Wstęp do struktury zombizmu (czyli film i serial jako pretekst)

Abstract

The chapter Introduction to the Structure of Zombism (Film and TV Series as a Pre-text) by Marcin Szewczyk focuses on genre films which—despite encountering many difficulties—reveal the character of the zombie. The main problem faced is the defi-nition of a zombie. This primarily concerns the freedom to create the form of the un-dead, as almost every filmmaker is attempting to create a zombie character that will possess new and original features. In addition, the zombie theme is used in films that belong to different genres. Thus attempts to analyse the structure of a film with zom-bies inevitably come down to determining characteristics of the zombie form. Repeat-edly they depart from the classical image (i.e., as in George Romero’s 1968 film) image of the undead. Thus there is a need for a descriptive definition of the zombie based on a selection of characteristics appearing in a wide range of films. The distinction be-tween “a film with zombies” and “a film about zombies” could be helpful in this ana-lysis, however it does not guarantee an analytical and definitional success due to the fact that it is closely connected with the analysis of a number of relationships that form the modernist image of zombies in films. These links include the entire space of popular culture, extending to computer games, comics, and literature—which makes this chapter only the eponymous introduction to a much broader study of the struc-ture of zombism.