ipl-logo

Our Zombies Ourselves Parker Analysis

621 Words3 Pages

In “Our Zombies, Ourselves” author James Parker speaks to moviegoers and monster fans about that slow-moving creature of horror known as the zombie. In the essay, he attempts to uncover the reason for the zombie’s sudden and extreme popularity. To do such a thing he unearths the history of the zombies in film, literature, video games, and other media, and he sheds some light on their real origins – which all lead him to the conclusion that zombies are popular because of their “ex-personhood” (345). Throughout the essay Parker uses analytic language peppered with metaphors, description, and colorful references to some of the latest and greatest depictions of zombies, which help to bring the essay and the monsters to life and keep the audience’s interest.
Parker begins the essay with a crash-course on the zombie’s early popularity before moving onto more modern times, beginning with what he considers the start of the zombie’s fame: Romero’s 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead. From there he begins describing the zombie and the media it has appeared in using explicit details and metaphors to illustrate it all to us – the readers. Once he reaches the point of the zombie’s origin he elects not to drum it out like a …show more content…

While the number of sentences in a paragraph varies – sometimes six, sometimes ten, sometimes more – their length changes to give the essay an almost musical rhythm. Even in the longer sentences the mind’s eyes is tickled by Parker’s constant use of figurative language, humor, description chock-full of metaphors and adjectives, and allusions to the biblical, the supernatural, and the historical (especially so in paragraph five). All of these elements work in tandem to slowly but surely illustrate and finally reach Parker’s point as they hold an audience member’s attention and give him a way to slip in facts and citations without boring the

Show More
Related

  • Jack Burden In All The King's Men By Robert Penn Warren

    1695 Words  | 7 Pages

    For example, in the third sentence of the novel, “You look up the highway and it is straight for miles, coming at you, with the black line down the center coming at you and at you, black and slick and tarry-shining against the white of the slab, and the heat dazzles up from the white slab so that only the black line is clear, coming at you with the whine of the tires…” (Warren 1) is just under two hundred words alone. Warren chooses not to punctuate the sentence, other than its start and finish, because punctuation provides structure and pacing; the lack thereof feeds constant information to the reader, which produces an overwhelming feeling. Similarly, in the same quote, Warren uses a literary technique called polysyndeton to emphasize the “coming at you…coming at you and at you… coming at you…”. By repeating the phrase “coming at you”, Warren attempts to personalize the writing and nurture an even deeper connection between the reader and the characters, so that the reader undergoes the same experiences the characters do, such that the picture being painted by Jack’s memory is vividly recreated in the reader's mind, and the overwhelming repetition of a white street line coming at you is shared with the reader.

    Read More

  • Externality In Stephen King's 'Cujo'

    635 Words  | 3 Pages

    Recently, I’ve finished reading a horror novel by Stephen King which he published in 1981 and won the British Fantasy Award in the next year. ’ Cujo’ is the first ever Stephen Kings novel that I’ve read and I have to say I enjoyed reading it despite my early negative feeling about this work. As you already know, I will use the example from ‘’Cujo’’ to explain the concept of externality, ad to be more precise, this essay will be about negative externality. When I was deciding what film or novel to use as a source of externality for this essay I had many ideas but none of them were perfect. My aim was to find a story with an externality in it’s heart

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood Of 1927 And How It Changed America

    720 Words  | 3 Pages

    Barry communicates his fascination of the Mississippi through his intensely detailed sequences of the river, stand out word choice and use of juxtaposition with other rivers. If we were to imagine Barry’s passage without the use of these rhetorical devices, this enthusiasm would be largely dimmed and unable to convey to the readers. It is only through Barry’s use of words such as “radically alters”, “like an uncoiling rope” and as if it was trying to “devour itself” would the intense fascination that we get as readers of his writing be conveyed. The descriptions of the river flow, which could have just been described using words such as “fast” or “slow” has been granted with detailed complexity from Barry’s word choice. His decision to provide readers with almost a visual of the river through metaphors like “uncoiling a rope” and “snapping like a whip” allow us to envision the scene.

    Read More

  • Zombie In Frankenstein

    1313 Words  | 6 Pages

    Throughout time, many individuals and societies have come to know the one and only term that both science and literature have explored--zombies. This term has evolved into many different interpretations to the point where almost all individuals assume that a “zombie” is a false accusation, a fiction’s use for entertainment, a frivolous means to scaring society. Many cultures has skewed many minds into believing that a “zombie” apocalypse is impossible. But what if it is possible? Over time, both literature and science fiction has implemented a stereotypical undead “zombie” that has a stench of the grotesque decaying flesh and wonders around screeching in search for nothing but mushy brains to feast upon.

    Read More

  • Chuck Klosterman My Zombies Myself Analysis

    570 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the article “My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead,” Chuck Klosterman offers profound commentary on why zombies are so popular. One reason Klosterman’s argument is

    Read More

  • The Truth In Walter Benjamin's Diary Of The Dead

    968 Words  | 4 Pages

    Our society lives in a culture that is obsessed with failure. This obsession is partly caused by ourselves through our creations such as media. Although many zombie apocalypse films are predictable, George Romero went outside of the box and created a unique zombie film where the main threat is behind the camera. The story of Diary of the Dead (DOTD) is a film within a film. In the DOTD, the character of Jason claims to be filming “the truth”.

    Read More

  • Florence Kelley Child Labor Speech Summary

    901 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kelley’s diction adds a tone to the piece and allows her to get her message across with helping the reader understand more deeply . Kelley’s use of imagery, appeal to logic,

    Read More

  • Superman And Me By Sherman Alexie Analysis

    480 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sherman Alexie is an Indian boy who started to read books because of his father who he looked up to. Since he loved his father’s devotion, he picked up a book and there he first understood the purpose of a paragraph. “The words themselves were mostly foreign, but I still remember the exact moment when I first understood… the purpose of a paragraph…” (Alexie paragraph 3). When he discovered what a paragraph was, he started comparing his family to a paragraph.

    Read More

  • Imagery And Symbolism In Lee Maracle's Charlie

    763 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mastery Assignment 2: Literary Analysis Essay Lee Maracle’s “Charlie” goes through multiple shifts in mood over the course of the story. These mood are ones of hope and excitement as Charlie and his classmates escape the residential school to fear of the unknown and melancholy as Charlie sets off alone for home ending with despair and insidiousness when Charlie finally succumbs to the elements . Lee highlights these shifts in mood with the use of imagery and symbolism in her descriptions of nature.

    Read More

  • Sherman Alexe's Superman And Me

    626 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Alexie realized what the purpose of a paragraph was, he felt delighted and experienced happiness. “I didn’t have the vocabulary to say “paragraph,” but I realized that a paragraph was a fence that held words… This knowledge delighted me” (Alexie 583). With learning the definition of the word “paragraph”, the author’s curiosity of reading increased. The author also began to see his family as paragraphs (Alexie 583).

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of The Whites Of Their Eyes

    782 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although Stuart lacks in fact based situations, he shines light on some important and noteworthy points towards his theses. For example, he begins to explain the occurrence of adventure films, and how todays media has shaped that genre into a progressive form of violence, crime, and structured visualizations on the race of characters, or a character that is portrayed a certain way because of his race. “Another based-image is that of the “native.” The good side of this figure is portrayed in a certain primitive nobility and simple dignity. The bad side is portrayed in terms of cheating and cunning, and, further out, savagery and barbarism.” This quote, along with other quotes in similarity, are indeed noteworthy, but Stuart solely relies on his pathos appeal, and the credibility of his accomplishments.

    Read More

  • Sherman Alexie's Views On Figurative Language

    617 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alexie’s analogy of a paragraph to a fence creates a new importance of the paragraph distinguishes, and gives deeper insight to the author’s childhood and views. The author states how important he views a paragraph to be, which tells the reader that the distinctions between paragraphs is important. This also allows the reader to see how the narrator views the world. Fences can keep people in and protect people, but they also keep new ideas out. The author describes the reservation as paragraph, simultaneously calling it a fence.

    Read More

  • Pulp Fiction Essay

    675 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pulp Fiction directed by Quentin Tarantino in 1994, is a film known for its nonlinear storytelling and distinct narrative. The movie stands as a hallmark of postmodern cinema, redefining storytelling conventions and captivating audiences with its unpredictable plotlines. My analysis of Pulp Fiction in this essay will talk about the different narrative techniques by Tarantino and how they contribute to the overall impact of "Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction features multiple perspectives shifting the narrative focus from one character to another. This technique enables the audience to perceive the story from various angles, providing deeper insights into each character's psyche and motivations.

    Read More

  • Warm Bodies Essay

    1318 Words  | 6 Pages

    The film Warm Bodies directed by Jonathan Levine presents a unique cinematic view of agency. Merriam-Webster defines agency as “the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power” (Merriam-Webster.com). Warm Bodies gives an interesting insight into the free will of zombies through R, a refreshingly not-so-helpless female love interest in Julie, and communicates an empowering message of how teenagers can position themselves to change society. This paper will focus on agency in the film in as it pertains to R, Julie, and how the agency of them both interact to create separate, joint agency. The rom-zom-com (romantic zombie comedy) diverts from the typical depiction of zombies found in cultural phenomenon like The Walking Dead, World War Z, or Zombieland.

    Read More

  • The Hound Of The Baskerville Book Vs Movie Analysis

    732 Words  | 3 Pages

    Suspicion can be fascinating but haunting. Since Victorian times, the suspicious death case of Sir Charles Baskerville in The Hound of the Baskerville has intrigued/compelled vast amounts of readers. However, recent audiences are more compelled to stories with a modern twist of horror and gruesomeness. Because of less main characters, a fast-paced plot, and the differing point of view of Atwood’s The Hound of the Baskervilles film adaptation, the film has a frightening, intriguing mood with a new perspective compared to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original novel.

    Read More

More about Our Zombies Ourselves Parker Analysis

Open Document