Unheimlich, on the other hand, has the appearance of the Heimlich but it evokes a reaction of fear, disgust, and revolt. Unheimlich is the “uncanny”. The homely, yet unhomely. The Terminator is uncanny because, on the whole, he appears to be a normal human being but is really a killer robot. The half-buried Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes is uncanny and renders the entire movie uncanny. It is the symbol of a wonderful national idea in a state of ruin. Ventriloquist dummies are uncanny. The Twilight Zone episode “The After Hours” with department store mannequins coming to life is uncanny. These are all designed to use the form of what comforts us to put us ill at ease.
And being ill at ease is often a very good thing indeed. Is repentance not being ill at ease?
Zombies are uncanny in that they resemble (with varying success depending on the age and condition of the zombie) human beings but are not. For instance, in Night of the Living Dead, the Barbra character arrives at a graveyard with her brother to pay respects to someone. Toward the end, she is killed by the zombie her brother became. The zombie looks exactly like her brother but is something altogether different. Now, this is horror (and how!) and it is not very pleasant to ponder. But it begs the question: From what does our fear originate? What is being processed here in our state of unease? Romans 3:10-18 states:10 As it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good, not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Without being flippant, this sounds an awful lot like a zombie. It’s not something we want to hear and it is certainly said by more than a few people that this passage is overstating the paralysis of the human condition. Christianity disagrees with this more worldly assessment. Maybe the uncanny nature of the zombie movie can stir up some fearful, sublimated part of us that can grapple with our paralysis and bondage in a more integrated manner. Perhaps it can help give Romans 3:10-18 a new hearing.
In the next two installments we will pursue this and see how the uncanny nature of the zombie taps deep fears about our neighbor and ourselves.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31QUOUxqz2M&w=600]
COMMENTS
7 responses to “Do You Have A Zombie Plan? Part V”
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Great series, Dave, as usual.
For the rest of you Mockingbird readers, check out the CDC’s plan on how to prepare for the coming Zombie Apocalypse! http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp
Thanks, Jon. That was a good move by the CDC to capture the zeitgeist and get people prepared for disasters. Especially the zombie apocalypse that is coming this Saturday.
Oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness. Jon, thank you so much for turning my attention to the CDC article. That boosts my admiration for the CDC to an unexpected new height. Browder, this is a fantastic series and I eagerly await the coming installments … but … are you sure you have your date correct? The zombie apocalypse will be THIS Saturday? If so, I’ve got some supplies to collect. And if I destroy some stairwells and you are incorrect about the date, I’m holding you responsible for the damage.
I’m trying to figure out how the world will end tomorrow and, since the CDC has all the sudden begun talking about zombies, my guess is they know something. All you have to do is read the tea leaves and do a little deducing.