Zombie-class situations
Zombies are more than the walking dead. They’re a useful paradigm for a range of common scenarios in many genres.
Whenever your hero is facing off against a system or mob rather than an individual, that’s potentially a zombie-class situation. Any given opponent isn’t necessarily that formidable; it’s the sheer numbers that make it so difficult for the hero.
War movies are frequently zombie-class, as are comedies about plucky outsiders. Science-fiction and horror revel in zombie-class situations, from the Borg to the Visitors to those troublesome tribbles.
If you find yourself writing a zombie-class situation, here are some helpful class features to keep in mind:
You can’t fight the ocean. In a zombie-class situation, heroes ultimately won’t get far trying to defeat their opponents, who have the advantage of both numbers and replaceability. Rather, your hero must set an achievable goal such as escape, survival, or retrieval of a key asset.
Ants vs. Elephants. It’s great to be big, but it’s better to be numerous. Just as heroes will often rally a crowd, opponents can do the same — popular opinion is a hard thing to fight. And look for ways to use your hero’s size (or reputation) against him.
Zombie processes. In programming, zombies are bits of code that unintentionally keep running in the background, sucking cycles and threatening a crash. That’s a useful framework for many stories: noble intentions run amok. Just as every villain is a hero, every zombie was somebody’s baby.
One of us. In the Romero tradition, zombies eat brains. But this can be generalized to assimilation: your hero has something the opponents need. Can your hero figure out what they’re after — what makes the hero special — before it’s too late?
A zombie-class situation is a key difference between Alien and Aliens.
In the former, Ripley and company mostly battle a single creature. Survival means killing it, so that’s pretty much the only goal.
In the sequel, the aliens are so numerous that there is no hope of defeating them. Rather, Ripley’s goal is simply escape. Once Newt is captured, Ripley must face off against the Queen, but defeating her in no way impacts the hordes of aliens left behind.
That’s how zombie-class situations often end: the hero’s victory leaves the world just as dangerous as before.
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November 19th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
romero zombies never ate brains, just flesh. the brain thing was his co-writer john russo’s RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD in 1985 which also introduced the running zombie.
leave zack snyder alone.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Thanks for this, John. I have always felt that zombies were a horrible device. I couldn’t tell you why exactly, though now I see my reasons for disliking them illustrated by your bullet-points above. Now, however, after reading this, I see where I just disliked improperly written zombies. I feel hope, now, that I can at last join the zombie-class horde of zombie-fans out there in the world. Thank you for helping me see this in a new light.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Hmm, never thought I could learn so much from zombies… Seriously!
I totally want to spring “zombie-class situation” on someone in normal conversation and see how they react. ;D
November 19th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
The last sentence of this post reminds me of how difficult “the ending” can be for zombie/apocalypse films. For the audience and the writer.
If you set yourself up in Zombieland, where the world has been torn apart with no hope for recovery, you’re more than likely going to have a morose, unsettling ending. Because even when the hero wins, all is lost. So you have an even bigger duty to inject meaning into your characters and their connections to one another — that’s the only place where “victory” is truly possible against a backdrop of nightmares.
In part, I assume this is why the Alien(s) films have been so well liked and successful over time — they have the premise of zombie-class, and all the excitement which goes with it, but then there is also escape, which is a true victory, and a sense of things returning to normal. This is also why Roland Emmerich’s films are so damn melodramatic.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Except that of course Ripley does destroy the aliens in Aliens – she intends to nuke them from space, but instead the reactor melts down as a result of the firefight under the cooling tower.
And now I’m the lamest person ever.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
@Damien. True but the threat of explosion also serves to increase the jeopardy and places a ticking clock in amongst it all. The threat to their survival is doubled and their only option is to escape, not matter what happens to the aliens.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
However, the “true” bit in no way means you’re lame. ;)
November 19th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Long time no post for me. Great topic. Reminds me of my favorite movie – that I wrote. Well, it’s not a movie YET but that’s a great way to pitch it. That’s exactly what it’s about. Sometimes, you just gotta make it out “intact” whether it be life status or world view.
November 19th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Interesting. I’ve been reading Blake Snyder’s Save The Cat and this sounds like a new genre among the 10 he lists in his book. Good stuff.
November 19th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I always wondered why only the Queen chases Ripley out of the nest. Shouldn’t there have been a whole swarm of warrior Aliens after her too? Or was the Queen so pissed that she just sent out the message via however she communicates with the warriors, like, “Stay back! This one’s MINE!!!”
I also always presumed that the reactor meltdown took out the Derelict ship they found in the first film too, thus completely erasing the Alien presence. Yeah, the Derelict was pretty far away, but, hey, cloud of vapor the size of Nebraska. Y’know.
November 19th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
It’s only a matter of time before Zombies get to everyone.
November 19th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
…as they’ve gotten to John. By shear force of being rad ;)
November 19th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
no feer. I had a zombie dream last night, and Ryan-R was a very costumed zombie attacking me while he used a flue shot or something. Very bizzare. The bitter thing, i solved this giant mystery holding the story when i woke up. So now it`s just Ryan in a dream, and a lot of sweat. Because of small fever, not. You know. haha very off topic, but was too cool not to share. All the zombies ran towards me and it was super cool dreaming it.
November 19th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Ripley’s greatest turning point is when she decides to destroy the nest… Yes, there’s danger in the eggs opening, but she takes her sweet time and then decides to bring the nightmare to the enemy by killing the Queen’s offspring, before her eyes no less. Of course this little bit of poetic justice costs Ripley her humanity, turning her into the monster. I guess the affirmation holds true, sometimes survival is not enough.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:05 am
:) Popular Opinion –> BRAAAAAINS!
November 20th, 2009 at 12:24 am
All Time Fave Z.C.S. anybody??? :)
TOY STORY: Vending Machine Aliens. – Oooooo… The CLAW.
GALAXY QUEST: Rock… rock… rock… rock…
WILLARD.
We need a term for the OPPOSITE of Zombie Class. — What is it when you’re fighting a definitive singularity? :) – The Blob. – THE NOTHING that eats fantasia.
Ernest Goes To Camp: Para-trooping turtles. – Definitely Zombie Class.
November 20th, 2009 at 2:44 am
Speaking of zombies, check out this video on how you can save yourself from zombies, not really on topic but what the who.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35Y7YDai1uo
November 20th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Thank you. Those damn elitist screenwriters are always knocking zombies. But zombies were people too, and they deserve our respect. I support your support of the zombie cause.
November 20th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Zombies really are the 20th century’s major contribution to the horror genre, aren’t they? Werewolves, vampires, Frankenstein, ghosts, demons, black magic, even alien invaders, they all have their origins in the 19th century, if ancient history. But zombies, not traditional voodoo zombies, but the walking dead, they’re the modern world’s monsters. All courtesy of Mr. George Romero and Richard Matheson….
November 20th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
@JJ Don’t forget the homicidal maniac like Jason or Mikey Myers.
Also, John, I would suggest it’s a trope of horror films in general that whatever evil force is defeated by the hero, it is never thoroughly vanquished as a way of suggesting evil continues evermore.
To find a genre where evil is defeated you’d have to turn the classic Western. In these, the hero kills the villain, but because he has stepped outside the bounds of society to do this, he rides off since he can’t be integrated into the community. The best example is Shane, though there are many. Clint Eastwood’s career brings up a few examples.
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I’m glad John is talking about zombies when it seems everyone else in the world is fixated on vampires. Ugh. Time for a zombies are people too love story, really people, can’t someone work on that?
November 24th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Hadn’t thought about it that way before, but there’s a great example of non-traditional zombies in The Rainmaker. The big bad legal firm tries to drown Matt Damon’s case in a flood of questionable court requests. Come to think of it, that’s not the only movie that presents bureaucrats and bureacracy as an overwhelming horde of mindless opponents that the hero has to outsmart by finding alternative methods of resolution.
November 27th, 2009 at 4:46 am
John August is big in Sweden — really big.
:)
http://www.tackfilm.se/en/?id=1259321114990RA57
November 28th, 2009 at 2:11 am
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November 30th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Alien was such a good movie. Shame they didn’t just leave it there.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:13 am
Except there was no real need for Ripley to exterminate the nest, not with the plan already set in motion. Her decision needlessly put her and Newt at further risk. The queen was willing to let them walk away.
December 1st, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Angelo: No, remember, the egg opens? The queen was going to have the facehuggers attack ‘em. She wasn’t lettin’ em walk away, no sir.
Regarding 20th Century monsters: The psycho killer is definatly not a modern invention—you can probably trace that fictional archetype back to Jack The Ripper and stuff inspired by him. The Jason / Micheal Myers-style slasher, though? Hmmm, good point, although I’ve long thought those characters–vaugely supernatural, virtually indestructible, humanoid but not quite human–were the modern incarnations of ogres or trolls, or Grendel type creatures–like, “Jack Of The Iron Boots, he lives in the cave and carries an axe and wears heads on chains, and comes forth thrice a month to carry off wee lads and lassies, and wears a mask of hide and can be killed by naught but a charmed arrow!”