Survival of the Sickest
Inoculation for pandemic panic may be in your Netflix browser. I am a fan of zombie films and TV. I share this openly and frequently this information is met with the reply “You like that stuff?! You are a sick person! Guilty. But my distasteful tastes may have contributed to my innate ability to take all the recent unpleasantness in stride.
I am not alone.
A recent research paper titled Pandemic Practice: Horror Fans and Morbidly Curious Individuals Are More Psychologically Resilient During the COVID-19 Pandemic makes that the argument that those with morbid tastes, such as fans of horror and zombie movies, are more resilient when bad times come around. And those that are fans of post-apocalyptic fare, such as The Walking Dead, are faring far better during the COVID pandemic than those who prefer romantic comedies.
The manuscript is posted at PsyArXiv, authored by Coltan Scrivner, John Anthony Johnson, Jens Kjeldgaard-Christiansen and Mathias Clasen and to many of us, came as no surprise.
I have spent the past half dozen years exhibiting at both ComicCons and HorrorCons promoting my three published zombie novels Exit Zero, Nuke Jersey and Zombie Democracy. The year 2020 was going to be the time to promote my first non-fiction book, a unique take on the topic of entrepreneurship inspired by The Walking Dead franchise. Business is Dead, Resurrecting Entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, all cons where I was to promote got cancelled, but I hope to get a second bite at the apple once people take off their masks and bite apples again. Yet prior to the plague, I had attended enough horror and comic cons to notice the differentiators between comic book fans and horror fans.
First, a disclaimer. I am not a psychiatrist, psychologist, human behaviorist, or anyone qualified to quoted on this subject. But I am a keen observer of people and after nearly forty years of sales, I have learned how to mirror behaviors and talk to people as if I am peeling an onion to learn their interests. I believe you cannot succeed in either sales or writing if you are not interested in people.
From my observations, comic book fans seem to envision a world with clear delineation between good and evil, heroes and villains. There is, or should be, an order to the universe, and protectors will inevitably champion those who need protecting.
Zombie and post-apocalyptic fans appear to see greater shades of gray between right and wrong, good and bad and are comfortable with characters in a film, book or series drifting between both worlds. The Governor and Negan are the perfect examples of characters that could be viewed as savior by some and sadist by others. The characters that thrive are those that are self-reliant, as after all, no one is coming.
I am not saying that comic book fans are not bad asses. You cannot be a comiccon fan over the age of fourteen and not have a strong sense of self confidence. I just feel that they seek out their entertainment which is suited to server as escapist fun from the stress and doldrum of day to day life, but they are not girding themselves for black swan type events such as Covid and national lock downs.
I spoke with Kyle Williamson, Executive Producer and host of Fandom Spotlite http://www.fandomspotlite.com
Kyle is well known to fans of The Walking Dead as a dead-on doppelganger of the TV series version of The Governor played by David Morrissey. Kyle is also the host of a very popular website and YouTube series that covers all aspects of fandom
“People often identify with their heroes. If you are a big fan of Captain America, then you tend to defend what you feel is right without compromise. But fans of Rick Grimes know the world is messy. Sometimes the choice is between bad and worse. Survival is key and ideals can fall by the wayside. This is not to say fans of horror and post-apocalyptic fiction with zombies are bad people. They just tend to see that things aren’t always black and white, and compromise might be needed. Comic book fans tend to deal in absolutes. Kind of like the Sith.”
Zombie and apocalyptic media do present life skills beyond the ability to survive a national house arrest. Most zombie genre follows a formula. Diverse people coming together. The realization that government and other perceived safety net are not what they seem and are generally incapable of predicting events, quickly resolving events or even being truthful about the facts of the event In general, all authority which is given, not taken, will quickly collapse under the chaos.
Zombie fare teaches you that each person has value, even if that value is to unknowingly be the sacrificial lamb, used as bait and diversion by the rest of the team during an escape plan. Everyone has a role, even if it is to be a dinner roll.
We all need shelter and are continually seeking it, and then growing tired of it, and seeking better shelter. First you just want four walls and a roof. Then you need a better zip code. Then you cannot live without a steam shower and marble counters. When the hard times come, you think “Why did I leave the damn mall?”
I could go on and on with other lessons learned from the zombie apocalypse films, such as leadership, strategy, bartering (as life is transactional), accountability, forgiveness, and flexibility when things do not go as planned.
I do not believe that binge watching The Walking Dead is going to turn the most pearl clutching Karen into a katana swinging Michonne, but if it can cause one less argument and melt down caused by as mask debate, (yes I said mask debate, stop snickering and grow up), then a prescription of a generous dose of the dead may be just what the doctor ordered.
Neil A. Cohen is an the author of multiple books including fictional pandemic trilogy Exit Zero, Nuke Jersey and Zombie Democracy. He latest non-fiction release, Business is Dead, Resurrecting Entrepreneurship, highlights Fantrepreneurs and Apocalypse Entrepreneurs.
Instagram / Twitter: @ExitZeroZombie
