It feels like it's been forever since I just tried to paint something for myself. As in, not a Marine or something for 3/3. WO Quigley would probably shit his pants with rage if he knew I was doing this and not the USMC art he wants, but it's 3am and I just feel like thinking about zombies.
I miss zombies. I love zombies. I love how simple, sad, and confused their faces are. I love how they stumble and moan, the amount of entertainment I get out of the little things zombies do is kind of weird. Sure, everyone loves a good zombie flick, they like seeing a group of survivors fight their way out of a horde to safety. They like seeing what the people are going through, and talking about how they would handle it.
When I watch a zombie movie I don't care about the people, I try to think about what the zombie must be going through. People think of them as mindless entities, just roaming and eating. In the simplest of terms, that's what they are. But on some level, consciousness exists. Writing Charlie the Zombie, I started thinking about what he must be seeing. They do see, after all. They see, they smell, they touch, and at some level, they're able to think. If only to discern what's food and what isn't, people always say it's "instinct." I've heard it said that the difference between man and animal is free will, and that animals are driven by instinct. While I can't really say whether or not this is true, I do know that no matter how dumb I may think my dog Charlie is, there is still thought going on behind his blank stares.
Charlie the Dog, much like Charlie the Zombie, sees the world in front of him. He dreams and thinks just like any human, albeit at a lower level of intelligence. No matter how you look at it though, Charlie, like any animal with a brain, thinks. This leads me to think that a zombie must think on some level as well. The brain, damaged from lack of blood flow, still processes information and still produces images and thoughts in his head. These thoughts are damaged though, the images distorted and turned into a horrifying kind of reality only fully illustrated in our worst nightmares. The deepest parts of the brain are the only ones left active, childhood memories and scars buried deeper than we can even remember are the reality of a zombie. The nightmare only growing more frightening and distorted as the brain rots, as zombies do rot, and ultimately the creature will slip away.
People think of zombies as just hungry, wandering and trying to find food. Perhaps there is a reason they see us as food though, perhaps in their horrifying reality we're represented to them as some horrible childhood figure and in their state lack the intelligence to stop themselves from wanting to kill us. Maybe to a zombie, eating the flesh of a living human provides them with some kind of respite--a fullfilled revenge of sorts in their wandering daze.
I dunno, this is all just speculation obviously, and the focal point of Charlie the Zombie. I urge you all, the next time you're playing Resident Evil or watching Day of the Dead; ask yourself, What is this zombie doing here? What events after his death led him to this point, only to be killed by the hero.
Seeing the world from their eyes might in fact open your own.
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