Comments on: Overthinking A Plate Of Brains http://everythingisnice.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/overthinking-a-plate-of-brains/ Beating the nice nice nice thing to death (with fluffy pillows) Sat, 18 May 2013 18:48:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Alison http://everythingisnice.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/overthinking-a-plate-of-brains/#comment-1753 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:07:58 +0000 http://everythingisnice.wordpress.com/?p=2138#comment-1753 Yes, it’s a really enjoyable article. I think one issue that leaps out in Zombie films is that the infected don’t attack each other. If they did, the outbreak would be self-limiting. In real life a rage virus would be strongly self-limiting. We are not all rabid.

Now, OK, that’s the requirement of making a narrative. As a political allegory, I think it shows the flaw. The flaw going right back to Hobbes actually. People united in co-operation are stronger than those who fight each other. The king/ ruling elite are threatened by the co-operation of the ruled, not by their inability to co-operate. In a state of nature, those who make a pact not to attack each other are stronger. The people will unite themselves, and do not need to have authority imposed on them.

Zombie films ‘cheat’ by giving us ravaging inhuman mobs who inexplicably spare each other with complete altruism. I’m not criticising the premise, just commenting on it’s failure as an allegory.

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