Zombies versus Vampires

Hey guys! Adventure Van here with another college paper!

In today’s modern age of blockbusters, extremely diverse political structures, and Donald Trump, it is very hard to find an exact correlation between movies and the current government. There is one, however, in that both political groups have a monster that is correlated with them from the other side. As much as it is utilized in comics and satire, Hollywood and independent producers are both swayed towards creating movies about one specific monster during that monster’s respective political party’s stay in power. (Figure 1)

Before I can delve deeper into the symbolic meanings of these monsters, I must first describe them and their relations to the political parties. The Democratic Party is commonly associated with the monster archetype known as Vampires, while the Republican Party is usually related with the Zombie tropes. So, what are the specific Zombies and Vampires that I am talking about?

Vampires are not the same as they were many years ago, as comparisons of the written comparisons of Dracula (from Dracula) and Edward (from Twilight) can show easily. They are bloodsucking, sun hating creatures that trap, seduce, and otherwise torment young ladies to turn them into vampires of slightly less prestige. They hide away in dark caverns and castles, come from different countries and places, have different practices of government and religion, and are repelled by symbols of Jesus and the New Testament.

Zombies are usually true to their origins in the vast majority of modern representations. They are brain eaters, although not picky in what they end up consuming; mindless creatures that move in swarms. They devour the helpless to make more of themselves, and will ignore harm they cause themselves for a goal they may or may not get. They attack humanity in an outright war and will likely win due to their brute numbers. By the same token, they are usually weak when alone, easily tricked, and pay no attention to any other zombies around them.

So, why are there comparisons between the reigning political parties of the United States and two sets of monsters, of which neither came from the U.S.A.? It is really quite simple, and easily correlated to the standing and perspectives of the politics of our system. With seeing the complete lack of bipartisan standing in our current political sphere, it is a very easy and simple comparison to make to paint your enemies as monsters. I’ll start off with why is it often that vampires are associated with leftists.

For one, they are often used both as examples of parasites, using the common people as means to continue living lavish lifestyles. For vampires, this is comparable to sucking the blood of innocents to continue their survival in large, expansive castles and mansions. With the Democrats, then, this ‘sucking’ is commonly referred to as the ‘tax hikes’ Republicans promise we’ll get if we elect liberals, and everyone has heard of the infamous ‘Liberal Ivory Tower’ which is brought up every so often as a way of saying that leftists are elitists and removed from society.

They also are comparable in the fact that the vast majority of them are foreigners. Vampires often have different religions, different political structures and social ones, and therefore are heavily removed from what the country they were actively living in. This can be comparable to how non-Christian religions are viewed in the United States, and how many members of other religions are often Democrats. Some Liberals further to the left of the political spectrum also have a strange message of acceptance towards other economic forms than straight Capitalism.

They are also destroyers of the innocent. Dracula and other vampires easily are able to seduce and bite young maidens for their own pleasure and to transform them into much more vile beasts. Young men would also fall prey to a vampire in many a novel. Likewise, Liberals are all for sexual education, destroying the ‘sanctity of marriage’ by allowing people to have other sexualities and not be punished for it, and abortion, all of which the innocent are characterized as not having.

Aspects of other sexualities and simple freedom with sex is exemplified by the female vampire. They are well known for their own freedoms, having a bit more glorious detail put into their works about how exactly they lure their prey into their embrace. They are heavily linked to the portrayal of the negatives of sex and the male ownership of the females. (Citation 2) The corruption of the virginal women and prostitution of themselves to males only to take a bite off of them afterwards, literally, are all things the Right stands against.  

That is quite obviously shown that the most common way of defeating one of these vicious corrupting foreigners is a good, white, Christian, male, armed with a cross, garlic, and a stake. Those who doubt the religion will fall, but the true of heart stand strong and can defeat even the most vicious of creatures and resist the charms they attempt. But what do the Republicans have for their own little monsters?

The Grand Old Party is known for their more grassroots movement, and their monster reflects that in literally coming from the ground in most cases. The Zombie is often applied to the Republican, and often with many apt comparisons springing from it. The most obvious one is the fact that they are often characterized as mindless monsters that seek only for short bursts of fulfillment and to change others into their view set. No matter the personal views of the individual, upon introduction to the undead, they only have the same thoughts as everyone else in the horde, unable to think for themselves. When seeing many people parrot the exact words off of Fox News, it is possible that others have thought to themselves about how this horde of mindless, single brained creatures are easily comparable to your average zombie.

In almost all media, it is impossible to either convince a zombie to change their ways, or to have them change their minds. All they want are brains and to convert others, and they don’t care if between them and their goal is a 50-foot drop, they’ll shamble onwards until they fall to their doom. This can sadly be summed up with the amount of Rightwing voters who believed that after ‘Obamacare’ was destroyed, they’d still be covered by the Affordable Care Act, which are the same thing. With examples like this, it’s hard for those more knowledgeable to not be horrified as they watch voters shoot themselves in the foot. (Citation 3)

Anyone who can talk to the average Republican voter may realize how the members of the Right don’t see how their actions affect others or realize that there are other reasons for something. Most don’t realize that Planned Parenthood doesn’t get government funding to do abortions already, and that abortions make up an extreme minimum of their program time (Citation 4). And many more on top of that don’t seem to think outside of their local communities in how things like homeless shelters, more accessible schooling, and other options can vastly improve other communities, because it doesn’t affect their own and only makes their taxes go up. This is quite easily comparable to zombies not realizing when a fellow undead next to them keels over from an arrow to the head. In most cases, they’ll continue wandering in search of food if whatever killed them doesn’t have a large enough flash or bang to attract their attention.

And of course, it takes a group of people with varied talents and abilities to survive and rebuild society. All of these people will be ‘freethinkers’, and therefore will get into arguments with each other, but will be able to work together for the common goal of recreating civilization and living longer. Often comparable with Liberals, these survivors will be better, smarter, and stronger than those who already fell to the disease or curse, and are often willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

All that being said, these comparisons to monsters help dehumanize the political party we disagree with, making it easier to blindly hate and neutralize some of the more horrible things of that party. It’s easier to deal with the fact that 6% of the population is Nazis if you’re comparing them with zombies. But maybe we should begin facing the real monsters among us, and not what we’d like to cliché our opponents as.

Figure 1

Bibliography:

Figure 1: West, Marc. “Correlation of the Week: Zombies, Vampires, Democrats and Republicans.” MSS, 23 May 2009, www.mrscienceshow.com/2009/05/correlation-of-week-zombies-vampires.html.

Citation 2: Dijkstra, Bram. “Dracula and his Daughters”, (Page 31), Idols of Perversity.

Citation 3: Dropp, Kyle, and Brendan Nyhan. “One-Third Don't Know Obamacare and Affordable Care Act Are the Same.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Feb. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/upshot/one-third-dont-know-obamacare-and-affordable-care-act-are-the-same.html.

Citation 4: Parenthood, Source: Planned. “Fact Check: How Does Planned Parenthood Spend That Government Money?” Minnesota Public Radio News, 5 Aug. 2015, www.mprnews.org/story/2015/08/05/npr-planned-parenthood-fact-check.