Zombies: Why Are We So Obsessed? One of the worst movies ever made -- and not of the "good bad" type, such as Evil Dead 2, that masterpiece of B-picture campiness -- has proven to be a prescient meditation on one of the great conflicts of contemporary society.
I mean, of course, Vince D'Amato's 2004 flick, Vampires vs. Zombies. Though actually quite light on warfare between the undead and heavy on lesbian sex, this movie points to our current obsession with blood-suckers and flesh-eaters as well as our need to establish which creature is ascendant in the zeitgeist. Feeding society's sick obsession with death. September 12, 2005 Toronto Star By Betsy Powell Myriam Nafte makes her living through death, but her students' and society's appetite for graphic displays of murder, blood and gore startle her.
"When I'm teaching the class, a lot of people will ask: `When do we get to see an autopsy? '" says the forensic anthropologist who teaches at George Brown College. "I'm amazed how many people want more, want to see more. " This week, Nafte begins teaching an introductory course in forensic science at George Brown. Both classes are expected to be packed with part-time students, among them the morbidly curious and "police officers, nurses, cashiers and students who need a credit. "
Society’s obsession with negativity diminishes our sense of hope. El McCabe Writer Our society seems to be obsessed with negativity.
All news channels are packed with stories about violence, deaths, or even the latest celebrity scandal that portrays only the worst aspects of humankind. Due to the surplus of these types of stories, citizens become desensitized and unaware of the subconscious impact this mindset has on their daily lives. Focusing so heavily on the negative paints a hopeless picture for the state of mankind. An important question to consider is who is more at fault, the media or the viewers and readers? If this negative mentality continues to thrive, adults and children will never be fully satisfied with their lives. Our culture has an abnormal fascination with death. March 27, 2005|By Louis Rene Beres, professor of political science at Purdue University.
In 1936, on the occasion of a speech by the nationalist Gen. Millan Astray at the University of Salamanca in Spain, the hall thundered with the general's favorite motto, "Viva la muerte! " "Long live death! " When the speech was over, Miguel de Unamuno, rector of the university, rose and said: "Just now I heard a necrophilous and senseless cry . . . this outlandish paradox is repellent to me. " Yet the cry that was repellent to the philosopher was the passion of the Falangists and has revived in America as the lurid and decisive undertone for far too many people. We reel after each dreadfully recurrent school killing. But why should we be surprised? Some people blame these abominations for creating further abominable actions, but the truth is that they are only symptoms of a decaying body politic.
Modern society’s jaded view of life. Back in 2005, it was Pope John Paul II who was on celebrity death watch.
Breaking news about his decaying body dominated the headlines for months; it was almost impossible to avoid bulletins about his fever, due to a urinary tract infection, or the descriptions of his frail and fading condition. Who would have thought that an old pope would be treated in a similar way to a reality TV star? Today, it is Jade Goody, the British reality TV star, who is on a media death watch. The news informs me that Goody, who is terminally ill, has been left bed-ridden by the exertions of her wedding. We’ve learned that Wendy Richard, the EastEnders actress who recently died of cancer, sent her a message of hope. Before Goody, there was Australian TV presenter Steve Irwin’s sudden demise, in 2006, after he got too close to a stingray.
Public Influence: The Immortalization of an Anonymous Death. Cover design by Andrew J.
Nilsen. Turn on the computer. Open Twitter. Something catches your eye. Man on 3rd floor ledge posing in his skivvies A twitpic, date-stamped 3:18 p.m. on Feb. 16, 2010, shows a grainy figure, wearing nothing but blue boxer shorts, standing outside the tall arched window of an off-white brick building. Someone's standing on top of the forever 21 building downtown sf. Man trying to kill himself in Union Square. Omg there's a guy standing on top of forever 21 bout to commit suicide! Wtf?!? I'm watching a guy stand on top of a building down town. Refresh the page. oh shit! Just saw a guy commit suicide off of forever 21 Omg this man just committed suicide and jumped off the building across the street from my job in downtown SF Did I really just walk by someone jumping to his death off the Bank of America building at Powell and Market!?
Dude some one just jumped off a building by my job. I was shopping in Union Square and unfortunately witnessed this horrific sight.