Concerning the Marxist Implications of Zombies and Vampires
“Vampires are monsters of the right; zombies are monsters of the left.” That is, vampires—charming aristocrats who give hickeys to the underclass women of their choice, willing or otherwise—represent the fear of “exploitation from above”, while zombies—sloppy herds who eat red meat and think brains are for eating—represent the fear of “overthrow from below.” It’s completely obvious once you think of it, which is why the article I’ve been summarizing, by Sam Leith of Prospect Magazine, doesn’t have to do much more than frame the class implications and list off things we already know.
Either because he hasn’t seen it or because it’d be gilding the lilly, Leith neglects to mention George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead, which makes the Marxist implications of the zombie explicit: they lumber towards, and eventually break into, the gated hierarchical city of the human elite. (One character, turning zombie, says, “I always wanted to see how the other half lives.”)
‘The Vetala’ Brings Hindu Vampire Mythology to Life
The Vetala presents itself as a lot of things – a crime drama, a thriller, a hard-boiled mystery, and above all else as a nod to vampire-themed Hindu mythology. The first episode starts off as something out of 24 with looming sound cues and shots of a busy shipyard on an overcast day, but what begins resembling a straightly played thriller winds up looking more like a storyline on Fringe.
A college reporter named Lily has developed a source inside of a crime syndicate called – get this – “The Syndicate,” because bad guys hate euphemisms. But when Lily meets her source at a lonely parking garage she gets ambushed by a hit man who shoots her dead. The end. Wow, that wrapped up neatly…or did it? As it turns out Lily wakes up alive and well from the attack, and the mystery behind how she survived the fatal shooting becomes Vetala’s MacGuffin.
More here, including a clip.
The Vetala looks pretty cool. I like that it’s based in Hindu mythology. Mythology in any form fascinates me. What about you? Do you think The Vetala looks good, does it interest you?
