NEW Death in the Afternoon, Season 2 Episode 6: What's In Your Head, Zombie?

Greetings Deathlings! 

"In your heeeaaad, in your heeeaaad, zo-O-mbie, zo-O-mbie, zo-O-mbie, eh, eh, eh"

You know you deathlings of a certain age can't help but hear Dolores O'Riordan's voice IN YOUR HEAD when you hear the word "zombie". Louise says she does a killer rendition of that Cranberries song at karaoke. I'll take her word for it. 

But '90s Irish rock bands aside, this week we have a very special Death in the Afternoon for you featuring Louise and Sarah's thoughts on the undead. 

What's In Your Head, Zombie? 

Before zombies became the brain-eating pop culture phenomenon of the Walking (or Living) Dead, they represented something a more complicated. From the procession of the Chinese dead, to hungry ghosts, to the enslaved people of Haiti, zombies say a great deal about a the country or culture where they appear.  Perhaps our modern obsession with zombie films and video games also says a great deal about us? 

And with even more zombie offerings here are Sarah and Louise with their zombie faves and raves for your reading and viewing pleasure. 

Sarah's Picks

Most of my favorite zombie offerings are things I watched or read this year. Here are a few:

1. Horror Noire (book and documentary)
Both the book and the new doc which premiered on Shudder earlier this year, traces the history of Black Americans through their connection to the horror film genre. As you can imagine theres a lot here that covers the zombi. 

2. Kingdom
I’ve been obsessed with Korean dramas for years, from back in the days before Dramafever (which I’m still mourning the loss of) and before BTS became a household word, when you could only access the shows on whatever local channels there were. I loved the shows because they seemed far more real and relatable to me than our typical American fare, and subjects like death, dying and grief are often present, and depicted as a difficult but normal part of life - not as a plot point or trope. Historical dramas are my favorite, so when Netflix debuted a horror series set in Joeson I was thrilled, and Kingdom does NOT disappoint. The first episode is a little slow, but don’t worry that’s just the set up.

3. Train to Busan
I realize I’m probably the last person to watch this film, but it has become a contender for my all time favorite modern horror film. The lead actor, Gong Yoo also stars in my favorite KDrama, Goblin, which I’m only mentioning because that show is a master class in death positivity.

4. Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland
I quoted Ireland in the episode but you should definitely check out her book, which has the dead of the American Civil War coming back as, you guessed it...zombies.

5. The Dead Don’t Die
Ok, look, I’m sort of cheating here because I haven’t actually seen this 2019 film directed by Jim Jarmusch, but how can you not get excited after watching the trailer? If that doesn’t convince you, it’s got Tilda Swinton as a sword wielding mortician - I rest my case.

Louise's Picks

Confession: Even though I love horror and tales of the supernatural – and um, I have a "family history" of zombies – it took me a long time to come around to zombie stories. Because they scare me. 

That's right, my two biggest horror genre fears are zombies and home invasion. Which, kind of go together?

So when I do contend with zombies in books or media, it's usually from a place that I can find humor, heart, and human experience. That being said, here are some zombie things I've come to really enjoy: 

1. Severance by Ling Ma

I love this book so much. Every review will say it "transcends" classification – zombie novel, work place novel, immigrant novel – but it's true. While I've never had to survive a zombie outbreak (not yet), so much of this book, written in Ma's straightforward yet graceful and unflinching tone, felt familiar. To me, this is a book about adulthood, grief, and relationships – all while observing the world decay and fall away. 

2. The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories, China From the Bottom Up by Liao Yiwu

In this collection of stories, Liao Yiwu interviews people who are considered China's social outcasts: a mortician, a grave robber, a street singer, a corpse walker, among others. Each individual is approached with genuine interest and respect to their story, even when Yiwu is at odds with them (which makes for true tellings). Reading the interviews with the corpse walker revealed so much about my family's beliefs, superstitions, and yes, even hang-ups about the dead (and undead). 

3. Dust Bath Revival by Marianne Kirby 

How can you not love an author who describes herself as a "Speculative Southern Goth/Soft Horrorist"? (You also might remember Marianne from contributing to our "Dying Fat" Ask a Mortician video.) Kirby's young adult novel is a zombie story, a good one, but it's so much more. It centers a fat, queer, feminist teenager – Hank, short for Henrietta – whose body does not define her or hold her back. This is a story about dead bodies wanting to eat bodies who are not shamed by their bodies. Unpack that.  

4. iZombie (TV show)

I almost didn't include this CW show that I am NOT the demographic for, but I couldn't resist. In keeping with the cheeky, teen-speak, rapid fire shows the CW is so good at churning out, I thought iZombie was going to be something dumb I could turn off my brain with when I started watching it a few years ago while sick on the couch. And while yes, it does let me turn off my brain a bit (how many times can I say BRAIN while talking about zombies), I'm actually impressed with how this show handles trauma, consent, and supporting survivors. Yes, the heroine, Liv Moore, eats a LOT of brains and the whole silly-but-fun conceit is that when she eats a brain she takes on the personality of the deceased – wackiness ensues! But as the show deepens it becomes less about "brain of the week" stories, and more about how we approach the differences that tear families and societies apart. (By the way, I haven't seen the latest season yet, so I don't know if it went BONKERS off the rails! But I doubt it.) 

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Stay tuned for new articles coming up on the Order website this month, as well as more video, podcast, and social media content coming out in June! 

Stay hungry, deathlings. 

Caitlin