>>101659937Zombie fiction just began as Romero wagging his finger at social ills, but a specific one in each movie which at least gave them a central focus.
Every “of the” movie was just based around a frustration. Cold War mistrust and racial/political antagonism, public shallow desires and 80’s consumerism, the desire for power and control over others, class strife and economic rigidity, and the lack of care for the future and the selfish selfie culture of the 2000’s.
Kind of like how Elves are cunts outside of Tolkien because everyone ripped off the archtype without the in-universe reasons the quirks exist, ripping off Romero without actually tackling a specific issue just results in the message that humans are scum over and over and over.
There’s also the problem that zombies are mostly a threat during initial outbreak, and when you have people survive and learn to deal with it then you don’t have much left for tension other than asshole humans. Or mutated monsters like zombie vidya tends to do.
