Over the past couple years a cult horror genre has emerged from beneath the grave,
revived by pop culture, and chaotically devoured our imaginations in a hoard of
shuffling corpses. I am speaking of the latest fascination with the impending Zombiepocalypse. For the past 40 years there has been omens
warning us of this uprising, starting with George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead in 1968 to popular graphic novel and AMC
series The Walking Dead. Flowing from
understandable sensitivities to the gruesome elements that come with the Zombie
genre, there are those who would be quick to write the whole thing off as
useless. However I believe that in these movies, books, and shows there is
something being said about Humanity and the Christian life that we can intently
focus on without losing one’s conscience or lunch.
To begin, the notion of the dead rising to life mingles throughout the gospels. In Luke 8 Jesus raises the daughter of Jarius; in John chapter 11 Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. When the daughter of Jarius is returned to life, Christ orders the parents to tell no one, but when Lazarus is revived in the gospel of John, it is an instance that inspires a plot to kill Jesus of Nazareth. Both of these instances prefigure the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Jesus’ authority over our world is on display, and if we contrast these narratives with today’s current fascination with the dead rising, we can see their common terrifying characteristic: they both articulately communicate that you are not in control.
Where this genre clashes Christian spirituality ultimately comes back to the Resurrection. In Zombie culture dying means to be mindlessly torn apart by bloodthirsty corpses; in Christianity dying means being brought to a new life. Jesus says “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” Luke 9:24. Human death is eclipsed by the death to our own ego. St. Paul says “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Roman 6:11. The earthly death is reduced to a footnote to a much greater story, one that is not your own. The finite reality of our own mortality, death itself, is transformed into an aperture of grace in the afterglow of the Resurrection. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Hebrews 2: 14- 15
However one film seeks to truly raise the undead to new life. When I first saw the trailer for the film Warm Bodies I thought “Wow, this could be either really good or really bad”. The story is set ten years after a zombiepocalyps followed by the age old plot of post-apocalyptic girl meets post-apocalyptic boy, post-apocalyptic boy’s brain are eaten by introspective cute zombie teenager, zombie teenager inherits post-apocalyptic boys memories of post-apocalyptic girlfriend, zombie teenager becomes enamoured with the beauty of post-apocalyptic girl and seeks to protect her from his undead friends. As an increasingly avid fan of the genre, I had to see it regardless of if it was good or not.
*Spoilers ahead*
Jonathan Levine, director of 2011’s 50/50, essentially retells the story of Romeo and Juliet, or in this case, “R” (Nicholas Hoult) and Julia (Theresa Palmer). As the aforementioned plot unfolds, R is faced against his fellow undead friends. Brain hungry, a mob of R’s Zombie pals are after a chunk of Julia’s juicy frontal lobe but not if R has something to groan about it. Though outnumbered, R stands in front of his reanimated friends and simply holds Julia’s hand, which eventually inspires his friends to stand down. At first it is a thing that shocks them to their core, but later they realize it has truly reawakened in them something that lay hidden deep within them. The very same hoard that wanted to take a bite out of Julia stands staring at an old travel advertisement. With a light flickering behind it, the image of a man and woman holding hands is seen in the ad. It’s at this moment “M” best friend to “R” looks to another undead fellow and asks “Can you feel it”? From one Zombie to another each of them experience a single heartbeat.
A Christian interpretation can clearly see something profound. Like our greater society, there is a mad craving for human flesh. Though the appetite may be originating from different organs, both the zombie hoards and our society seek to fulfil that hunger to the detriment of the other. To the undead, a human body could be their next supper; to secular society, a human body is merely a source of pleasure.
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8. Our first vocation as human beings is to love. By encountering that call, R, M, Julia, and the rest of their undead pals are brought to a new way of living. At one point during the film, R dares to infiltrate the human camp. By doing so he risks his “life” and Julia asks him why he did it. He responds with “So I can tell them we can change.” R, by coming face to face with the deepest yearning s of his heart, the desire for intimacy, cannot simply keep it to himself. Ultimate spoiler alert: The more selfless R is to this intimacy, the more alive he becomes. It’s only in the act of sacrificing himself, does he become fully alive again.
In watching these programs most people would more clearly identify with those who are running from a heard of zombies. To most of us, they resemble life’s harshest elements, the ones that seem to come out of nowhere, one after another. There are days when one issue comes after the next and it seems like there’s no way out. But rarely would someone see themselves as one of the zombies, who’s not just desiring a brain, but a heart.
To begin, the notion of the dead rising to life mingles throughout the gospels. In Luke 8 Jesus raises the daughter of Jarius; in John chapter 11 Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. When the daughter of Jarius is returned to life, Christ orders the parents to tell no one, but when Lazarus is revived in the gospel of John, it is an instance that inspires a plot to kill Jesus of Nazareth. Both of these instances prefigure the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Jesus’ authority over our world is on display, and if we contrast these narratives with today’s current fascination with the dead rising, we can see their common terrifying characteristic: they both articulately communicate that you are not in control.
Where this genre clashes Christian spirituality ultimately comes back to the Resurrection. In Zombie culture dying means to be mindlessly torn apart by bloodthirsty corpses; in Christianity dying means being brought to a new life. Jesus says “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” Luke 9:24. Human death is eclipsed by the death to our own ego. St. Paul says “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Roman 6:11. The earthly death is reduced to a footnote to a much greater story, one that is not your own. The finite reality of our own mortality, death itself, is transformed into an aperture of grace in the afterglow of the Resurrection. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Hebrews 2: 14- 15
However one film seeks to truly raise the undead to new life. When I first saw the trailer for the film Warm Bodies I thought “Wow, this could be either really good or really bad”. The story is set ten years after a zombiepocalyps followed by the age old plot of post-apocalyptic girl meets post-apocalyptic boy, post-apocalyptic boy’s brain are eaten by introspective cute zombie teenager, zombie teenager inherits post-apocalyptic boys memories of post-apocalyptic girlfriend, zombie teenager becomes enamoured with the beauty of post-apocalyptic girl and seeks to protect her from his undead friends. As an increasingly avid fan of the genre, I had to see it regardless of if it was good or not.
*Spoilers ahead*
Jonathan Levine, director of 2011’s 50/50, essentially retells the story of Romeo and Juliet, or in this case, “R” (Nicholas Hoult) and Julia (Theresa Palmer). As the aforementioned plot unfolds, R is faced against his fellow undead friends. Brain hungry, a mob of R’s Zombie pals are after a chunk of Julia’s juicy frontal lobe but not if R has something to groan about it. Though outnumbered, R stands in front of his reanimated friends and simply holds Julia’s hand, which eventually inspires his friends to stand down. At first it is a thing that shocks them to their core, but later they realize it has truly reawakened in them something that lay hidden deep within them. The very same hoard that wanted to take a bite out of Julia stands staring at an old travel advertisement. With a light flickering behind it, the image of a man and woman holding hands is seen in the ad. It’s at this moment “M” best friend to “R” looks to another undead fellow and asks “Can you feel it”? From one Zombie to another each of them experience a single heartbeat.
A Christian interpretation can clearly see something profound. Like our greater society, there is a mad craving for human flesh. Though the appetite may be originating from different organs, both the zombie hoards and our society seek to fulfil that hunger to the detriment of the other. To the undead, a human body could be their next supper; to secular society, a human body is merely a source of pleasure.
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8. Our first vocation as human beings is to love. By encountering that call, R, M, Julia, and the rest of their undead pals are brought to a new way of living. At one point during the film, R dares to infiltrate the human camp. By doing so he risks his “life” and Julia asks him why he did it. He responds with “So I can tell them we can change.” R, by coming face to face with the deepest yearning s of his heart, the desire for intimacy, cannot simply keep it to himself. Ultimate spoiler alert: The more selfless R is to this intimacy, the more alive he becomes. It’s only in the act of sacrificing himself, does he become fully alive again.
In watching these programs most people would more clearly identify with those who are running from a heard of zombies. To most of us, they resemble life’s harshest elements, the ones that seem to come out of nowhere, one after another. There are days when one issue comes after the next and it seems like there’s no way out. But rarely would someone see themselves as one of the zombies, who’s not just desiring a brain, but a heart.
