Literacy Narrative Draft 2

Literacy Narrative Draft 2

            My reading and writing life has been defined by my undying admiration of the undead horror genre. George A. Romero was a filmmaker who engineered the modern zombie, creating every well-known adopted zombie attribute. I was about nine years old when I saw my first real zombie film, Return of the Living Dead, and was scared out of my life. Although it wasn’t created by Romero himself the movie was a gateway into Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead all gorey and bloody entertaining. My fascination with the undead still continues as new books, films, and television series sprout and develop inspiring me to explore through reading and writing in the genre.

            Film must be understood and comprehended. They tell stories and inspire emotion. Through the art of film I had felt anxiety, stress, and fear. The most terrifying situation imaginable was supplied before my demand. An apocalyptic world without order, protection, or luxury. The idea of placing us, who are oh so comfortable, in a truly unforgiving world where potential death balances on our ability to adapt seems unbelievably uncomfortable and terrifying. The way filmmakers captured the psychological toll and dehumanization of the human under stressful circumstances inspires me to branch my understanding when writing creatively. For example, in Romero’s Day of the Dead the characters are held underground with a hoard of undead sitting above them, instead of the zombies posing the threat, the film looks closely at how we become the real monsters who deconstruct each other under true character moments. This is brilliant writing. As a viewer I put myself in that movie. I imagine myself crying and most likely being eaten out of pure lack of survivability. Being in the apocalyptic situation you would imagine other living humans to be the best companions in surviving but when they no longer have rules they no longer have limits. It’s the psychological game undead films play that inspire me to read more texts and write creatively, in that genre of course. Romero’s films push me to explore thematic elements within my own writing creatively and academically.

            Author Max Brooks wrote two of my favorite horror-comedy genre books. The Zombie Survival Guide and the more serious World War Z. The first book is amazing. It has details and diagrams, statistics and “facts” it’s essentially everything a zombie lover wants and more. The book is addicting. It makes me believe the situations are real, it persuades me into taking him serious. But there is no proof yet its common sense. World War Z, nothing even close to the film, was amazingly written. It follows dozens of accounts in the fictional world of an ex-apocalyptic modern world. The global scale of the book is present as you find yourself reading about a man in New York and then with the turn of a page you’re in Vietnam following a family man who was the sole survivor of a hoard. Brook’s style of writing is one of immense detail, which I actually want to hear about as opposed to mandatory school novels. His writing carries a witty tone and I often find myself duplicating his style. When he wants to be serious he will churn your stomach with drama and suspense but suddenly release your breathe with instant humor and irony. Brook’s ultimately inspires me to write cleverly and tone-full with the purpose of generating a written atmosphere for my reader. Max Brooks inspires me to dive deeper into the horror genre and has shaped my literary taste.

            AMC’s The Walking Dead was and still is the only television show I have ever followed. I was home and my brother walks into the house with a bag from Walmart. In it contained the greatest piece of television/comic adaptation. He proceeds to place the bag on the counter and uncover the first season of The Walking Dead. Interested I did the usual flip to see the back cover. The effects looked real and believably disgusting. The faces of rotting bodies and hungry “walkers” was enough to motivate me to grab the disc and place it into my DVD tray. Episode one was all it took to hook me on the show. To my surprise it was hard to believe that the amount of gore was allowed on television. The character arcs and story development was flawless. The best part was the themes they had for every season. Season one was an introduction or realization of the world this community lives in. Season two was arguably really lame, but focused on the perseverance of surviving and building character story arcs. Season three shifted the threat from the undead to the living with the tagline “Fight the dead. Fear the living.” Now season four focuses on coming back from the worst. This show ultimately brings head splitting action with suspense and horror filled story that keeps me on the edge of my seat. It moves me to creative writing. A high school friend and I began writing a script style story that follows characters who go through the similar dark days on earth with apocalyptic twists. The Walking Dead combines amazing entertainment with rich storytelling so well it has inspired me to write and create my own apocalyptic story line.