Forum - View topicAnime News Nina! - 2011-10-26
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Scamp
Posts: 97 |
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Mildly disappointed Nina didn't don an apron and a black thong and fend off the marketers with a wooden sword while standing on top of a hum-vee...
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Melanchthon
 Posts: 550 Location: Northwest from Here |
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This new comic pleases me.
I hate this zombie fad. Monster stories used to serve a purpose. Vampires are a reflection of humanity's greed, lust and aristocratic power structures. Werewolves signify the animal than still lives inside our hearts. Frankenstein's Monster symbolized how human science had outstripped human moral capacity. And even more modern monsters, like in Lovecraft's works, were symbolic of human curiosity pushing beyond the boundaries of what we should know. But zombie are signify nothing. Sure, back in the sixties they were a stand in for mindless consumerism, but today they are nothing but mindless terror. They are simply terror for terror's sake, and this unhealthy obsession is a clear indication of a generation that has lost it's ability of critical thought. Well, critical thought has always been rare, but with today's mass markets, culture is driven by the lowest common denominator, not the educated elite as in past centuries. So I guess zombies do symbolize something: they are a symbol of our cultural malaise, where things are popular for the sole reason that they are popular. |
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shadow13
 Posts: 111 |
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When did Kevin get a shot gun?
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU ... Uuuuuuuuuuuudge. Where is there a 7 year old girl screaming "No!" at the top of her lungs when you need one. Oh well. Not like we can do anything about it. I'm going for ice cream. As for the strip... weird. What a play on zombie shilling when we're all zombies to Wednesday's strips. Nicely done, Dr. Moriarty! |
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JohnnySake
 Posts: 585 Location: Auburn Hills, MI |
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At first I was staring at the first panel and I'm like "damn, if that lyric doesn't seem familiar", then I google the title so nicely provided by Tamaria. I let out an audible "oohhhhhh" and now I got the song stuck in my head too. (It was early, I hadn't had my morning coffee yet.) 
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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I'm not clear what your point is here. Are you saying it's just zombies that have become meaningless these days because if so that's pretty debatable. I hardly think werewolves or vampires have any real consistent meaning these days either. Or, are you saying that zombies rarely served a symbolic purpose to begin with? Because while that may be true to a certain degree, I hardly think it's unique to zombies. I mean, do you seriously think that at any point, even when "the educated elite" you're apparently fond of controlled culture, other monsters consistently meant something. I hate to break it to you but "mindless terror" is not a modern invention. |
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Asterisk-CGY
 Posts: 398 |
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http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/zombies Guess what came out in about the same time period as this comic? Happy Halloween. |
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Quark
 Posts: 710 Location: British Columbia, Canada |
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Honestly, I would suggest watching the original Dead movies. Romero has used zombies to make commentary on race, the Civil War, our ability to mindlessly follow others, consumerism and always the idea of 'Us VS. Them'. Even in the newer movies, he's still using zombies to make commentary - Diary of the Dead was great in that it talked about how our modern society is obsessed with documenting everything, and if we haven't caught something on video, or made some kind of record of it, it doesn't seem real. http://satomko.hubpages.com/hub/Understanding-Zombies-as-Metaphors-in-George-A-Romeros-Dead-Trilogy is actually quite interesting, because it analyzes the different symbols that Romero has used zombies for. I'm by no means saying that you have to like zombies, to each their own. People who make the argument that zombies movies are all the same do make a good point, as there is a lot of repetition in the genre. But to say that vampires or werewolves or Frankenstein have more meaning than zombies...I dunno. You are right that nowadays, zombies have become meaningless, but as someone else pointed out, the same can be said for vampires and werewolves. You're going to tell me that the monsters used in Twilight or True Blood, or Anita Blake are actually deep symbols of something else? As for me, until this current zombie fad dies down, I'm going to stick to slasher flicks, movies about Satanic cults, or foreign horror. |
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Julia-the-Great
 Posts: 328 |
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I think some of you are missing the point of what Melanchthon was saying. "Monster stories used to serve a purpose." Seems pretty clear to me Melanchthon was talking about all the big monsters, not just zombies.
But, I'm not going to pretend I speak for Mel (may I call you Mel?). That's just how I interpreted the post. |
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DuelLadyS
 Posts: 1705 Location: WA state |
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I LOVE Extra Credits and you are awesome for bringing it up. That is all. |
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bemused Bohemian
Posts: 404 Location: central Mizzou (Moral Oralville) |
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Merchandising the green....snicker, snicker...good one, Robin.
Gotta wonder if your ideas behind merchandising zombie green would help the alternative power source (wind, solar, whatever) lobbyists at General Electric spread their mantra to the reluctant masses? After all, it is green.....and just in time for Halloween. |
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katowen86
Posts: 1 |
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I love zombies, both as a metaphorical device and as a form of catharsis. The idea of zombies as a metaphor has been used in many different ways. My personal favorite is that of the paranoid individual versus the rest of normal society. I love the use of the self-appointed outcast becomes the hero on the sole reason that he/she has no ties to other humans and feels no qualms in killing them. A very dark metaphor as it usually ends with the hero going mad, dying, or losing any companions he/she might have had to the "zombie threat" and his/her own paranoia.
Even more so I appreciate the safe release of fear in zombies as an ultimate form of evil. There is something terrifying of your fellow man turning into soulless monsters and the mob turning to consume itself. Zombies cannot have a sudden emotional revelation and stop their evil, they cannot be bargained with, and the only way to stop this evil is to flee or become a killer in the most gruesome of manners. Nothing chills me more than having to bash my family and friends heads in just to keep them from tearing me open and eating me. There is also the fact that all monsters can be tracked back to diseases and conditions that are understood today, but not in the early ages when they became mythical monsters such as Hypertichosis and Porphyric Hemophilia. In the case of zombies, a favorite theory of mine is a disorder similar to the paranoid personality disorder in which the afflicted sees those he knows as impostors or enemies and kills them in defense. It is very possible that the mad ramblings of the single survivor of a zombie outbreak are actually the insanity of a confused individual who has just murdered all those that he/she knew. |
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Hellfish
Posts: 392 Location: Mexico |
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I am also one of those who are part of the problem, as I am with no doubt attending the next zombie walk here
Unfortunately, a resourgence of a genre is always acompanied by the marketers, happens with vampires, happens with werewolves, hand will happen to everything eventually, is sad but I believe is inevitable... pd. yay! Rinbu Revolution! 
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Petrea Mitchell
Posts: 438 Location: Near Portland, OR |
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Oh, how I sympathize with Nina, Kevin, and Paola this week!
On the bright side, though, it seems to me the zombie craze is finally (pardon the expression) dying down. Steampunk looks set to be the next thing that gets way overdone... |
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MrTerrorist
Posts: 1348 |
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Sadly, we won't be seeing Kevin and Nina using that shotgun and chainsaw.
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