Reanimated corpses are innately pretty terrifying, but they are also pretty political. Since the genre was created, zombie stories have reflected the unique social fears of that moment in history. And with The Last Of Us, the most recent zombie story to take the world by storm, paying attention to why these stories captivate us can tell us a lot about what’s going on in the world. While zombies have adapted over time, at their core they ask the same question: what makes us human?
Although zombie media might seem like a recent phenomenon, these stories have deep roots in Haiti and Haitian Creole traditions. The word “zombie” comes from “nzambi” which in West Africa means “spirit of a dead person” and “zonbi” in Haitian Creole, which means “a dead person that’s been reanimated by magical means.” According to Haitian folklore, male Vodou witches called bokors would resurrect the deceased with no free will or speech. From that point on, zombies were at the service of the bokor until his death. The horror of this fate was a direct expression of the African diasporic experience: to be eternally enslaved.
But the path from Haiti to Hollywood wasn’t direct. The earliest references to zombies in the United States were in a short story, "The Unknown Painter," published in newspapers in 1838. Credit for taking zombies mainstream often goes to William Seabrook, and his 1929 book The Magic Island. However, movie makers may have gotten a taste for Haitian folklore from Henry Francis Downing, an African-American author and diplomat, who penned the play Voodoo in 1914. The story didn't actually involve zombies, but the tale of voodoo magic set in Barbados introduced all the elements of early zombie movies. More importantly, Downing's work was known in Hollywood circles.
Whatever the inspiration, the first major zombie film White Zombie (1932) was shot in 11 days in a rented studio space for about $50,000. The film tells the tale of a plantation owner in Haiti whose business success is due to his workforce of Black zombies. The plantation owner tries to use these methods of control to seduce an engaged woman, turning her into a zombie in the process. White Zombie was released at the end of the 19-year American invasion and occupation of Haiti, which wasn’t very popular by that time. The villainous plantation owner can be seen as a criticism of colonial rule. Despite its attempts at criticizing colonialism, the film doesn’t give any Black characters agency. The white woman is the only one freed from the curse, while the plantation owner and all the Black zombies perish.
Throughout the 1930s and ‘40s, zombies kept their Caribbean Vodou roots. But as they became a more common horror tool, the origins and nature of zombies began to change to reflect the fears of the time. By the 1950s, as threats of nuclear war took over the American imagination, zombies were no longer being created by magic, but by science and communism. In Creature with the Atom Brain (1955), it was Nazis with atomic energy. In Teenage Zombies (1959), it was “an eastern power” with nerve gas.
In the 1960s, the nation turned its attention to civil rights. George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) featured the first Black horror lead: Duane Jones in the role of Ben. The film was the first time that a Black actor played the heroic star of a horror film in the U.S., and notably one of the first times a lead role was given to a Black man when it was not explicitly written for one. The film, which was released just five months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., doesn’t end well for Ben.
Romero followed this up with Dawn of the Dead (1978) which finds survivors taking shelter in a shopping mall, with some strong criticisms of modern consumerism. It was also long for the time (clocking in at over two hours), gruesome (released unrated to avoid the dreaded X-rating), and filmed on a slim budget. Still, the film went on to become a blockbuster hit.
In the 1980s and ‘90s, the social metaphors of zombies took a backseat to special effects and laughs. Films like The Evil Dead (1981), Re-Animator (1985) and Dead Alive (1992) feature over-the-top gore and absurdity – a mark of zom-coms that continue to be made today (looking at you, Shaun of the Dead).
Throughout the rest of the 20th century, zombie movies continued to reflect society’s fears. The late 1990s saw outbreaks of ebola, avian flu, and West Nile virus, leading to increased anxiety around disease and the threat of pandemics. There was also an increasing focus on the dangers of hyperpolarization and intolerance. Zombie movies ran with these fears — literally. Frighteningly fast and furious monsters, created by a man-made virus, ravage the world in 28 Days Later... (2002). The movie focuses on how rage and violence can tear apart civilization and has some heavy themes around sexual assault. The 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead also featured super fast and super strong zombies and the greatly expanded cast asked the question: How do we retain our humanity while eradicating those who are infected?
Although in these stories zombies might be the most obvious antagonist, many contemporary television shows and movies reveal that human society is the real villain. It was The Walking Dead, which premiered in 2010, that blatantly called this out, with the slogan for the later seasons: “Fight the dead. Fear the living.”
HBO’s The Last Of Us strikes a balance between reflecting the fears of our time and highlighting human monstrosities. Today, we aren’t as afraid of nuclear annihilation like in the 1950s or mindless consumerism as in the 1970s, but rather climate change has taken center stage. In the show, the cordyceps fungus evolved to infect humans all thanks to global warming. Meanwhile, we witness humanity at its lowest; we are constantly confronted with scammers, bandits, cult members, murderers, and cannibals.
Zombies may not be part of our reality, but the writers behind these stories certainly see humanity as being capable of the destruction and violence we see on our screens — whether in the shows we watch or the news we see every day.
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