Back to the Future

Speaking of zombies, the TV show “The Walking Dead” just returned on February 9, 2014, and I could not have been any more excited. Now getting back on track, many of these texts share the common themes of government control, zombies and technology, and even I guess, the future. What I initially found intriguing was the similarities between the YouTube video, “Why Do We Love Zombies?,” and the article of the Dystopian Timeline to The Hunger Games.  I noticed that within the YouTube video the guy was saying that we are attracted to zombies and such monsters because they symbolize something in real life, or something we are not fond of. He also continued his spiel by saying that we all feel a little threatened or pursued by technology. To really connect the themes I mentioned above, the book The Hunger Games is very about a higher power or government that has way more technological advances than the other districts. These two can relate because not only are we scared of zombies or are the people within The Hunger Games threatened by the capitol, we notice they both symbolize scary parts of good things or scary parts of scary things. This is exactly what the man said within his YouTube video.

Another theme that was common within majority of the texts was a controlling government or a higher power that is threatening. Night of the Living Dead shows the government taking control and administering the people around them. They seem to be in charge of the zombie killing, but within the last scene, they mistake the protagonist for a zombie and decide to burn him as well. This in a sense makes the government the enemies just as much as it makes them the hero’s or higher powers. Similar to this, Harrison Bergeron is a short story about a dystopian area that creates everyone as equals, however, although this seems like a good idea, the story was cut out to make the government as the antagonists or the enemy. Once again, the government seems to be in control although they seem to be hiding behind their so-called “good idea.” What is also very similar to these two texts was the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, episode 1. It describes a town that seems to have odd occurrences or paranormal activities that are being transformed or reversed by the government. Whatever the citizens see or believe as signs of hope, the government keeps tearing down.

The last point that needs to be addressed can be seen on the graph within the Dystopian Timeline To The Hunger Games. Whenever dystopian books seem to become popular within modern culture, a war or dramatic event happens, or is it the other way around? Do wars or dramatic events influence writers that later on tend to sway the thoughts of people or draw readers in? We may never know. However, with dystopian books on the rise within the past few years, should we as citizens be afraid of a war, a dramatic event, or possibly the government taking control and only protecting themselves?  We may find out sooner than we can expect.