The Zombie Apocalypse: Is it Possible? An onslaught of rotting, reanimated dead humans is not exactly likely in many peoples’ eyes, but it still might happen; maybe even to you. The thought of a zombie apocalypse actually occurring is ridiculous to most people but there are those out there who see it as a legitimate possibility and have started preparing for the return of the dead. Even though it is commonly taken as fiction, the zombie apocalypse may be possible because of things like nanobots and parasites. From The Walking Dead to World War Z to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the subject of the enigmatic reanimation of the dead has become more and more popular by the year. Large numbers of people have started dressing up as the living
This is called Event Zero, the original event by which the zombie apocalypse is set off. Event Zero is usually written as the result of a bioweapon gone wrong or some other lab incident. Event Zero has also been written in some stories as what happens when Hell runs out of room for dead people, or even when a dead person has been cursed through the power of voodoo (TVTropes). Why has the zombie apocalypse become so popular lately? Stanford literary scholar Angela Becerra Vidergar says, “We use fictional narratives not only to emotionally cope with the possibility of impending doom, but even more importantly perhaps to work through the ethical and philosophical frameworks that were in many ways left shattered in the wake of WWII … we are left with this cultural fixation on fictionalizing our own death, very specifically, mass-destruction,” (SEE APPENDIX, FIG. 1) (Pappas).
Television shows, movies, and books help people work through how they would act if they were placed in a survivalist situation, and how they would react to the ethical decisions that they would have to make under stress and how to deal with the consequences of those actions that they would never had to have made in their normal life. Tales of the zombie apocalypse may actually invoke feelings of hope in the midst of death and destruction as survivors battle to keep their lives
They’ve even gone to the point of making an online comic and several lists of things to prepare in case a giant, moaning horde of cannibalistic undead – or anything else – decides to show up on someone’s doorstep. Of course, the CDC doesn’t really think the zombie apocalypse is a natural disaster looming on the horizon, but they find that using the zombie apocalypse is an effective platform to get people to prepare for other disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, or floods. The topic of the zombie apocalypse is a hook to gain people’s interest, and then they are given information that would be handy in preparing for any disaster, even one that involves a lot of dead people