Is the zombie genre overdone?

Discussion in 'Science Fiction' started by Adamson93, Jun 6, 2012.

  1. live2write

    live2write Senior Member

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    lol I read that article, I have it saved in my app. lol

    However I disagree I do not believe it is a limited subject, I just think there is a limited imagination to it.
    According to pop culture there is a limit to origins where the dead rise to the living to feed off of living flesh. Many movies and stories twisted the origins from a biblical interpretation to science gone berserk. The origins are interpreted from the bible when hell rises on earth and the dead are walking with the living. Jesus was a zombie lol. Then there are the Haitian Zombies in voodoo use tetradotoxins from pufferfish and neurodrugs that would induce these effects. It is describe that they would rise from a deep "dead" sleep and be in a "Drug trip" like state. This was considered black or dark magic/sorcery in culture.

    Hey we all have read about the miami zombie due to possible bath salts. Who knows, a writer is probably writing a fictional story about the use of the drug.

    What about movies like Frankenstein or Reanimator? Technically they contained zombie genre elements.

    In general the idea of zombie is the dead rising and walking with the living. I could write a story about a rock band who's music kills the audience and reanimates them with track 2. Or zombies created by an electrical shortage in the morgue.
     
  2. Mr.

    Mr. New Member

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    This. "Zombie" isn't a genre or a setting. Too many people hear the word and jump straight to the overdone (yes, overdone) contemporary apocalypse of boarding up windows and bashing in rotten heads with baseball bats). I've had the idea in my head for some time now about a thanatocracy sort of society that submits to the will of their zombified ancestors. There are plenty of ideas on the undead that no one's touched.
     
  3. ithestargazer

    ithestargazer Active Member

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    I don't think genres can necessarily be overdone but they can be over-marketed at any given time. I suppose an example could be the current Vampire trend. Vampire novels/ Vampire romance aren't new but they're being marketed like there's no tomorrow. To me, a good book in any genre is a good book, regardless of genre or what's 'trending.'

    Though I'm not a huge Zombie fan I'd tackle any book that's has an interesting concept and is well-written.
     
  4. Afion

    Afion New Member

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    According to Wikipedia, the original definition of a zombie was a animated corpse brought back to life by witchcraft. If the zombies are being controled by someone it would be a lot more interesting than the usual 'zombies wandering round eating peoples brains' formula :p
     

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