I often think philospically about zombies or any monster in that they are sometimes used as a subtle stand-in by the xenophobic to dehumanize certain segments of human society, when we want the reason of conflict to be perceived as morally black and white and justify martial law.
Other times it is clearly just a zombie, a convenient antagonist for our heroes to fight.
Anyone watch the Black Mirror episode where a soldier's vision gear goes on the blink and the alien monsters he was shooting at turn out to be people? Zombies might be the same sort of metaphor.
We know it was once a part of society, now now it is perceived as a parasite bent on the destruction of its parent society and unable to make any contribution to society, thus it is "legitimately" denied any sort of human rights or due process, and is okay to hate, even though it is not really guilty of evil motive to do evil, being a victim itself of some disease or curse.
Because it is also a guiltless victim, yet still legitimate to hate as a monster lacking humanity, is why it is is such a effective stand-in for real people if an author or film maker is looking to desensitize the audience to the motives of actual conflicts. It is morally presented as black and white while real conflicts are rarely so, but often we no longer have to think about that. A zombie is a zombie.
That George Romero had his African American hero ironically killed in the end because he was thought to be a zombie, was a wry comment on civil rights and due process during martial law.
Undead creatures in general have been used within literature and film for years as the epitome of the dehumanized antagonist, sometimes evil, other times not. The non-evil variety are all part of the discussion of what actually makes for a just war or conflict and the appropriate rules of engagement or interaction. Sometimes our monsters now are the heroes and the human heroes maybe misdirected in their hatred? Think Trueblood.
Enough philosophizin, I got some lead figs to kill.
adds APCs to his Israeli forces.
