Table of Contents
Popular Culture and Philosophy Series Editor: George A. Reisch
Title Page
A New Lease of Life for the Undead
PART I - It’s Alive (Sort Of)
Chapter 1 - The Badness of Undeath
Some Haunted Housekeeping
Deprivation and Desire-Frustration
Human Beings, Vampires, Zombies, Pigs, and Fools
Evil, All Too Evil
Not to Put Too Fine a Point on It
Chapter 2 - Res Corporealis: Persons, Bodies, and Zombies
Persons
Bodies
Zombies: The Terror
Zombies: The Tragedy
“They’re Just Dead Flesh”
“This Was an Important Place in Their Lives”
Dead People
Chapter 3 - “She’s Not Your Mother Anymore, She’s a Zombie!”: Zombies, Value, ...
The Value of a Zombie
The Philosophical Challenge of Zombies
Dead or Alive?
Self as Fiction
“Not Your Mother!”
Zombies and Us
Chapter 4 - Dead Serious: Evil and the Ontology of the Undead
Some Puzzles about Undeath
Conceptual Truths about the Undead
Kinds of Undead
A Touch of Evil
Evil and the Undead
Resting in Peace
Chapter 5 - Zombies, Blade Runner, and the Mind-Body Problem
Zombies and Replicants
And Bears! Oh No: Zombies Invade Philosophy
Zombies Ate My Brain!
Plan B from Inner Space: Revenge of the Zombies
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Zomb
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
PART II - Undead White Males
Chapter 6 - Heidegger the Vampire Slayer: The Undead and Fundamental Ontology
Sympathy for the Vampire
The Philosophy of Death
Dracula as Inauthentic Being
Heil Heidegger? Dracula’s Willing Executioners
Chapter 7 - When There’s No More Room in Hell, the Dead Will Shop the Earth: ...
“Let’s Go Shopping First!”: We Are the Zombies
“I Don’t Want to Be Walking Around Like That!”: Living versus Living Well
“Attention All Shoppers: If You Have a Sweet Tooth, We Have a Treat for You!”: ...
“Hey, Let’s Get the Stuff We Need!”: Putting the Mall in Its Place
Chapter 8 - Zombies, Rest, and Motion: Spinoza and the Speed of Undeath
Slow Zombies
(De)composing Bodies
Fast Zombies
PART III - Dirty Rotting Scoundrels
Chapter 9 - Zombie Gladiators
On the Prowl
Philosophical Zombies
Automata Among Us
A Plea for Zombie Gladiators
Amorality of Zombies and Moral Obligations of the Conscious
Postmodern Postmortem
Chapter 10 - Should Vampires Be Held Accountable for Their Bloodthirsty Behavior?
Vampires versus Zombies
Dracula: Amoral or Immoral?
Noble Louis and Villainous Lestat
Some Implications: Equal Rights for Vampires
Universal Rights: Vampires, Space Aliens, Robots, and Humans
Chapter 11 - The Bloody Connection Between Vampires and Vegetarians
Reasoning with Vampires
Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t
It’s a Matter of Taste
Cold Clammy Consistency
Chapter 12 - Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t: Vampires and the Hedonistic Paradox
The Vampire’s Plight
I Am Neither Living nor Dead—I Am Undead
Either Way, I’m Damned if I Do
Good Guy Vampires?
Chapter 13 - Deserving to Be a Vampire: The Ethical and Existential Elements of Vampirism
Got Blood?
Does It Hurt?
Undeath Sure Beats the Alternative
Undeath: Ultimately Uninteresting?
Deserving to Be a Vampire
PART IV - Digging Up the Body Politic
Chapter 14 - The Political Economy of Non-Coercive Vampire Lifestyles
Libertarianism and Welfarism Defined
Vampire Personhood
Ethical and Political Implications of Vampire Personhood
From Politics Back to Personhood
Possibilities for Human-Vampire Co-operation
Chapter 15 - Rousseau and the Vampires: Toward a Political Philosophy of the Undead
“No Evidence Is Lacking”: A Plague of Vampires
Hunting Satan’s Brood: The Enemy Within
Beyond Hunger
Itchy and Scratchy: Cartoon Cannibalism
Revulsion: Our Dead Bodies, Our Selves
Oceans of Time: The Romantic Vampire
Alien Invasions: The Vampiric Immigrant
The Evil Enemy
In the Borderlands of Buffy World
A Political Philosophy of Vampires
Chapter 16 - The Undead Martyr: Sex, Death, and Revolution in George Romero’s ...
Repressive Civilization
The Destructive Union of Eros and Thanatos
The Possibility of a Non-Repressive Civilization
Chapter 17 - When They Aren’t Eating Us, They Bring Us Together: Zombies and ...
Civic-Mindedness versus Fear
Communitarian Impulse
Importance of Community Connection
No Way Out
PART V - Leaving a Good-Looking Corpse
Chapter 18 - The Fear of Fear Itself: The Philosophy of Halloween
Halloween: The Festival of the Wandering Undead
The Paradox of Halloween
A Psychoanalytic Solution
The Meta-Fear of Fear
Chapter 19 - “Powerful, Beautiful, and Without Regret”: Femininity, ...
Beauty 101
“I’m Too Sexy for My Mirror”
The Female Vampire as Femme Fatale
The Male Vampire as Metrosexual . . . Sort Of
Chapter 20 - True and Untrue Blood
Blood Is the Life
The Fount of Immortality
Let It Bleed
False Blood
Oh Yes, There Will Be Blood
Chapter 21 - The Twilight of Infinite Desire
A Meditation on the Word - By Étienne Lavec
Philosophers by Day . . .
Hemolytic Index
Copyright Page
Popular Culture and Philosophy ® Series Editor: George A. Reisch
VOLUME 1
Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (2000)
VOLUME 2 The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer (2001)
VOLUME 3
The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (2002)
VOLUME 4
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale (2003)
VOLUME 6
Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter’s Box (2004)
VOLUME 9
Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts (2004)
VOLUME 12
Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine (2005)
VOLUME 13
Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way (2005)
VOLUME 17
Bob Dylan and Philosophy: It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Thinking) (2006)
VOLUME 18
Harley-Da
vidson and Philosophy: Full-Throttle Aristotle (2006)
VOLUME 19 Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (2006)
VOLUME 23
James Bond and Philosophy: Questions Are Forever (2006)
VOLUME 24
Bullshit and Philosophy: Guaranteed to Get Perfect Results Every Time (2006)
VOLUME 25
The Beatles and Philosophy: Nothing You Can Think that Can’t Be Thunk (2006)
VOLUME 26
South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating (2007) Edited by Richard Hanley
VOLUME 28
The Grateful Dead and Philosophy: Getting High Minded about Love and Haight (2007) Edited by Steven Gimbel
VOLUME 29
Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy: How to Philosophize with a Pair of Pliers and a Blowtorch (2007) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad
VOLUME 30
Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene! (2007) Edited by George A. Reisch
VOLUME 31
Johnny Cash and Philosophy: The Burning Ring of Truth (2008) Edited by John Huss and David Werther
VOLUME 32
Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy: Darkness on the Edge of Truth (2008) Edited by Randall E. Auxier and Doug Anderson
VOLUME 33
Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Mission Accomplished or Mission Frakked Up? (2008) Edited by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin
VOLUME 34
iPod and Philosophy: iCon of an ePoch (2008) Edited by D.E. Wittkower
VOLUME 35
Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant (2008) Edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker
VOLUME 36
The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link Therefore I Am (2008) Edited by Luke Cuddy
VOLUME 37
The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy: Wicked Wisdom of the West (2008) Edited by Randall E. Auxier and Phillip S. Seng
VOLUME 38
Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive (2009) Edited by Brandon W. Forbes and George A. Reisch
VOLUME 39
Jimmy Buffett and Philosophy: The Porpoise Driven Life (2009) Edited by Erin McKenna and Scott L. Pratt
VOLUME 40
Transformers and Philosophy (2009) Edited by John R. Shook and Liz Stillwaggon Swan
VOLUME 41
Stephen Colbert and Philosophy: I Am Philosophy (And So Can You!) (2009) Edited by Aaron Allen Schiller
VOLUME 42
Supervillains and Philosophy: Sometimes, Evil Is Its Own Reward (2009) Edited by Ben Dyer
VOLUME 43
The Golden Compass and Philosophy: God Bites the Dust (2009) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison
VOLUME 44
Led Zeppelin and Philosophy: All Will Be Revealed (2009) Edited by Scott Calef
VOLUME 45
World of Warcraft and Philosophy: Wrath of the Philosopher King (2009) Edited by Luke Cuddy and John Nordlinger
Volume 46
Mr. Monk and Philosophy: The Curious Case of the Defective Detective (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower
Volume 47
Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder (2010) Edited by Josef
Steiff and Tristan Tamplin
VOLUME 48
The Red Sox and Philosophy: Green Monster Meditations (2010) Edited by Michael Macomber
VOLUME 49
Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy: New Life for the Undead (2010) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad
VOLUME 50
Facebook and Philosophy: What’s on Your Mind? (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower
VOLUME 51
Soccer and Philosophy (2010) Edited by Ted Richards
IN PREPARATION:
Manga and Philosophy (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Adam Barkman
The Onion and Philosophy (2010) Edited by Sharon M. Kaye
Martial Arts and Philosophy: Beating and Nothingness (2010) Edited by Graham Priest and Damon Young
Doctor Who and Philosophy (2010) Edited by Paula J. Smithka and Court Lewis
Dune and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Jeffrey Nicholas
Dexter and Philosophy (2011) Edited by Richard Greene, George A. Reisch, and Rachel Robison
Breaking Bad and Philosophy (2011) Edited by David R. Koepsell
For full details of all Popular Culture and Philosophy® books, visit www.opencourtbooks.com.
A New Lease of Life for the Undead
The Undead have held a firm, icy grip on the public imagination since Bram Stoker first used the word in his novel Dracula over a hundred years ago. Stoker’s introduction of this term applied a catchy label to an idea that has always fascinated humans. But Stoker could hardly have conceived of the intensity of popular interest, both in his own vampires and in the very different zombies, which would be attained in the twenty-first century.
Vampires and zombies are just everywhere. Don’t turn around—there’s probably one behind you right now. Only someone stuck in his coffin for quite a while could have missed the recent outpouring of vampire stories: the Twilight books and movies, Let the Right One In, HBO’s True Blood, and Thirty Days of Night, to mention just a few.
Rachel Robison (Chapter 20) gives some pointers to the deathless appeal of vampires, and Joan Grassbaugh Forry (Chapter 19) disinters the vampire aesthetic. While popular culture has been preoccupied with vampires, the vampires themselves have been thinking about popular culture, and the ways they are depicted within it. And so, this volume climaxes with truly amazing revelations from the private correspondence of two vampires, as documented by Randall Auxier and Eileen Townsend (Chapter 21).
At the same time, we’re in the midst of a full-fledged zombie invasion. Just as with vampires, so with zombies: zombie movies, books, comic books, and videogames are everywhere.
Like all living things, vampires and zombies continually evolve. Today’s vampires are as different to the Buffyverse’s Spike or Angel as those remarkable characters were to Count Dracula. In the case of zombies, traditional horror narratives survive and proliferate. There’s still a big market for movies in the mold of Night of the Living Dead, in which a group of people fight for their lives against a zombie attack.
As for zombie comedy, there are straight parodies like Return of the Living Dead, with the same structure as the movies they lampoon, but played for laughs. However, comedies such as Zombieland and Fido are not restricted to poking fun at horror films; instead, they incorporate elements of the zombie mythos as a backdrop to different kinds of stories entirely. Zombieland is at base a comedic road movie about friendship, family structures, and trust. The zombies are every bit as grisly and lethal as the ones in films like Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days Later, but they take up surprisingly little screen time, and their presence is a kind of “given”: they’re a plot mechanism to launch us into the character-driven central story. Fido is a satiric suburban pastoral in which the zombie character takes on the status of a beloved household pet. (And don’t forget the ending of Shaun of the Dead.)
We’ve gone from I Walked with a Zombie to “Honey, could you take the zombie for a walk?” Movies such as these trade on our love for zombies, but the zombies in the stories are not essential to the plot qua zombies. Seemingly, it’s the mere fact that these films have zombies in them that makes them appealing. Zombieland would not have been nearly as successful had it been Bearland or even Dinosaurland.
The same goes for zombie books. Case in point: the remarkable success and impact of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. You take an early-nineteenth-century novel, infuse it with a zombie narrative and back story, and suddenly everybody wants to read it: both those who were already Austen fans, and those who wouldn’t ordinarily touch classic literature with a ten-foot pole.
There’s also been a slew of zombie-based faux-academic, technical, and spiritual books. Zombie parodies of academic books are coming out of the woodwork, undoubtedly influenced by Max Brooks’s The Zombi
e Survival Guide and its cottage industry of zombie survival products. There are zombie self-help books (The Zen of Zombie: Better Living Through the Undead), zombie history books (History Is Dead), books on zombie forensics (Zombie CSU), even books of zombie poetry (Zombie Haiku). The list goes on and on.
Then there are non-media-based zombie phenomena, such as the game Humans Versus Zombies and the social practice of zombie walks. Humans Versus Zombies is essentially an elaborate game of tag, lasting a week or two, that is played each year on college campuses around the United States. Some players are humans, and some are zombies. The game is over when all the humans have been converted to zombies or all the zombies have starved to death. It’s a testament to our love of zombies that college students are willing to devote that much energy to playing tag. (Again, if it were called “Humans Versus Bears,” the game likely would not have caught on.)
Zombie walks are organized activities in which persons dress up like zombies and walk—or lumber—around town. These walks often involve several thousand people. What’s the point, you ask? Basically, it’s just fun to walk around looking like a zombie. Our obsession with zombies drives us so far as to spend time acting like them just for the hell of it.
Why are we so obsessed? This is a question that some of our authors attempt to answer in regard to traditional horror films and stories. Noel Carroll (in Chapter 18) argues that taking an up-close look at that which we fear (including the Undead) offers us a satisfying sense of control or mastery over our fears. Richard Greene (in Chapter 2) points out that horror films provide a kind of rush, an adrenaline-producing experience in an otherwise safe environment. These explanations, however, don’t tell us why the public loves fake zombie textbooks, or why Zombieland is so much more successful than Bearland would be, or why Pride and Prejudice and Zombies goes over better than Pride and Prejudice. There’s something about zombies per se that uniquely excites the contemporary imagination. It seems that these Undead creatures answer to some deeply-felt collective cultural fantasy on a visceral level (no pun intended).
Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy Page 1
