I haven’t gone down the avenue really of zombies yet, no-one really wants to think about them or believe it’s a possibility. And it probably won’t shock you if you are used to my articles, that I have given an awful lot of thought to them. Watched many films about them, read books and had nightmares after those films when a child. And studied what I thought would occur if a real virus was discovered that tore through the population for one of my fictional books. And possibly because of my fear of the concept, I wanted to learn how it could, or couldn’t occur.
Along the way of my research, a new game came out on the phone around 2017 called Pandemic. A simulation game, of creating and mutating pathogens to create ‘the perfect virus’. It took a number of attempts to get it right, starting it in the right conditions, giving it the right environment to develop. At the same time, you had to beat the little blue bubbles appearing around the world, signifying a vaccine being developed. When I did it, and the world was dead, it did not feel like a sense of achievement, quite the opposite. My heart sank. Because I then ran a simulation in my head, same game, but in real life, with real people. And wondered, if perhaps these games were just data harvesting apps to have boots on the ground doing unknowing live research. It worried me. I stopped playing.
But when the first whispers of pandemic started in Jan 2020, I paid very close attention. Wanting to see any sign it was a real one, just in case. It seemed not, but what did occur was a shift in thought process for many. We have had many a movie thrown our way about the end of times, apocalypse and angry hungry zombies and viruses to sweep through and end humanity as we know it. Is it just from the imagination, or is it part of a carefully constructed propaganda plan to create a psychological environment for a thought process to be harboured and accepted. Over decades being assimilated into the collective psyche. It’s a possibility. I’ll list the bulk of the movies that I have watched along the way as examples, there are many more, but I didn’t need anymore, my research was done.
Return of the Living Dead
Dawn of the Dead
28 Days Later & sequel
Resident Evil films
Train to Busan
World War Z
Shaun of the Dead (comedy, but class)
These films painting a horrifying portrait of awfulness no-one should really be spending their time thinking about. But it spawned a culture of planning, prepping and worrying. For some of course, not all. It also creates a mental landscape where these things do become a reality in people’s minds, reinforced by TV series and scenarios to be watched and thought through and discussed. The great distraction that is television and programming. But what are they programming people with and what for? One does wonder. Although it seems clear of late, the last thing you would want to do if you are trying to get rid of the population, is create one that lives on even after death. What is going on will remain to be seen, but I will continue to consider it from all angles, however outrageous it may seem. We are living in outrageous times…
