Zombie Fad Indicates Unhappy Society, Says Clemson Researcher: 'The Walking Dead' and 'Warm Bodies' Popularity the Result of Frustration?

According to Clemson University professor Saura Lauro, the recent explosion of zombie apocalypse pop culture (TV's "The Walking Dead", "World War Z", "Warm Bodies", "Zombieland" et. al.) may be a lot more than just a random fad.

Since their premiere in George Romero's 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead, zombies have been used by directors to represent everything from capitalists, consumer culture, the government, the military and even the news media. According to Lauro, however, the undead have taken on a special meaning within the hearts of our current pop culture connoisseurs.

Lauro, who studied zombies while working on her doctoral degree at the University of California at Davis, says that the recent upswing in zombie popularity has to do with the fact that the recent economic downturn has left many people feeling powerless.

"We are more interested in the zombie at times when as a culture we feel disempowered," Lauro said. "And the facts are there that, when we are experiencing economic crises, the vast population is feeling disempowered. ... Either playing dead themselves ... or watching a show like 'Walking Dead' provides a great variety of outlets for people," Lauro said.

Lauro has tracked the rise in popularity of "zombie walks", events where participants dress up like zombies, then shuffle and groan their way through parks and downtown areas. Lauro says that the first zombie mob happened in Toronto in 2003 and has only gotten more popular from there, peaking with the largest zombie walk ever recorded in Asbury Park, NJ in 2010. More than 4,000 participants showed for that event.

Lauro pointed out that the zombies themselves might not realize that this deep-seated frustration is a part of the reason why they are doing the walk.

"If you were to ask the participants, I don't think that all of them are very cognizant of what they're saying when they put on the zombie makeup and participate," she said. "To me, it's such an obvious allegory. We feel like, in one way, we're dead."