THE POPULARITY OF ZOMBIE FILMS AND NATIONAL FEAR DURING THE COLD WAR AND THE WAR ON TERROR

Description

Abstract. Zombies are particularly suited to the ideological nature of the Cold War and the War on Terror, as American perceptions of the differing ideologies involved are of unreasonable monsters – just like zombies. Zombies in American cinema embody public anxieties and evolve to reflect the cause of national paranoia and collective fear. The Cold War and the United States after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 coincided with the two greatest spikes in zombie popularity. This paper compares and contrasts the historical context that sets the backdrop for the attraction of the undead to American audiences during these periods. The nature of the zombie as representative of a fear of irresistible masses has political, economic, and cultural connotations. The multi-faceted foreign threats that the zombie represents makes it ideal for exemplifying periods of collective paranoia towards an invading external threat manifested as an unexpected internal threat.