Joe Vandal proposes researching why zombies are so popular in modern popular culture for his English 102 class. He has been interested in zombies since reading The Walking Dead comics with his son and has noticed their proliferation in movies, games, books and advertising. While the topic is primarily of academic interest, understanding the reason for zombies' popularity could be meaningful to parents, teachers and consumers of pop culture.

1. Joe Vandal
Eng 102
Victoria Arthur
9/7/16
Zombie Topic Proposal
Zombies are everywhere – in movies, video games, and comic books...on campus, in
advertising and, of course, on TV. My research question is “Why are zombies so
popular?”
I have been interested in zombies since I started reading The Walking Dead comic
book series with my son when he was in middle school. Since then, I have noticed
the proliferation of zombie and zombie-like characters throughout popular culture. I
think that it must mean something that our entire culture gets “into” a particular
type of monster at a particular time.
I know that there are a variety of academic approaches to studying zombies. They
have a historical precedent in Haiti. I have read articles that make a psychological
argument for the popularity of the genre. Film studies explores the movies about
zombies and cultural studies looks at their significance.
The weakness of this research question is that it is really only of academic interest. I
just find it an interesting topic. It is not really important to anyone, except those that
enjoy zombie entertainment, I guess. However, if the reason turns out to be
meaningful, it could matter to parents (of kids into zombies), teachers, or just
everyday consumers of pop culture.