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Zombiology. Night of the Living Dead . Watch Clips at: 00:46:13 01:24:41. What We’re Dealing With.
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Night of the Living Dead • Watch Clips at: • 00:46:13 • 01:24:41
What We’re Dealing With • In the 1968 Cult horror film sensation, Night of the Living Dead, Director George A. Romero depicts zombies as lumbering, forever-hungry cannibalistic creatures who will kill anyone, even commit acts of matricide. The zombies seem fueled by some infinite reserve of anger. If not proven because of the continuous chase of neighbors and friends and family, for the signature moaning. Their gait hardly fast and uncoordinated. Though they prefer human flesh, they are curious in their exploration and test other usually unheard of food choices like insects. Lastly, these zombies seem to have no recollection of their previous, less bloody lives, as illustrated in the aforementioned act of matricide. Even whilst the mother, Helen Cooper, is calling her daughter Karen by name, re-animated Karen is unfazed and proceeds to meticulously stab her former mother with a masonry trowel.
Main Characteristics • Irregular/uncoordinated muscle movement • Hyper-aggressive behavior • Eternally unsatisfied • Unable to distinguish food from friend • Loss of long-term memory
1. Irregular/uncoordinated muscle movement • If the Cerebellum controls voluntary muscle movement and equilibrium, then in order for the subject to replicate a wide-stanced, unbalanced gait, the cerebellum would have to have been compromised in the process of zombification.
2. Hyper-aggressive behavior • The amygdala and the anterior cingulate cortex are the two structures of the brain responsible for the regulating of emotions. The amygdala serves as the source, fostering raw emotions such as guilt, happiness, anger, and so forth. The anterior cingulate cortex serves as the border patrol, controlling the type and amount of emotion allowed to be processed in the brain. If the subjects tend to be hyper-aggressive and unable to stop the flow of anger, they may have a dysfunction in the anterior cingulate cortex as well as the amygdala.
3. Eternally unsatisfied • Hunger is controlled primarily by the hypothalamus, which is mainly in charge of functions regarding keeping homeostasis within the body and the source of the feeling of hunger, fever, and such. Because the subjects act on a hunger that refuses satisfaction, it is suggested that the hypothalamus has been compromised.
4. Unable to distinguish food from friend • In order to feed the violent hunger, the subjects feed on other around them such as insects, animals, and other humans. Hypothetically, they feed on other humans because their frontal lobe is dysfunctional and does not provide the ability to think clearly or realize that the T bone they’re chomping on is their third grade math teacher.
5. Loss of long term memory • Long term memory, after it has been processed by the hippocampus, resides in the cerebral cortex for storage and access at will. The subjects’ immediate loss of long term memory suggests a malfunctioning cerebral cortex.
Bibliography "Brain Anatomy." Brain Anatomy. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2013. "A Harvard Psychiatrist Explains Zombie Neurobiology." Io9. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2013. "Parts of the Brain Involved in Memory." LIVESTRONG.COM. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2013.
Picture Citations (In order of appearance) Flood, Alison. "Cult Director George A Romero to Pen Zombie Foundation Myth." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 01 Oct. 2009. Web. 21 Apr. 2013. The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2013.
