Zombology

- Zombies and the Decline of the West (and Guns)

In films, television, books, games, pornography, and now even in firearms and ammunition being sold to the American public, zombies are one of the mainstays of the popular culture of our time. Far from being only a passing curiosity, Brian Patrick dissects the zombie, showing it as the articulation of deep-seated fears within the Western psyche, a symbol in fact for the growing dehumanization that many of us observe, or perhaps sense without fully realizing it, in modern civilization. Patrick connects the zombie phenomenon to previous historical occurrences, drawing on both religion and psychology to show how such symbolic tropes that lodge in the collective unconscious of a culture are reflective of the psychological needs of large numbers of people in times of crisis. Patrick likewise shows how zombiedom has manifested particularly in American gun culture, and how this relates to the growth of a large-scale citizens' activist movement in favor of gun rights. Also included are practical tips on how to stay out of the clutches of zombiedom. Zombology is more than just a book about zombies, however. The zombie, for Patrick, is a peculiarly Western phenomenon, and as such, he examines how it can be seen as a manifestation of not-so-abstract forces battling for the future of our civilization: will collectivization or the individual, dream or reality win out? Patrick offers his own diagnosis.

"At the very least the zombie adds some much-needed psychic contrast to the cold, to the grey and to the unending. It also provides a face, albeit necrotic, to the seemingly impersonal sociological forces that undermine the West; for in a near-perfect correspondence with the zombie, the West itself appears to be necrotic in a galloping way. Both need brains to ease the pain."-p. 48

Contents:
1. Introduction: Zombies R Us
Defining Zombies
Zombie as Fad
Symbolic Bacchanalia
Zombies in the Modern Symbolic Landscape

2. Zombies, UFOs, BVMs and the Collective Unconscious: Expression Via Apparition
Visionary Rumors
The Modern Mélange of Visionary Rumors

3. Zombies and Decline: That Not So Fresh Cultural Feeling
Alleged Causes of Decline
Preoccupation with Decline as a Western Characteristic

4. Zombies, Guns and Zombie-Guns

5. Zombies and Fashion in New American Gun Culture: Shared Birthdays
Zombie Films and Gun Fashions
Depersonalized Zombie Violence
The International Zombie Collective

6. Zombies and Media Addiction: Brain Problems
Propaganda as Brain Food

7. Citizen Zombie
What the Hell is Transylfuckingvania?
A Zombie Collective
The Malthusian Parade
Big Talk, Small Futures
Walls
Zombies as Diversion

8. Mass Enfeeblement: Geriatric, Iatrogenic and Consumer Zombies
Zombie Consumer Economics

9. Zombies, Race and Gender: Western Animus Problems
The Negro God
A Western Animus Problem?
A Zombie in Miami and Twenty-Three Gorillas in Chicago
Malthusian Anxieties

10. To Zombie or not to Zombie? that is the Question

Appendix I: Email Exchange with Dan Gifford
Appendix II
References
Acknowledgements
Index

Comments about Brian Anse Patrick and Zombology

Brian Anse Patrick – Zombology
Recension av Joakim Andersen på bloggen Oskorei.

Author: Brian Anse Patrick
Pages: 182
Binding: Softcover
Published: 2014
Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-907166-91-4