DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

About Us


 Hello, and welcome to the Guilford College Zombie Survival Guide. What you'll find on this website is the result of the work of Heather Hayton's English 400 capstone class, fall 2011, entitled “The Quick and the Undead.” This website and its content are the final product of a class-wide project to give people a taste of what we've been studying all semester. We hope you find this entertaining and informative.

 

In case you hadn't picked up on it yet, the class is all about zombies. Every type of zombie. Even the zombies that people say aren't zombies. From Haiti to Romero to 28 Days Later, we've talked about them all. And we didn't just talk about them for our own amusement. Zombies open up a lot of doors for discussion about our own lives, our societies, our world. Consider some questions:

  • How does Night of the Living Dead reflect the social and political anxieties of its historical context?
  • Do the zombies in Shaun of the Dead reveal our interpellation in a worker-driven, consumer-based economy?
  • Is community still possible or even desirable in the worlds of The Walking Dead or Zombieland?
  • What does the popularity of video games like Left 4 Dead or Plants Versus Zombies say about our desires and where we find pleasure?
  • Can the zombies in World War Z offer us a new way to look at global politics and its ability to handle crises?
  • And, of course, the one that everyone loves to ask, what's the difference between zombies and us?

That's just the beginning. Zombies can show us so much, and can represent a myriad of things. They are ever-present in our current pop culture, and demand our attention. The fact that you're even reading this means you're ready to give them that attention.
So please, explore the site, have some fun, learn some stuff. And if any of what you see here interests you, please take a look at some of our recommended texts — some of them are truly to die for.


Besides, if you start preparing now, you'll be much better off when Patient Zero starts to come down with an illness no one has ever seen before, but everyone has already imagined.

 

Last Updated: 12/1/2011

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.