It is stated at one point by some CIA guy that North Korea was able to avoid the zombie outbreak by systematically removing the teeth of all of its residence in less than 24 hours. The reasoning being that if nobody had teeth then the virus couldn’t spread because nobody could bite anyone. He states that it was “the greatest feat of social engineering ever achieved”. Like I get this is a fictitious plot but they can’t even avoid making up the most utterly deranged bullshit lmao.
World War Z has to be the worst zombie movie ever made. Like so many of it's concepts are so removed from what would happen. Like it starts with the UN dropping everything and taking on enormous risks to rescue one relief worker in fucking Newark. It then implies that the US and the UN would coordinate immediately and set up an aircraft carrier base. How tf do you do that without kicking off like 3k troops to make room? Your gonna tell me they launched that shit after this started? Also somehow everything still has fuel days after the collapse, which is so unrealistic and also a big issue I have with TWD or other zombie flicks.
The movie completely ignores the global response aside from the West. China and India do not exist in the movie and certainly dont have scientists competent enough to make a vaccine.
My favorite cringe of the movie is the Jerusalem scene. First off, no fucking way Israelis let in a single Palestinian to the safe zone. But also the Israelis are supposed to be smart about the virus/zombies. They definitely knew by that time that noise attracted zombies. The Palestinians and Israelis get into this stupid, unbelievable rendition of Shalom Alechiem that everyone gets super into. Why the fuck are they acting like its a goddamn world cup game? All of their friends and family just died and theyre like "lets make peace and sing a song". Like fuck that, everyone would be depressed, shocked and anxious af. Of course, even though everyone in Jerusalem has lived with zombies for a week, it has to be super genius UN hero Brad Pitt who realizes the sound is attracting zombies. THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS WEREN'T EVEN PATROLLING THE WALLS OR USING CAMERAS TO SURVEIL, does the author know anything about how IDF defenses are manned at the apartheid wall? Literally cameras everywhere.
I don't mean to rant so much, but goddamn that movie sucks.
I was too caught up on the North Korea thing, but those are also great points. The Jerusalem scene is particularly far fetched lol, like I’m pretty sure Israel would be happy to take advantage of the situation and let more Palestinians die. But the plot is so weird it definitely has :fedposting: written all over lol so that wouldn’t make it in
China and India do not exist in the movie
Let's be real, it's probably better than the alternative
Haven't seen the movie, same thing happens in the book. It doesnt even make sense given all the health problems caused by pulling every single tooth of every single member of a population.
The book is also pro Zionist and pro apartheid South Africa among other bs.
irl, DPRK would stop zombies similar to how it stopped covid.
The book is also pro Zionist and pro apartheid South Africa among other bs.
Yeah, doesn't Israel open their border wall to let Palestinians in and it ends up letting the zombies in?
It was written by Mel Brooks's son, and not all Jews are Zionists of course, but I fucking bet Mel Brooks is.
It's been a while since I read it, but I don't think that happens. They do let Palestinian refugees in but I don't remember anything about it backfiring, other than the civil war I think Israel rides out the war pretty well.
In the movie they do, though. A woman in a hijab starts singing and all the people waiting to be let in start singing as well. Turns out zombies are attracted to noise and that leads to them climbing the wall. Can't get any more overt with the anti-arab sentiment there.
Yeah that movie had quite a few dog whistles like that as well as the main hero getting their own disposable IDF soldier to accompany theme.
The book is more lib than explicitly racist. In the book, Israel evacuates Jerusalem and lets in Palestine refugees. In fact, their biggest issue is from settlers and ultra-orthodox that are angry about abandoning the West Bank and the old city. The South Africa thing is more messed up, with the South African government adopting an apartheid SA plan that was originally made to evacuate the white population and provide continuity of government in case of a revolution. It's more of "isn't it nice that people can get along with their oppressors?"
IIRC in the movie, Palestinian refugees fuck everything up by singing really loud, thus attracting the zombie horde
Pretty much. They closed boarders and had strict quarantines of any one remotely exposed, but unlike China only had one real lockdown.
The book has its moments of being interesting, but then pulls shit like that. It also has an incredibly weeb section where a Japanese shut-in kid takes his neighbour's WW2 katana and joins forces with a blind gardener with some Shaolin polearm thing to become a badass pair of zombie slayers. It also has... Russia, I believe, going back to doing full purges and actual Roman-style decimations in their ranks because reasons.
But the book does also have the US Army taking a massive L during the Battle of Yonkers (where the Army is called out for focusing on using all their super cool high tech firepower and tanks... that prove ineffective against zombies), and also the Mets Fan story is one of my favourite little horror shorts.
The Japanese kid being laughably out of shape was kind of amusing. And his constant masturbation.
The "Go North!" story is genuinely terrifying, depicting US consumer culture literally cannibalising itself.
I did feel that all the Americans dying due to being ill equipped and prioritization treats over survival really stayed true to the anti consumer themes of Romero.
Max Brooks is a fine example of progressive authors getting ever so close to the answer but not quite being able to make the final leap.
Also Ruben Studdard and Larry the Cable Guy hiding in a celebrity-only bunker and hoarding supplies until angry civilians kick the front door open. One of them tries to throw a live grenade but holds it too long.
Bonus: This segment is narrated by Henry Rollins in the audiobook.
Even if it's a kinda bad book by itself for writing reasons, the audiobook is great just for the cast - Alan Alda and Mark Hamill do a bit if the narration.
The book is ultra lib bait, but its still a much better piece of fiction than the movie which is Brad Pitt larping as a man of science
In the book the entire population of DPRK just all goes into Juche bunkers and is never seen again.
I know someone that could explain it all to you without reading the book. :zizek-joy:
Don't knock it. I did pretty well academically with this technique. Take what you already know and talk about your own point way more than the material. This is a Gifted Child methodology of literary analysis
The only messages I got from the book were "Aren't you glad we built all these aircraft carriers?" and "The US Marines will save us from the monstrous hordes in the end."
Smh yet another propaganda piece created the justify the vast military of the US
the book is better, but it's politics will also make you pull out your hair. it's just a better crafted story.
I remember thinking the politics were "accurate" but I was like 14, so I'm sure I'd lose my fucking mind now.
Some bits from the novel have permanently etched themselves into my brain though. The catacombs, the nuclear sub. Cool shit.
haha same thing but i think i was 20. i was like "omg so realistic, good politics, haha cheney is digging up poop". for me it was battle of yonkers, the russian zombie killing squad, and the japanese sword wielding weeb.
Yeah! "The decimations" and yonkers was fucking nuts. It really is a good novel.
Yeah I definitely cringe at its politics now but it was a really fun book.
I was in my late teens and the prevailing attitude among people I knew was 'jesus, more zombie shit?'
I tried to read this book but couldn't make it more than two pages in because it read like it was written by an illiterate teenager. Legitimately don't understand how people can read it and treat it like something elevated above Spongebob fanfiction.
Because making consumer stuff for geeks and nerds is its own type of endless cashcow grift
Ready Player One, as one example, isn't just a garbage story, it's garbage in its craftsmanship. But it does exactly that: it panders to a credulous audience that wants all the pandering slop that can be shoveled its way.
Reading through that book was like gazing on to hell and that the main characters did not use the insane power of the Oasis to absolutely burn the system and state to the ground is beyond me. Did like the vending machine dispensing guns though, that felt very on brand for a crumbling almost mad max hinted at America
Such things are beyond the imagination and especially the desires of the author. He just wants to rule the dystopia and have a harem.
Yeah I was done by the time it had the cliche boy gets the girl ending and also "don't worry reader this girl is 'traditionally' attractive and just has a widdle birthmark". I miss psychedelic sci fi so much...
Ready Player One is to scifi fiction what isekai "she looks 9 years old but is actually 900 years old" waifu creepiness is to anime/manga. It's lazy yet horrifying trash, but it makes lots of money because it panders to a paying audience and gives it exactly what it wants.
This to a T, it's also the culmination of western nostalgia drip feeding into the general populace like this modern generations version of fucking Soma
That bit definitely made clear that the entire story was the author's own wish fulfillment fantasy
Ah yes that I feel Some book from Mel Brook’s son. I’s politics are definitely a product of the era. The book came out back when the public was still under the general consensus that neoliberalism was cool and working (2006 seems like a lifetime ago).
The book si def cool and has some good parts. But yeah it’s politics are cringe worthy.
Yeah the movie was total dogshit. Weirdly I was almost a zombie extra in it when they filmed some of it in Scotland (which they'd made to look like Philly for some baffling movie industry reason) but a work commitment prevented me from being there when they were filming - Probably a blessing really given how much being an extra apparently sucks lmao.
I was big into the book as a kid, although in retrospect the politics are incredibly lib/cursed and feel like some shitty reddit alternate history map: Cuba becomes a superpower by embracing a form of disaster social democracy, China has a civil war where wholesome reformers win against self destructive Maoists, Israel becomes a safe bastion that lets in Palestinians and the only pushback is from a group of ultra orthodox radicals, Putin becomes a new Tzar because le evil despotic Russia, Britain embraces the monarchy again because they're super brave and inspiring during the crisis, shit like that.
That said, insufferable though his politics are, I will admit Max Brooks can paint a pretty good picture and some of the stories are quite compelling (ranging from genuinely effective terror with zombies swarming through the Paris catacombs to dumb nerd shit that's kind of fun like an Otaku becoming a zombie slaying Ninja after lowering himself level by level down an infested Tokyo apartment building) but I feel like rereading it now would make me mad.
I always liked the latter portion of the zombie survival guide where it gave a historical recap of past outbreaks stretching back to ancient egypt. Just fun little worldbuilding exercises that don't overstay their welcome
Ahh yeah those were really good, may have to reread them if I can find my copy.
I remember a cool one where the IJA tried to weaponise zombies by parachuting them into China but they were all taken out super quickly by Communist sharpshooters that were trained to aim for the head :mao-aggro-shining:
I love in the illustrated version of it where it goes over the Roman tactics for fighting zombies
I read that book a few months ago, but all I remember is that it keeps using the same writing "trick" every time. It describes some Hollywood scene of a hero fighting zombies in an unrealistic way, then says "I bet you'd love to do that, you little piggy. You'd love to be blorbo from your zombie movies. Well guess what, dipshit? You'll die if you do that." Like yeah, it's right, but the author writes that same kind of scenario at least once every chapter
If I was the leader of the DPRK I would force gag everyone with a ball-gag. Not because of the zombie thing, though.
Fucking lol at liberals claiming a planned economy is far more efficient than any communist would
