It Takes A Village: VNV Wednesday – White Zombies

October 18, 2017 MomentaryGrace Found on the Internets, It Takes a Village 10

The Village News & Views October 18, 2017
Wednesday Get Over the Hump Free for All

Greetings, Village Meese. It’s Day 271 of the Resistance and time for another Get Over the Hump post and discussion thread.

I’ve already shared with you my love for vintage horror movies, especially at this time of year. Monsters such as Dracula and the Frankenstein monster are so iconic and can represent so many things from aspects of the human psyche to quirks of our culture.

There is one type of movie monster that has undergone an extreme transformation from its early form, and has become an all-year-round phenomena in the current pop culture and media landscape: Zombies.

Television shows like The Walking Dead and its spin-off Fear the Walking Dead embody the newer kind of zombie, which has its inception in the George Romero film Night of the Living Dead. They are mindless walking corpses that hunger for the flesh of the living… brains are supposed to be especially tasty for them.

But the truth is, I have very little interest in modern type zombies. I’m certain they say something about modern culture and what we fear – that is true of all monster archetypes – but I have always been nostalgically fascinated by the classic Zombie, whose origins are not from some unknown plague, escaped government experiment or mysterious radioactive contamination from a space probe. The classic zombie is a creation of the bokor or magic practitioner for hire, or someone else with the skills to create them.

True zombies do not mass attack and eat people. They are merely slaves without will, doing whatever they are ordered to do. That might not seem as scary as hoards of ravenous flesh eating ghouls but it is a subtler, and in my view more chilling kind of horror. To become such a creature you would have been targeted, poisoned, and your soul stolen. Thus, you live on, a kind of twilight existence under the control of another, to work endlessly in fields or mills or doing whatever evil your master sends you to do, without choice. The ultimate labor force, the ultimate slave.

The film credited as being the first Zombie movie ever made is a special favorite of mine. It is definitely an acquired taste, that is my warning, but if you have an interest for something old, and odd, and in my view incredibly revealing about the backstory of a culture, you might keep your eyes open for it: White Zombie, released in 1932. It tends to show up on broadcast channels this time of year, though often late, late at night. as befits its cult status.

There is no pretense in this 1932 movie to racial equality, and stereotypes abound, but since we know that we are not, as some have asserted, a post-racial society even now, viewing with awareness may be educational.

In the older, true zombie films of which White Zombie is the progenitor, most of the victims of zombification are folk of color, native to the setting. Since the white film producers were making movies for a white audience, they are uniformly about the ‘unusual’ circumstances wherein white people either become victims of a voodoo curse, or in some other way encounter the phenomenon.

Walking Dead type zombies, ghouls, as George Romero preferred to identify them, can be any race but especially at first, most of the grotesquely made-up extras in most shots seem to be Caucasian. The poor hero of Night of the Walking Dead is a black man, and that in itself is an interesting choice worth exploring, but not here.

Here, we recognize that a certain percentage of our American population have taken the bokor’s poison voluntarily, losing their souls and surrendering their will to the direction of whomever can hold them enthralled, to ignore their own well being, and even to do evil acts.

Beaumont: Zombies!

Legendre: Yes. They are my servants. Did you think we could do it alone? In their lifetime they were my enemies. Ledot, the witch doctor. Once my master. Secrets I tortured out of him. Von Gelder, the swine. Swollen with riches. He fought against my spells until the last. In him I have a struggling type.

His Excellence, Richard. Once minister of the interior. Scarpia, Brigand Chief. Marcquis, Captain of Gendarmerie. And this—this is Chauvin. The high executioner—who almost executed me! I took them just as we will take this one.

Beaumont: But what if they regain their souls?

Legendre: They would tear me to pieces. But that, my friend, shall never be.

Quotes from the script, courtesy of PallorPublishing.com

And now for your regularly scheduled randomness.

WTFJH Yesterday – Day 270: Season of war.

Rantt – Trump’s HHS Just Declared That Life Begins At Conception — Here’s Why That’s Dangerous

Independent (UK) – Last night, I saw Hillary Clinton – every young woman I told was excited and every middle-aged man asked why I’d bother

 

Oh… did I forget to mention the villain of the movie was played by Bela Lugosi? :)

 

https://twitter.com/stjbs/status/920273078818689025

https://twitter.com/allanbrauer/status/920181137468559360

https://twitter.com/verrit/status/920275946426589191

https://twitter.com/HoneyDemForce/status/920285012603359232

 

Profiles in Courage, thanks DoReMI!

 

Puerto Rico

 

Palate Cleanser

 

Critters

https://twitter.com/cutemergency/status/920286277437665280

https://twitter.com/CatsRates/status/919277902595735553

https://twitter.com/cutemergency/status/920210775318331392

That’s it for me, enjoy some beverage, chat with your friends and fellow Resistors and just take a moment to enjoy some part of your day.

Thank you for your patience. Love and peace, Village! Enjoy your Wednesday gathering.

We are #StrongerTogether

We are #TheResistance and #WePersist

 

About MomentaryGrace 41 Articles
I voted for the Democrat in every election since 1976. I appreciate honesty, kindness and courage. I loathe cruelty and indifference. I am Discordian. I mean you no harm. But if you are cruel, or indifferent, I may point and laugh. #stillwithher.

10 Comments

  1. Morning yall! Got lots of work again today so might be scarce or slow to reply (what else is new). Hope your Hump Day is a pleasant one, as much as can be with our current Resident and Malignant F#ckup in Chief.

    Just dropping this here.

  2. Good morning, Meese, and thanks for the double dose of cuteness, MomentaryGrace. I always open the news stories in another tab to read, but cuteness gifs are best served immediately. I hope your MIL is doing better (and a laugh, even muted, during hospital visits is a blessing).

    48 and clear skies right now. Also, still dark so I don’t have to start my walk yet. However, that 2nd cup isn’t going to magically appear so off I go.

    • MIL is lots better as they have now taken out all the tubes and she’s just got oxygen. The breathing tube coming out was the biggie. When we went last night she was bundled up like a child, the nurse said she’d gotten cold, and she slept the whole time we were there but she looked so much better. Was demanding her teeth (dentures) earlier in the day – V had them, and her glasses. Aunt said she was flirting with the cute technician.

      Hoping they will take her out of ICU and into a regular room today, and soon after home. They still have to do the work up for the new valve replacement. TMI!!! :)

      • Nope. Just the right amount of information. My son in law’s dad had his 5th stent put in. Seems like a nutritionist and trainer would be his best prescription but he lives in Washington so I can’t volunteer.

  3. {{{MomentaryGrace}}} – good to remember where the archetypes come from – and what they originally represented. We are basically dealing with people so extreme as to almost be archetypes at this point. We have been since the media owners decided to install mad king donald in the white house.

    Healing Energy to all in your Household or related thereto.

    And a very large THANK YOU!!! for the gift-card birthday present I found in my email inbox a bit ago. Village folks are the best. moar {{{HUGS}}} to everybody.

      • {{{basket}} – I did and I thank you even more. {{{{{{HUGS}}}}} and lots of Healing Energy and skritches to Belle and thanks some moar.

  4. Afternoon meese….Hi Gracie…Wonderful diary….I love all the old movies…30’s, 40’s,50’s and even 60’s. Bela Lugosi, Claude Rains, Lon Chaney, Vincent Price were all time greats and their movies were more real.

    Thanks for the wonderful tweets too Gracie…I think maybe we’re seeing a light at the end of the tunnel but it’s faint and far off. It is giving me hope we’ll see an end to all the turmoil and angst though.

    • Hi Batch! Good to see you over here. Yes, I love this time of year for all the movies, not the modern gore and slasher but the old school horror and spooky stuff! :)

      We will see an end, though exactly when and what form I can’t guess.

      To quote from another favorite movie, The Legend of Hell House, “The Lord does work in mysterious ways!” “So does this house.”

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