Morales 1

Ashley Morales
English 113 B
Professor Barnhart
December 14, 2015
Project Space: The Big City versus Suburbia
People along with the walking dead adapt to the society that surrounds them.
Throughout history we have evolved as a civilization and the traditional zombie has
advanced to go along with our societies demands. The zombies in the acclaimed sci-fi
horror film 28 Days Later embody the chaotic metropolitan big city lifestyle while the
zombies in the social satire Fido illustrate the calm residential suburbia lifestyle this
proves that both films continue to evolve the historical representation of the zombie and
the perspective of the zombie culture.
In the science fiction horror film 28 Days Later we see the zombies or the
infected as an updated zombie that is loud, fast moving, and modern; all these features
are comparable to the big city life that we all see in metropolitan capitals like New York
City, London, and Tokyo. One noticeable characteristic that makes these zombies even
more feared is their fast pace. Their ability to speed to the uninfected and surprise people
at the least possible moment you expect them allows them to spread the infection quickly
and rapidly around the city further expanding to the country. The fast moving pace of the
infected zombies can be related to the speed and rapidness of the big city; places like
New York City you cant stop to tie your shoe or take a picture with all the chaos
surrounding you. You have to keep up with the crowds or you could be severely hurt. In
the article Are Big Cities Ungovernable? Hamilton says, Urbanization is the most

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general, the most uniform, and in many ways the most interesting social phenomenon we
now have to deal with. People are joining together for all kinds of reasons, economic,
political, cultural, but the urban way of living is fast becoming the dominant mode in
much of the world. (page 307) The fast pace of the big city allows trends and breaking
news to spread instantly like its floating in the air just waiting to be exposed, just like an
infection.
From rowdy car horns to the chatters of hundreds and thousands of people, big
cities are notoriously know for their blaringly loud sounds. Much like the intense
metropolitan area, the zombies in 28 Days Later have an echoingly loud moan that makes
them unleash anxiety on others around them. Their screeches haunt and startle the
uninfected leaving the uninfected with nightmares and a growing fear of death. Big cities
are not only deafeningly loud, casing complete chaos but they are updated and modern to
keep up with the high demands of todays society.
Living in big cities you have to keep up with current trends as well as movements
that keep the cities modernized, like the demands for a newer, scarier, and updated
zombie. The zombies in 28 Days Later take a giant leap from the traditional zombie.
Adapting to the peoples demands, we see the traditional zombie that is slow and only
desires to eat your brains out, now more advanced to reinvent the classics and giving
them speed, rage, and evolving them into a monster that is feared by all. The monster
also attracts. This statement from Monster Culture (Seven Thesis) Thesis VI tells us that
we desire the fear that comes along with monsters like the zombie. The same creatures
who terrify and interdict can evoke potent escapist fantasies; the linking of monstrosity
with the forbidden makes the monster all the more appealing (Page 18, thesis 6) We

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crave the longing for fear and this updated and modern zombie is perfect for our big city
society of adrenal rushing chasers.
Taking a more traditional route when it comes to the zombies traits, the film Fido
lets us see how a small suburban town, like Willard shows us the quiet and slowness like
features that takes us back to the traditional classic qualities of a zombie. In Fido we see
the zombies as a slave like creature that tends to the every need of its owner otherwise
known as the humans. Like a residential neighborhood there is a slowness like quality to
the zombies in Fido, they lack a brain causing the zombies to be slow and unreliable, but
they are still used to do the humans chores and dirty work. When we are first introduced
to the zombie Fido, he ruins the Robinsons family dinner by dropping the roast and
getting distracted; showing the audience just how unreliable the zombies truly are. Their
slowness slows the town of Willard down in a way that the zombies practically do
everything; its a wonder how anything actually gets done.
Most residential areas today stay with their traditions, of course they have adapted
along with the rest of the world, but people who live in and grow up in suburban areas
have different values from someone who is from a big city. Tradition is important and
with the movie as well as the representation of the zombies in Fido, tradition is used to
bring awareness in a slightly comedic sense. With little things like family dinners and
Sunday road trips, the Robinson family do everything as a family looking good for the
community and the people surrounding them, but they take along their zombie causing us
to question their traditions. Living in todays society we see from experience that
traditions change for the better and sometimes for the worst, but living in a small

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suburban neighborhood can change your values and beliefs for the way you, along with
your family live.
The town of Willard is anything but calm and quiet, as the town tries to control
the wide spread of a zombie outbreak. This shows us that even though small suburban
areas are limited, they still have there un-quiet moments. With the encircling gossip
between neighbors and small chatter in the school hallways, residential areas still have
their drama. In the town of Willard after lonely Timmy Robinson befriends his zombie
and even goes as far as naming him Fido, the town spirals into complete chaos leading to
the death of many resulting in the accumulation of even more zombies to wrangle and
control. Along with the un-quietness of the town, the zombies themselves are not very
loud, compared to the infected in 28 Days Later that are deafeningly loud, the zombies in
Fido sound like the traditional walking dead with their moan and groans of torture.
The suburb communities are becoming more and more popular as todays
economy continues to rise, its difficult to relocate from a big city to a small town with the
many differences that go into a local community that is run by the people versus a broad
city that is run by power. Important distinctions are the strong powers of local
government, limited federal government intervention, the national decline in
manufacturing, racial diversity in American metropolitan areas, and Americans
preferences for small communities, detached dwellings, and homeownership. This
statement from Suburban Communities lets us see these differences as advantages for
small suburban areas and these advantages increase the population in these communities.
Some people who live in the big city enjoy the hectic life style, but for some they want
something more then that. In Green Achers: The Lure of Biglaw and BIG CITIES MAY

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STIR SOME. But for a Certain Solo Breed, the SMALL TOWN IS THE PLACE to Be,
a small town is the place to be. From the family owned restaurants where everyone
knows your name, to the dream to be a big fish in a small pond,(page 44) these little
things make a small town the better to choice live. Some people need more to their life
then a fancy job or an extravagant apartment in the city; places like a small town or a
suburban neighborhood make a community more of a family. Now the question is how do
we relate this all back to the history and origin of the zombie culture?
We can take the two completely opposite zombie movies, 28 Days Later and Fido
as a way to look at how the zombie and zombie culture has evolved to adjust as well as
shape our views on zombies today. 28 Days Later is a contemporary zombie, according
to On the Origin of Zombies, the contemporary zombie largely reflects contemporary
fears of loss of individuality, the excesses of science and technology, and fears of global
terrorism all of these components relate back to the modern zombie dealing with terror,
disease and the evil that lives within us and around the globe. Fido takes a completely
different route to the modern zombie taking us back to the traditional, classic, zombie.
From the slowness to the groans and the flesh eating habits that Fido and the other
zombies in Willard represent, we see similarities to classic zombie films like Night of the
Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978). These classics are a just a base of
what make these new zombie movies as well as zombie culture so popular in todays
demanding society.
As we look back on the classics it lets us see how the zombie has become
extremely popular; zombies are in everything from violent videogames to well-known

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and beloved television shows. From the infected zombies in science fiction horror film
28 Days Later to the social satire that makes fun of the way we view people, Fido, we
can stop and see how the community you live in changes you not only as a person, but as
a zombie. The fast pace, the loud environment and the up to date metropolitan area lets
the zombie have all these features, whereas the slow, traditional aspects of a calm
suburban community allows the zombies to have these characteristics. One thing that is
for sure, people from cities big and small towns all have one thing in common, their love
for zombies.

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Work Cited
1. Boyle, Danny, dir. 28 Days Later. Fox Searchlight Pictures, June 27, 2003. Film.
2. Currie, Andrew, dir. Fido. Roadside Attractions, January 31, 2007.
Film.
3. Hamilton, Edward K.. Are Big Cities Ungovernable?. The World Today 29.7 (1973):
307. Web..
4. Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. Thesis VI: Fear of the Monster Is Really a Kind of Desire.
Monster Culture (Seven Theses). 16-17.
5. Baldassare, Mark. Suburban Communities. Annual Review of Sociology 18 (1992):
475494. Web...
6. Strohecker, David Paul. Sociological Images- On the Origin of Zombies. The Society
Pages. February 17, 2011. Web.
7. Gordon, Leslie A.. Green Achers: The Lure of Biglaw and BIG CITIES MAY STIR
SOME. But for a Certain Solo Breed, the SMALL TOWN IS THE PLACE to Be. ABA
Journal 95.11 (2009): 4247. Web...