World War ZzZz and Night of the Living Dead

I'll start with the negative to end with the positive. I strongly dislike reading stories that lack a central character, and that is exactly what Max Brooks' has done in World War Z. I had extreme disinterest in it, and it felt like reading a dry textbook about something I didn't care about.

I began reading the book several weeks ago and tried to do chunks of it to push through. I found myself looking for excuses to not read or sitting down to read and falling asleep after one chapter. I tried playing quick games in between readings to give myself a brain break but the whole thing just drug on forever. While I could hold my attention through a single chapter/character, I couldn't link them all together.

That is, unfortunately, my overall opinion of the book. I had high expectations because my friends loved it and I’d heard that it was excellent, but in the end, it just isn’t something I’m interested in reading in a novel format.

What I did like about this book was the idea behind the approach. It was done better, I think, than King’s Cycle of the Werewolf, which I felt was similar in execution. I think Cycle’s transition from segments of a story to a main character just made the first half of the novella weak in comparison to the last half. World War Z is significantly longer and wider in scale. I like how it is showing interviews from all over the world to make the epidemic feel that much bigger. It reminds me of the extra content that comes with the Game of Thrones dvds with all of the major figures retelling the execution of the Mad King and the war. It shows how everyone experienced the same event in a different way.

Brooks also did an great job of changing the voice to fit the interviewee. I don’t think that all of them were completely distinct from one another, but there were several that stood out. When I look at the chapters as individual short stories, there are two that really stuck with me. “Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies Federation” and “Topeka, Kansas, USA.”

Bridgetown is the hired mercenary protecting the rich. What I liked most about this was I felt this was the mostly likely scenario to happen. I loved the character’s voice and the mannerisms expressed in what he says. I like how honest he is about what happened and how he reacted. His human connection shows through and he isn’t just a badass willing to kill frightened people even though he’s being commanded to. Just, overall, I like this guy best.

Topeka is the girl that is in an asylum. I like this one for the character’s mental state, what happens in her tale, and how she tells it. I think this chapter can hold its own more than any of the others. They’re all pretty well rounded, but this one just holds every element that a story needs. It creates the scenario, puts little bits that call back by the end with her mother nearly killing her. I just felt like I was in this character’s head more than any of the others I’d read. I honestly felt like my chubby grandma Bobbie was hugging me with her big soft wing arms. But she died a few years ago so then she’d probably be a zombie if she was really hugging me.

So here I work my second half of the post with something positive. I’ve never seen “Night of the Living Dead” and it was incredibly fun to watch. I watched the black and white version (in HD!) because I figured the original would look better than the colorized. At this point in the world, I don’t think this could be scary for anyone with how desensitized we are. It certainly wasn’t for me, but I thought it was amazingly funny and wonderfully put together considering its age. Even though I’ve not seen this until now, I was aware of the fame of the beginning without even knowing where it came from. “They’re coming to get you, Barbara!” I knew when it was said that I’d heard it before. I think I even said it with Johnny the first time he said it.

I had a feeling that this movie was going to be one of those “firsts” movies. When I was discussing it with my coworker, who was a film major, he confirmed it by telling me how Duane Jones as Ben was the first, or one of the first(?), movies to ever cast someone that wasn’t white as the hero. I’m also thinking Romero is the foundation of zombies.

I loved Ben and I was rooting for him throughout the film, so when he died, although I kinda saw it coming, I was pretty disappointed. His character was steadfast, resourceful, and headstrong, and inevitably lead to all of their deaths (at least I think he did.) Obviously he shot Cooper which led to his death, but he also put his torch down beside the truck which I immediately yelled at him for in my bedroom movie theater. I also thought Tom was stupid for flailing the hose with gas everywhere then thinking it was a good idea to aim it at the truck.

I feel the characters that really made the story were Ben and Cooper. The women felt overly flat, which was disappointing, and Tom was too quick to change his mind on everything making him feel cheap. Ben and Cooper are nearly the same with their critical difference being their choice of place to camp out. This obviously creates the majority of the tension in the film aside from the encroaching horde of “living dead.” I felt like I could get on board with both Ben and Cooper, so I think Tom is who I feel most closely related to. I suppose, all in all, each character was pretty flat, but they all served a purpose in creating constant tension leading to the death of everyone. I guess if they were all willing to change, or learn from their mistakes, they would have survived.