interests, ideas, and experiences

If there were something I were to explore in book form at this point in my life it would be the current mythology/obsession with zombies.  In the past, obviously, there have been crazes about vampires, werewolves, etc, all of them with their own roots in the psyche of the culture in which they evolved.  I’ve had this discussion with several people and while their views may differ, in the end they’re equally relevant, since they are each and every a part of the culture which has contributed to this myth

So what is it about our culture’s shadow that creates this need for fear and subsequent catharsis regarding the ‘living dead.’  This isn’t a new phenomenon.  The first zombie movie ever was made in 1932 – right after the crash of the American stock market.  What this all boils down to is fear, just as every manifestation of mankind’s collective shadow has always done.  So what is it about Zombies – the living dead – that betrays our culture’s deepest fear?  There’s a segment in an interview with Erich Fromm about his book To Have or to Be that hits the nail on the head:

Interviewer: “I imagine that of all things the fist of ‘having’ closes on most firmly is life itself.  And yet since life itself is bound to be taken away in death, I wonder if that wouldn’t be to show that the having mode is entirely useless.”
Fromm: “That’s why people are so afraid of death.  I think the fear of death to a large extent is the fear of losing what one has.”

I had this conversation in essence not long ago – modern man’s chief fear is his death – and, why?  Because he defines his existence by that which he can possess or consume – actions mean nothing unless they are a means to an end where the end is, in most cases, the fulfillment of a base desire – usually lust or greed.  How then could death have meaning?  In our fragile perception it can only be an end (though it may well not be…that’s not the point) and this is terrifying.  Thus, zombies are our greatest fear – mindless, soulless beings who don’t consume anything but what they need to.  Worst of all, they are all the same – and what is our culture of having if not a perverted method of individuation?  Erich Fromm, this time in The Art of Loving writes:

Most people are not even aware of their need to conform.  They live under the illusion that they follow their own ideas and inclinations, that they are individuals, that they have arrived at their opinions as the result of their own thinking – and that it just happens that their ideas are the same as those of the majority.  The consensus of all serves as a proof for the correctness of “their” ideas.  Since there is still a need to feel some individuality, such need is satisfied with regard to minor differences: the initials on the handbag or the sweater, the name plate of the bank teller, the belonging to the Democratic as against the Republican party, to the Elks instead of to the Shriners become the expression of individual differences.  The advertising slogan of “it is different” shows up this pathetic need for difference, when in reality there is hardly any left.

I just want to be a sociologist.  Is that so wrong? Also, Merry Christmas!