The portrayal of both vampires and zombies has evolved over time. While vampires have developed a non-monstrous and even romantic object of human admiration, zombies have infiltrated the culture as one of the most popular monsters in cinema. They have evolved over time from an element of the voodoo religion, representing the manifestation of the anxieties caused by slavery, to today's very different role in modern media. With the humiliating nature and consequential role that zombies have brought into their portrayal, zombies fuel fear of the worst possibilities of an unexamined life. The zombie can be interpreted as representing everything that could occur in the negative spirit of humanity. Zombies now have largely religious undertones, particularly Christianity, with references to things like the seven deadly sins, the end of the world, and other more typical religious concepts like good versus evil within us. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The evolution of zombies has changed with the Westernization of folklore, with the media as the main influencer. The media has come to partly shape religion, and vice versa. Secularization is the concept that religion is less important and has less influence on a nation or people in general. With the rise of technological goods and the open availability of all information, media has become the most popular influencer. As Stephen King suggests, “the horror film has become the modern version of public lynching,” fictional stories fulfill a purpose for humanity. Plots and character development in pop culture have a way of influencing audiences towards certain concepts, fears, and ideals for the future. In "Vampire Gentlemen and Zombie Beasts" there is an analysis and description of zombie claims that religions, such as Christianity, can be applied to their advantage. A religious concept sparked by zombies is their implication of a greater purpose or meaning in life. Tenga and Zimmerman argue in "Vampire Gentlemen and Zombie Beasts: A Rendering of True Monstrosity" that the depiction of zombies can lead audiences to grasp meaning in life; “Zombie fiction warns that in a world without history, humanity will be assimilated into a global herd without purpose or meaning.” This alludes to the concept that a world without religion would be similar to the depiction of humans becoming zombies, a very powerful metaphor, where humanity no longer has the ability to distinguish between good and evil. Zombies drive fear into the worst possibilities of an unexamined life, representing everything that could happen in the negative spirit of humanity. Zombies represent humans after death, with the behavior of the corpse of whoever they belong to, but exaggerated. In this way, they are able to remind us of our ever-present feelings and judgments about ourselves. In “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” we revel in the ability to, as King puts it, “reestablish our feelings of essential normality. “While horror relieves us of the judgment between good and evil within ourselves, zombies go beyond this. They also represent, as Zimmerman and Tenga point out, “evolving versions of the story of confrontation between the living and the undead.” More than any other monster, zombies are close to human form but in a grotesque and unconscious reincarnation. They bring viewers closer to visualizing their inevitable future in death as they are essentially walking versions of decaying human bodiesof death as an inexplicable gruesomeness that can be both relieving and entertaining. King explains, “it pushes us to set aside our more civilized and adult propensity for analysis. . . this invitation to fall into simplicity, irrationality and even total madness” particularly channels the need for religion through their conceptual role in the afterlife, as one definition of Christianity states, “every wrong action is sin”. The most important sins to be aware of are the seven deadly sins, and most of them are found in the zombie depiction, as a sermon by Father Kocik states, “we call them “deadly” because they cause spiritual death.” Since most of the human race is exposed to or actively believes in some form of life after death, zombies belong to a fantasy about what kind of experience might be possible for us. Although zombies and vampires are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to monster depiction, they still have some similarities in which they represent some of the seven deadly sins. One of the seven deadly sins, and probably the most recognizable, represented by both vampires and zombies is gluttony. Gluttony is when there is an extreme desire to consume much more than necessary. Christian leaders also add that it is "the pursuit of this pleasure as an end in itself." This is shown as the zombies and vampires relentlessly consume their (human) food, in an equally aggressive and endless manner. Zimmerman and Tenga recognize the way of the zombies, “they are the poor, who toil ceaselessly but never have enough; their predation on humans is a demand for sustenance that has been denied them.” They are mechanical, bloodthirsty and aggressive in their hunting. They do not care about the well-being of all people and succeed in destroying societies. Zombies are notoriously horrific in their leap into action without a second thought, like many monsters, while vampires are essentially the same caricatures, but are perceived as a more romanticized type of monster. The most serious and cardinal of all sins is pride. Pride is identified as dangerously corrupt selfishness, when one places one's own desires and impulses before the well-being of all people. Zombies, and their indulgent, incessant consumption, are akin to consumer culture that is also relentlessly through marketing and advertising to create devoted and ravenous patrons. In “Vampire Gentlemen and Zombie Beasts,” “zombies spread across borders, erasing human memory and transforming everything in their path. in a crowd of thoughtless and undifferentiated consumers." This is similar to the consumerism prevalent today, with nearly all of our everyday products designed, with the help of science, to be addictive and create monetary benefits for large, aggressive corporations. The authors acknowledge that “frightening in their numbers, zombies are 'a literalization of what has already happened' in our mechanized, depersonalized, consumer-fueled age.” In this way, the zombies terrorizing cities in modern films are similar to our product-hungry reality. Another deadly sin represented by zombies is sloth. Sloth can be described as sadness for spiritual good, lack of feeling towards oneself or others, or a mental state that gives rise to boredom, apathy, indifference. It can also be defined as contempt which can lead to slowing one's spiritual progress towards eternal life and failure to do things one should do and omission of responsibilities (Dirk). Zombies are reincarnations of our lowest capacities, lacking self-control and our ability to,.