Photo: Dreamtime
From some of the fastest zombies in “World War Z”, to the slowest, adding nothing but distraction and occasional mayhem zombies in “The Walking Dead”, to hilarious zombies in “Shaun of the Dead” to classical, more traditional well-spoken zombies in “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”, and countless brain-dead rip-offs, zombies — re-animated corpses with an unstoppable craving for human flesh, especially brains — have invaded most cultures around the globe like never before.
Oxford English Dictionary mentions the word “zombie” around 1810 in a book by historian Robert Southey. In his, “History of Brazil”, this was no brain eating walking drunk, can’t open a door, zombie. This was a West African deity and the word zombie evolved to mean the vital, human force leaving the shell of a body, and ultimately a creature human in form but lacking the self-awareness, intelligence, and a soul. It was imported to Haiti and elsewhere from Africa through the slave trade and morphed into the fun creatures who only die from a wound to the head we know today.
For slumping, staggering, slow-moving eaters of anything human or flesh-like, zombies have become quite a force in the entertainment industry over the past decade.
How about a quick history lessons from the pros over at Digg – the history of zombies in movies and tv:
