This morning I read an NYT article by Chuck Klosterman, titled My Zombie, myself: How Modern Life Feels Rather Undead, www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/arts/television/05zombies.html . Klosterman's points are these (in a nutshell) - millions more people watched the premiere of this new zombie show, The Walking Dead, on AMC than watched the premiere of Mad Men. He posits that this is more complex than zombies replacing vampires as the monster of the moment...zombies have no complexity, no character, they are meant to be shot in the head again and again until there are no zombies left. He says we identify with this because of the onslaught of email, media, work meetings, consumerism. Delete. Delete. Delete. It was funny that when I clicked to go to Page 2 an automatic pop up for The Economist took up the whole screen and I had to close it to read the rest of the article.
Anyway, I get what Klosterman is saying, but a couple other questions came to my mind and like a lot of what I read, even in the NYT, I tend to feel that the issues are more complex and I get frustrated with an often quip-py or flip quality that enters the writing in order to sum up the article to fit the constraints of how many words or how much space the article is supposed to take up.
Is modern life like killing zombies or is like BEING a zombie? What kinds of brains does it take to keep deleting emails or showing up at meetings that we don't want to be in? I remember when I used to work in PR, sitting in my windowless office and working at the computer. My radio was on and the Pink Floyd song came on, "all in all, you're just another brick in the wall," and I thought, "yeah. I've got to change something here." That was 1997. Technology is so much more powerful and all encompassing now. I guess, if we go with the idea that it's not good to be a zombie, I'd just like to advocate, as a general practice to preserve our own sense of integrity, a vigilance in asking, "what are my choices? what are my real choices? who has set this limit on me? Is it email limiting me? Is it my boss limiting me? Is it my mother? Is it myself?" Be honest. Doing something about the answer will have to be saved for another day.
On a lighter note, this article also had me thinking about the consumption of entertainment and what kind of zombies we are in our choices for entertainment. Let me say, I have not seen this new show, The Walking Dead. It might be some high quality stuff. I also haven't seen Mad Men, though it's recommended to me by everyone and I am guessing I would really like it. Sometimes, I am a zombie in my entertainment choices. I love that terrible show, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Most of the Real Housewives shows, I admit, with a little shame only, that I get a big kick out of. I identify with the desire, that 'down time', can sometimes mean the wish to be simply and passively entertained. I've read enough theologians to know there is a theory of 'garbage in, garbage out.' Thic Nhat Hahn talks about this in Peace is Every Step. He says that what we put into our minds should not be mindless, but mindful, intentional and full of peace. Maybe I am not there yet. For now, I sometimes make the mindful choice to be entertained by a little junk. And, I really, really hope that it is my knowledge and understanding that I am making a choice that keeps me from being a zombie.
Having just returned from seeing "The Wall" concert in Seattle, I can especially appreciate this.
ReplyDeleteI think I am finally at that place in life where I am intentionally putting only mindful, positive things in my life. It gets harder with people, and just yesterday, someone I like very much was so negative and I could feel it pulling me in. We are so easily swayed by our environments. I am convinced now that the 90s alternative music I have loved so much--the angry, depressive, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana and Elliott Smith kind of stuff-- was not good for me, especially in that more delicate time, post-divorce. Don't get me wrong: I still love that stuff, and invite it into my life in small, controllable doses. Now, though, I think about it, instead of just spinning it as a mindless zombie.