left of society is just simply trying to survive, kill and hunt. Zone one is different, survivor camps and reconstruction efforts make it seem sort of like functional life. I like how average the main character is. I can't really seem to dislike him or root for him, which makes the other characters around him seem more interesting, and puts focus on the dismay of civilization around him. The characters are relatable to me, unlike in most zombie apocalypse stories. I would never be as brave as Rick Grimes, you know? But I could definitely survive under Mark Spitz' conditions and mindset. Also, the zombies are unusual. It's refreshing to get away from the typical horde setting and I like the idea of zombies lingering stagnant in places that are connected to their pasts. I feel a little sympathy for them. The way the "government" and corporate sponsors survived the apocalypse gives the novel a hopelessness that makes me want to keep reading to find out how they all pull this off.

response to Zone One

In this novel I really like how whitehead has started to separate the zombies from one just hoard of mindless idiots into the stragglers or the ones that for some reason weren't exterminated or "shown mercy" by the marines who first came into this effected zone. I really like the detail he goes into with the characters and how we see the development of the civilian soldiers "the sweepers" there to clean up and bring society back to somewhat of a normal state, so that they could get industry back up and running and bring the world back to where it was. With that it is interesting that our main character seems to doubt that society will every come back from the brink saying that essentially if you dream and don't pay attention to the present you can get caught off guard and pinned as we see happen to him in one of the firms they were clearing. With that it is quite interesting to me how he always comes back to his basic B mentality floating under the radar and that’s how he’s gotten through life quite successfully so far.

Unlike in many other zombie films or books where the zombie plays a major role almost a main character role, I like how here we are seeing the characters develop and the skells playing a large yet small role in the grand scheme and we see the hardships of the regs and not being able to pick up a piece of food in an open refrigerator or use moisturizer unless its from a “sponsor” company. Also sponsor companies and corruption going on at almost the end of society its interesting to see how no matter what’s going on no matter how bad it is outside corruption is still alive and well.I like seeing the characters develop as a unit and their personalities come out, like the generic sorority girl leader or the grimy almost skell mechanic or even our main characters aversion to id checks or even when you see him have a bit of remorse for the copy boy asking the group if they could just leave him there not wanting to put him down, It is all building up to be one if not my favorite piece in this genre.

My reaction to reading "The Walking Dead" was just "wow" I was not expecting the ending, i did not see Rick's son to be the one to end up saving his dad's life and i kind of thought it was kind of funny how Lori did not want her son to have a gun but he ended up saving both his mom and dad. I see by reading this that stress, life threatening situations, being scared and other mixed emotions can really cause people to go insane, being put into the characters situations I would have to agree with Lori at the end there is no way after all they have been through that they will ever go back to normal. I can't even imagine what they have been through it takes a lot of courage and awareness to survive all the things they have.

Zombie and vampire

I think it is very true that the vampire has become more human than zombies have. We have seen from Twilight that vampires are creatures just like us who understand love, happiness and can exhibit human behavior, a far cry from Dracula. Zombies on the other hand are mindless creatures who want nothing more than to turn you into one of them. I think this is partly because zombies are rotting flesh and don't resemble living humans so how can we give something like that human qualities? Vampires can still talk, they require nourishment to survive, like humans.  Both have undergone change but vampires have gone through a "worse" change. Going from something of terror to something teenage girls are wild for. I don't know if there will be any other scary monster that can take the place of either the zombie or vampire but only time will tell.

Walking Dead

It seems that I am a minority in this class... I don't like zombies. I think the whole idea is ridiculous because I like reality. The walking dead comic is illustrated well, has an ok story line and since it has such a cult following I would assume its a good tv series, I have never seen it. I also have never been into graphic novels so this is very new to me. Honestly I would say this assignment was difficult to me because it encompasses so many things that I am not used to or that I enjoy, ie graphic novels and sci fi.I would like to understand why people like it so much. Is it because it's so popular or do you really love the idea of dead people roaming this earth? Maybe this class will open my eyes to a new style of reading and tv.

Vampire Gentlemen and Zombie Beasts

To me zombies have always been a terrifying thing to me, actually zombies are one of my worst fears next to spiders. But for some strange reason I've always loved to watch zombie movies and tv shows. I think its because of the thrill and curiosity of how they came to be in the show and how someday it might be possible for a disease to come about the world that can turn a person into a raging victim with no personality and the only thing they want is meat and the'll get it from any living thing. So to me when it comes to zombies I don't think there is any other way to represent them other than scary, grotesque, once alive, monsters.

But on the other hand I love Vampires and don't find them scary at all and never have even when I was a kid which is weird to me considering they do almost the same thing as a zombie. I think its the fact that they have a voice, a conscience, and like they said in the article are mysterious. They aren't just a corps walking around with no sense of where they are and one purpose to kill and never stop because if they did there would be no humans to feed off of, they have the ability to stop and not just infect and cause disease on the human race. I think there kinda interesting because they are immortal and have super human abilities and zombies are just dead feeding off of the living. Although the early vampires like in The Lost Boys were more grotesque I feel like its just the point we are at in film and society they don't get as high of rating as the loving ones do. Though personally I like the vampires portrayed in True Blood they are not just some night in shiny armor to teen girls they have a dark and bloody side that the older vampires had but they don't look like a monster.

zombie comments

The Walking Dead comic

Response:

I read the comic and found a bit interesting to read comic better than a movie. It seem less annoying me because it doesn't show much splatting around the humans. It focused on a policeman taking the journey to find out what going on.  He arrived the city and found more zombies there, then went out of the city and ended up to meet his family there. He was so happy. In later days, he turned more angry and tried to control what going on with the families. He got the weapons for them what they need to protect from the zombies. The argument leaded him to be angry more. He threaten a guy but the little boy shot the policeman. His father told him that he was not zombie but it was ok. That was different twisted stories. I thought it was all about zombies but not. It was about his personality changing and stress out leading to the death.   

Zombie article

Response:

I read this article which was not great to me. I fall asleep when I read. Geez..I don't know what I think of Zombie but do about the vampires. I guess I am used to watch the vampires for long time.  The zombie story annoyed me because the way they acted to the good people. Vampire story made the things interesting - love, powerful, fantasy, more fun to watch.  The zombie I don't understand why the watchers like to watch the story. It was about blood and touching the people becoming them.  I don't get the concept why the director created the movie about the zombies. I understand that they try to do different for audience rating. I predict that the zombie movies might be no longer and vampire will stay strong.

Zombie Article Reaction

My first comment about this article is that I don't think western culture has "lost" an icon in true horror in the ever evolving vampire character. Just because how we use vampires in fiction has changed, doesn't mean it can't change back or won't change into something completely new. It's natural for their to be a cycle, and we are just witnessing one part. Our children's children may grow up watching vampire horror films and zombie romance movies, instead of handsome and troubled vampires who just want to be loved and flesh eating zombies with no conscience. Despite the differences between the 'current' zombie and vampire character, it's interesting to me how they both still hold a very definite relevance and purpose. The vampire that lives it's life as an outcast, is never quite considered normal, has different needs than the average person but ultimately still desires the same things (love, acceptance) is something I think a lot of us can relate to. Sometimes we all feel like this unique individual that the rest of society as a whole can't always relate to, and it's good to deal with these feelings even if it's through some fictional story about a vampire. There's still fear here, but it's a fear of yourself and your own inability to fit the rest of 'normal' society. The zombie however, uses fear in a totally different way. It makes you realize the danger you could potentially be in at any moment, and how truly scary our world would be if we didn't communicate or work together and just wandered aimlessly, only acting on the instinct to feed and nothing more. At our foundation we are zombies, and the idea that we could be stripped of our humanity is freaking terrifying.

The walking dead

I enjoy reading about zombie apocalypse because its makes one realize how good they actually have it even if they're struggling in life. We still have it very easy as American's. Work, bills and debt effect a majority of us as a country but I think most people complain because they haven't ever know a true hardship or true devastation. If you ask them would they rather keep their life the way it is or would you rather a zombie apocalypse happen? Most people would choose to keep it the same. Me on the other hand I honestly wouldn't mind something world changing to happen. We as American's take so much for granted. Everyone has cell phones and Facebook. What would they do if the satellites crash? Most people wouldn't know what to do without their internet and television. I think that's very sad. I love to camp and be outside as much as possible. Learning how to survive in the wild is a very important skill that's being lost over time. Ultimately this skill will be very useful and will save you at some point in time. Knowing how to start a fire, how to hunt and how to shoot a gun will be the difference between life and death. Reading this comic only proves my point. They had fire but had to risk their lives to collect more guns to survive. I personally would have taken Rick's side in wanting to move camp away from the zombies. I thought Shane was acting irrational from the start with him not wasn't to move, trying to comfort Rick's wife and also his short temper. Obviously he was losing it because at the end he told Rick he wasn't suppose to come back. Pulled a gun on Rick and ultimately left Carl with no other option but to kill him. I'm anxious  to see what happens next!

The Walking Dead and Zombies in American Culture

 The Walking Dead was, to most of us, a breakout summer TV series shown on AMC. More acute followers of the horror genre may have known it in its original comic form. Both mediums are impressive in their own right, but the comic more so in my opinion. I really liked the art style because I feel like it gave the words attitude.  The format leads to smaller, more frequent interactions than TV does, and each of these interactions has a tone of its own.  The character development is far superior on page then it is on the screen.  Each person is exactly and specifically what they need to be, but nothing more.  The interactions are limited to what fits in a frame or series of frames. The American Gothic dissertation was interesting. I hadn't noticed the specific phenomenon, but it is apparent when someone points it out.  The thought process is solid, and well supported. It’s a very well written paper, but I wonder if people humanize monsters because their imaginations are limited to a human frame of reference. The way it was written was thought provoking and really pointed out just how culturally significant zombies are in today’s day and age.

Reaction to "The Walking Dead"

             I want to start off by saying I have never read the actual Walking dead series but have been an extreme fan of the live action AMC interpretation. With that being said I found the comic to have amazing visual substance the details in the art are amazing and it really does help to build the story, not only is the plot amazing but well thought out and executed.

             In the opening strip I really like how they set the characters of Rick and Shane as best friends only later to find out that Shane has abandoned him and tried to steal his family and the jealousy eats him alive later on in the storyline.

             In the story though I do like how not only through word but through the use of fabulous art the author sets up the horrific reality that they are now plagued with. Life that consists of basically running and hiding for your life not knowing when the next zombie might strike. It is also interesting to me to see how the group as a whole is coming together to form a family like bond in their time of need but outside forces like the growing hate for Rick from Shane "ultimately leading to his death" or the zombies trying to rip them apart "literally in the case of the zombies". All in all I feel as if it is a well illustrated well written graphic novel that depicts the world and all of its pit falls and how in your time of need finding people you an rely on is one of the most important things for survival.

Reactions to "Vampire Gentleman and Zombie Beasts"

            In the article “Vampire Gentleman and Zombie Beast” the author blew me away with the comparisons of these mere ghouls of the night to real world problems plaguing us today. I found it myself in the beginning of this article asking, “Where might this go?” “What can we actually learn from horror characters?”

           

           Quiet to my disbelief we can actually learn a lot from these ghouls and the ideals that they were founded from. It really interested me to see how the birth of the modern “Romanticized” Vampire rose from western cultures self absorbed nature, making the once ghoulish and equally horrifying Dracula a mere symbols of repressed sexual fantasy and wealth beyond belief. Essentially every common persons dream existence.

            Just as with the Vampire change in role, I had always wondered where the shift from mindless slow slave that once inhabited the role of zombie diverged into the modern day “28 days” or “The Walking dead” menacing fast super ultra zombie came from. Learning that it was a gap in horror that eventually led to this was quite intersecting. Along with socioeconomically laced background of both characters quite intrigued me. The author did a fantastic job citing an abundance of material really outlining how deep our natural fears of social breakdown could occur if we all become the next hoard of non-individuals driving mindless consumerism.

            But the underlying message I took from this article is its alright to be a consumer in today’s economy such as the crazy wealthy vampire, but don’t let it consume you so much so that you forget all that you are and fall into the horde and become just another faceless nameless being like the zombie just consuming with no end in sight.

Reaction to Vampire Gentlemen and Zombie Beasts

Initially when I began reading this article, my first reaction was, 'why is this guy dissecting the social meanings behind vampires and zombies so much?' But upon finishing the article, he makes some valid points! Vampires have taken the more 'human' role of atrocities. Wanting love, but being unlovable. Attractive, but mysterious. Scary, but human. I think the main point of this article is to show us how our favorite monsters have evolved. Vampires have gone from being a bloodthirsty villain of the night (Nosferatu, Dracula) to a romantic, relatable, chilling, almost-human. (Twilight, Interview with the Vampire) More often than not recently, vampire tales are intertwined into love stories. I think of Twilight, obviously, which was definitely more focused toward the love story than the ugly side of vampires. Sometimes the vampire is even the hero. I like what the author says about the difference between the two undead monsters; 'the vampire incites desire, while the zombie incites fear.' Zombies have become the gory, treacherous, disgusting monsters that we fear in our nightmares. Zombies are scary, vampires are mysterious. Zombies didn't use to be as versatile, though. In earlier years, in Haitian folklore, zombies were used as 'undead slaves'. I find that quite interesting. Verses now, where zombies really represent the fragility of our society; how easily we can become invaded and infected. Zombies are the popular choice to satiate our need for a thrill. I also really love how the author delves into our self-image as society, and relates it to our film. Zombies represent our fear of ageing, and death- or something worse, eternal life in a corrupt body, a powerful metaphor. While vampires depict our desire to look flawless forever, and our fears of being alone. However, I disagree with the correlation between plastic surgery and vampires. Awesome article in my opinion. :)

the new monsters

Landon Matheny

Vampires and Zombies

Today's movies portray sexy vampires and ridiculously disgusting zombies. I feel like that is what the viewers have come to expect. Thanks to an unnamed book saga and movie franchise with vampires, werewolves, and Kristen Stewart, the once monstrous is now acceptable. As for zombies, we can thank "graphic novels" and AMC.

The Walking Dead comics were actually really interesting in my opinion. I was never into the TV show because I guess I am just different. However, the books i liked. I think that the zombie craze has worn itself out and will soon be forgotten. throughout the course of the zombie uprising, there have been many incarnations of the zombie. My personal favorite was the one in the film Warm Bodies. The main character, R, is lovable, likable, and personable. The viewer can understand his mind. He wants to feel, he wants to live, and he wants to not be a zombie. These new zombies with entrails flowing out of their mouths, that are double fisting intestines until they are less hungry for flesh, are great. However, in my opinion, what viewers want is a personality.

I feel like tho opposite goes for the new vampire. The new vampire is mysterious, ominous, and of course, good looking. They have no personality because they aren't really a real person. However, girls will lift their shirts to any guy like that. The vampires today are lifeless, emotionless, cold, broken, basket cases that everyone loves because of their lack of knowledge about them. They are mysterious. Therefore, they are sex symbols.

I can learn to live with the new monsters. However, I'm sure that eventually they will be replaced with yet another breed of monstrosity.

Reaction to The Walking Dead Comic

I, like many others in this class I'm sure, watched The Walking Dead TV series! (Only through season 3) So I was pretty familiar with the characters already when I opened the comic. To be completely honest, I am tired of the zombie franchise, the over done concept has been exhausted by so many movie directors and TV producers it's hard to come across something fresh and different.  Zombies aren't that scary to me, especially how they are depicted in this comic.. Slow, flesh eating, moaning dead people. Personally, I like my monsters to be scary. I know the author makes a statement about this right away, but come on... It's zombies. Give me some thrills. If you've seen the movie World War Z- now those are some scary zombies! None the less The Walking Dead has a great story line, which is what makes it different. I like how the focus isn't really on the zombies, but the characters, their stories and how they survive together. The Walking Dead comic was very interesting to read AFTER watching the show, I expected to see more differences in translating from paper to on-screen, but it is flawlessly similar. I feel like the art work really tied together the over-all tone to the story, it wouldn't have been as successful in conveying Rick's character and attitude without the visuals.

Week 1

Landon Matneny

MACC Fall 2014 Comp.

Mr. Darr

I really enjoyed the different points of view given from the different writers in these articles. My personal favorite was Tarantino's. I feel like he has got the media figured out and understands that there is not a problem with movies or television, but a problem with the media that follows.

In Tarantino's responses he constantly repeats the fact that he is just a film maker. He makes movies for a living. The media should understand that. If there was a problem with comedy in America, I'm sure that the media would look into people like Mel Brooks or Judd Apatow. However, since there isn't aproblem with comedy they look to people like Tarantino as they believe there is a "violence" problem in America. Tarantino makes violent movies, always has. However we cant blame one person for the violence brought on by people that feel like killing others.

As for the LaSalle article, I understand where he comes from. LaSalle talks about the violence that media brings to the table opposed to the movies themselves. I like the point of view he offers and how he points the finger at the media instead of at the cinema itself. I disagree with the fact that LaSalle believes there is a gun problem in America. If guns were a problem, then why are they an issue now? Why didnt the term "gun problem" come up when Bonnie and Clyde made their way across the U.S. wielding Tommy guns, shooting up banks? I believe the answer is because there was no cinema or media to bring about the carnage they brought. In my opinion, we don't have any problems with guns, movies, or media, we have a problem with people.

Manson's point of view doesn't point any fingers anywhere, except for maybe at the parents of the kids that massacre people. He believes that it is the way that a person is brought up that makes them who they are. If they are brought up in a strict home where there are punishments for wrong-doing, those kids probably wont end up shooting up schools, movie theaters, or anywhere. He believes that it is the media that points the finger at people like himself and not the people. The people may listen to the media and base their opinion on what it has to say, but that is the work of the media. America doesn't want to take responsibility for it's actions, and therefore has to direct the blame for these events of figures like Manson.

vampire gentleman and zombie beasts

I found this article very interesting. The article described vampires as "good looking, sophisticated, preserving cultural memory and being fully invested in the past". On the other hand the article describes the zombie as a "mindless, emotionalist corpse un aware of borders". As the vampire has become more civilized and more humanized, the zombie has taken its place on the horror scale. The vampire longs for love and invests in his own business endeavors all while maintaining his cultural beliefs. He knows his borders and doesn't cross the ones he's knows he's not suppose to. All while keeping his unique self.  The zombie however isn't unique, knows no borders, and doesn't know of any borders. All the zombie knows is to eat on flesh and keep eating on flesh, there is no humanization at all. Both "monsters" have evolved into what they are today over time. I think was very interesting how they compared the zombie to humans in a overall capitalist world. We as present day humans are being brain washed into being consumers and helping create more consumers. Pretty soon nobody will be unique. We will forget our past and we will be nothing but consumers trying to do nothing but consume. Like the zombie doing nothing but consuming flesh. The article is very interesting. I think we are headed for a very capitalist world and I hope it doesn't destroy us. We must channel our inter vampire. Stay unique and think for our selves not just consume because everyone else is.