ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the modern cinema zombie as a metaphor for many of the challenges facing contemporary health. To this end, zombies as first conceptualized in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) allow a focused if sometimes painful examination of the ways that our health-care apparatus over the last 50 years has allowed itself to become, in effect, “zombified.” The chapter introduces these themes by exploring Romero’s first two, and arguably best, zombie films: Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead (1978). These films in particular help the reader to note the human disconnection among clinicians and fellow patients that contributes to the modern discontent with health-care delivery. Additionally, Dawn of the Dead’s consumer themes generate a discussion of the monetary principles that have been documented to be among the more potent driving forces towards the growing dissatisfaction with health-care delivery. Importantly, the chapter ends by noting that horror films generally operate as cautionary tales. As such, we can take cues from these films about how best to improve our culture’s health and well-being.
