Apple. Coca-Cola. Google. Louis Vuitton. BMW.
The power of these brands is not just in the number of people who consume them. It's also a matter of excellent image management and careful attention to semiotics--the study of meaning-making.
This blog provides a public place to write about how mass culture and branding can be explained by examining what it is that they signify. Texts deal with dinosaurs, Cosmopolitan magazine, zombies, pornography and Nazis--among other things.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Michael Vlahos: “The Civilizational Significance of Zombies”
I personally do not watch anything, nor anything related, to what Vlahos mentions in this article. I don’t really care for The Walking Dead. However, even though I do not watch any of them, I’m intrigued as to what Vlahos is saying in the article, saying how we always find ways to persevere through hardships. At one point, he talks about how literature has the capability to save us. When I first stumbled upon this sentence, I was confused. How can literature be our life preserver? As I was thinking about this, I was also thinking about what Vlahos was saying about consciousness, and how it limits what we see. I also thought about the example Vlahos uses to prove this. He uses Karl Rove’s quote, “What, you would rather we told the people the truth…Can you imagine the panic that would have happened: the protests, the riots, the billions in damage to private property?” Rove is right. If people knew what was happening, they would lose control, go crazy, and do whatever it is they desire because they have nothing to lose. Literature is a part of consciousness, but it has the ability to save us. How? Vlahos says it gives us “a reason to keep going” and “a reason to live.” I think I see what he means by this. Say a zombie apocalypse occurs. Medical science and modern management will help up, but literature will. People that watch shows like The Walking Dead will have a visual idea on how to survive a zombie apocalypse by watching how the characters do it. It’s actually pretty remarkable that something like literature could possibly help up one day.
A captive statement in the article was, “being conscious can limit what is being seen.” I agree with this statement as I don’t believe in zombies although I find it fascinating that we may not believe in such concepts as a way to protect us from the truth. If we aren’t open to seeing something than we might miss something that is right in front of our face. “New thinking tells us that consciousness itself is an evolutionary adaptation, and it is easy to see how being self-aware helped us survive.” If we are aware of the “The "zombie apocalypse" concept, maybe we wouldn’t fear the civilized world being brought to a global zombie infestation. I often wonder if researching and watching movies that educate us about these beings allows us to be more open to the concept that zombies could be true. Being more conscious to the roles of zombies in our world as humans may allow us to be more open to the concept and more comfortable if this became our reality. I have not watch the movie World War Z or The Walking Dead although I tend to enjoy movies and television shows that are about the battles between humans and fictional beings such as zombies or vampires. I don’t spend a lot of time watching shows consistently in this genre although I find the notion that such beings could be existent attention-grabbing.
It is undeniable that zombies have been our go-to civilizational worst-case scenario ever since the word was conceived in Haiti. What other phenomenon flips all facets of our world like a zombie apocalypse? Vlahos, in this article, captures the cultural meaning that we put behind zombies perfectly. When we, not as Americans or Africans, not as Christians or Muslims, not as rich or poor, but humans, are face to face with the void of extinction, we prove that we are the apex species, that we can survive. Vlahos uses World War Z as his example, but I feel that Hughes paints too much of a utopian landscape, relative to a zombie apocalypse. The fact that there is any semblance of unity, such as the military or the UN, gives too much to the humans in assistance than would ever be expected. I find that The Walking Dead much better fits the narrative that Vlahos is trying to hit. Vlahos talks about a collective salvation of our species, a abandoning of our current culture, and an all for one mentality. The situation our species would find itself in is much more grave. Civilization would fall; leaving only small bands of “survivors” competing with others for what small resources would remain. The wicked would rule and humanity and morality would soon fall to the wayside. The existence of the human race would depend on the answer to the question of the ages; are people good, do we strive to stand above the natural order that is chaos, or are we evil, will we fail to do as others have before us, and save us from the brink. As The Walking Dead shows, we will have to worry just as much about a knife from a fellow human as a bite from a walker.
Alike Brandy and Cameron, I too am not quite familiar with the Cultural Phenomenon of Zombies, and their following. Sure I have seen an episode or two of The Walking Dead; however I believe it doesn’t have relevance to a bigger topic. Although, when taking a look at “The Civilizational Significance of Zombies” by Michael Vlahos, it is true to say that he addressed a larger topic at hand. The information he had pulled out of Max Brook’s “World War Z” allowed further elaboration on his topic. When analyzing Vlahos’s work, it allows the reader to think and engage about his thoughts on this. Some examples of topics that had made me think deeper were the discussion on consciousness and literature. It made me think of a bigger picture regarding the existence of human beings and the Psychology of the matter when relating to these topics. Without Literature (Literacy), we most likely wouldn’t have a consciousness, or rather wouldn’t be able to decipher our thoughts through communication. In my opinion, when addressing it to the topic of a Zombie Apocalypse, Literacy and communication allows people to become distracted from their surroundings and gives incentive to keep on going. This is done through the action of reading, or believing in a higher power if so. Looking on to Brandy's comment, I agree with her statement about Awareness of the Zombie Apocalypse. I believe that if one was to put themselves in the right mindset of the possibility, they would aid themselves in the future if the possibility was actually realistic.
The way the author talks about the phenomenon of zombies is quiet interesting. To think that some people actually believe in them is even more interesting. I am a skeptic. I have to see things to believe them so the thought of zombies, aliens or ghost is just outrageous. I agree with the author, at least from what I understood…zombies are just a figment of people’s imagination, peoples being anyone who believes in them because they need something to believe in. I was never fascinated nor drawn in by the whole zombie thing, movies or shows or anything media related to the topic never caught my attention. The way the author explains the on going wars between zombies and humans made a lot of sense to me. When he states that wars between zombies is different than war between other humans because we are forced to fight the war the zombies want to was mind blowing to me and it is true. There is very little humans know about “zombies” that they are never sure what to expect when facing them “at war” which is why they are so powerful in shows and movies, they bring fear to mankind. After reading this I started to reflect on the vampire phenomenon as well and the show and movies that shed light on it. It is actually very scary to think that some of these movies and shows are thought up by “normal people” and it isn’t only with these theme based movies, any movies that are gruesome or strange because there are people insane enough to think them up, and that kind of worries me.
I personally do not watch anything, nor anything related, to what Vlahos mentions in this article. I don’t really care for The Walking Dead. However, even though I do not watch any of them, I’m intrigued as to what Vlahos is saying in the article, saying how we always find ways to persevere through hardships. At one point, he talks about how literature has the capability to save us. When I first stumbled upon this sentence, I was confused. How can literature be our life preserver? As I was thinking about this, I was also thinking about what Vlahos was saying about consciousness, and how it limits what we see. I also thought about the example Vlahos uses to prove this. He uses Karl Rove’s quote, “What, you would rather we told the people the truth…Can you imagine the panic that would have happened: the protests, the riots, the billions in damage to private property?” Rove is right. If people knew what was happening, they would lose control, go crazy, and do whatever it is they desire because they have nothing to lose. Literature is a part of consciousness, but it has the ability to save us. How? Vlahos says it gives us “a reason to keep going” and “a reason to live.” I think I see what he means by this. Say a zombie apocalypse occurs. Medical science and modern management will help up, but literature will. People that watch shows like The Walking Dead will have a visual idea on how to survive a zombie apocalypse by watching how the characters do it. It’s actually pretty remarkable that something like literature could possibly help up one day.
ReplyDeleteA captive statement in the article was, “being conscious can limit what is being seen.” I agree with this statement as I don’t believe in zombies although I find it fascinating that we may not believe in such concepts as a way to protect us from the truth. If we aren’t open to seeing something than we might miss something that is right in front of our face.
ReplyDelete“New thinking tells us that consciousness itself is an evolutionary adaptation, and it is easy to see how being self-aware helped us survive.” If we are aware of the “The "zombie apocalypse" concept, maybe we wouldn’t fear the civilized world being brought to a global zombie infestation.
I often wonder if researching and watching movies that educate us about these beings allows us to be more open to the concept that zombies could be true. Being more conscious to the roles of zombies in our world as humans may allow us to be more open to the concept and more comfortable if this became our reality.
I have not watch the movie World War Z or The Walking Dead although I tend to enjoy movies and television shows that are about the battles between humans and fictional beings such as zombies or vampires. I don’t spend a lot of time watching shows consistently in this genre although I find the notion that such beings could be existent attention-grabbing.
It is undeniable that zombies have been our go-to civilizational worst-case scenario ever since the word was conceived in Haiti. What other phenomenon flips all facets of our world like a zombie apocalypse? Vlahos, in this article, captures the cultural meaning that we put behind zombies perfectly. When we, not as Americans or Africans, not as Christians or Muslims, not as rich or poor, but humans, are face to face with the void of extinction, we prove that we are the apex species, that we can survive.
ReplyDeleteVlahos uses World War Z as his example, but I feel that Hughes paints too much of a utopian landscape, relative to a zombie apocalypse. The fact that there is any semblance of unity, such as the military or the UN, gives too much to the humans in assistance than would ever be expected. I find that The Walking Dead much better fits the narrative that Vlahos is trying to hit.
Vlahos talks about a collective salvation of our species, a abandoning of our current culture, and an all for one mentality. The situation our species would find itself in is much more grave. Civilization would fall; leaving only small bands of “survivors” competing with others for what small resources would remain. The wicked would rule and humanity and morality would soon fall to the wayside. The existence of the human race would depend on the answer to the question of the ages; are people good, do we strive to stand above the natural order that is chaos, or are we evil, will we fail to do as others have before us, and save us from the brink. As The Walking Dead shows, we will have to worry just as much about a knife from a fellow human as a bite from a walker.
Alike Brandy and Cameron, I too am not quite familiar with the Cultural Phenomenon of Zombies, and their following. Sure I have seen an episode or two of The Walking Dead; however I believe it doesn’t have relevance to a bigger topic. Although, when taking a look at “The Civilizational Significance of Zombies” by Michael Vlahos, it is true to say that he addressed a larger topic at hand. The information he had pulled out of Max Brook’s “World War Z” allowed further elaboration on his topic. When analyzing Vlahos’s work, it allows the reader to think and engage about his thoughts on this. Some examples of topics that had made me think deeper were the discussion on consciousness and literature. It made me think of a bigger picture regarding the existence of human beings and the Psychology of the matter when relating to these topics. Without Literature (Literacy), we most likely wouldn’t have a consciousness, or rather wouldn’t be able to decipher our thoughts through communication. In my opinion, when addressing it to the topic of a Zombie Apocalypse, Literacy and communication allows people to become distracted from their surroundings and gives incentive to keep on going. This is done through the action of reading, or believing in a higher power if so.
ReplyDeleteLooking on to Brandy's comment, I agree with her statement about Awareness of the Zombie Apocalypse. I believe that if one was to put themselves in the right mindset of the possibility, they would aid themselves in the future if the possibility was actually realistic.
The way the author talks about the phenomenon of zombies is quiet interesting. To think that some people actually believe in them is even more interesting. I am a skeptic. I have to see things to believe them so the thought of zombies, aliens or ghost is just outrageous. I agree with the author, at least from what I understood…zombies are just a figment of people’s imagination, peoples being anyone who believes in them because they need something to believe in. I was never fascinated nor drawn in by the whole zombie thing, movies or shows or anything media related to the topic never caught my attention. The way the author explains the on going wars between zombies and humans made a lot of sense to me. When he states that wars between zombies is different than war between other humans because we are forced to fight the war the zombies want to was mind blowing to me and it is true. There is very little humans know about “zombies” that they are never sure what to expect when facing them “at war” which is why they are so powerful in shows and movies, they bring fear to mankind. After reading this I started to reflect on the vampire phenomenon as well and the show and movies that shed light on it. It is actually very scary to think that some of these movies and shows are thought up by “normal people” and it isn’t only with these theme based movies, any movies that are gruesome or strange because there are people insane enough to think them up, and that kind of worries me.
ReplyDelete