Since Denmark has been ranked high in “happiest nation” reports, I would ask, “Haven’t these sociologists ever read Hamlet?”
There must be many reasons why doomsday stories are so attractive (unsettlingly so), but here are some of mine. (The following thoughts are a bit undeveloped, but nevertheless, here it is)
Within the context of the end of the world, there’s this notion that nothing really matters anymore. The mundane things we all stress about, spiral over even, becomes meaningless in this new scale. That weight of the expectation of living is completely gone. At the end of *Don’t look up *, the sky is burning and the simple aspects of life become so treasured. Dinner with family. Music. The beauty of humanity is revealed. Same with many sci-fi stories really. When half the world is overrun by zombies, very few people are being overwhelmed by money, troubles of adulthood, and whatever else. Anyways, yes the end of the world is morbid and awful but a bit beautiful too.
Not to mention, many aspects regarding the state of our world right now is quite concerning and maybe the magnification of that into an apocalypic scenario is somewhat relieving? Sometimes it’s better to be able to panic about something substantially big rather than wonder if those lukewarm troubles are worth concerning ourselves about.
That may be a bit too abstract.. anyways
1 Like
Zombies in Western Culture: A 21st Century Crisis
Why has the zombie become such a pervasive figure in twenty-first-century popular culture? Authors John Vervaeke, Christopher Mastropietro and Filip Miscevic seek to answer this question by arguing that particular aspects of the zombie, common to a variety of media forms, reflect a crisis in modern Western culture.
The authors examine the essential features of the zombie, including mindlessness, ugliness and homelessness, and argue that these reflect the outlook of the contemporary West and its attendant zeitgeists of anxiety, alienation, disconnection and disenfranchisement. They trace the relationship between zombies and the theme of secular apocalypse, demonstrating that the zombie draws its power from being a perversion of the Christian mythos of death and resurrection. Symbolic of a lost Christian worldview, the zombie represents a world that can no longer explain itself, nor provide us with instructions for how to live within it.
1 Like
I wanted to say, yes there was a time in civilization when the only way to save humanity was through divine intervention. But, apparently, there was never a time like that. The vast majority of people were living a low profile life that they were left alone while the grandeur of the greats was a matter of losing or gaining a kingdom.
1 Like
Wise men have interpreted dreams, and the gods laughed. – H.P. Lovecraft
1 Like