Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan in "Vampires Never Die" and James Parker in "Our Zombies, Ourselves," all explain how Vampires and Zombies have taken root and made themselves at home in our culture. While popular culture may not effect academic study directly, it is an escape for students, and teachers, which may help them indirectly. After a long day of school then of studying at home, one’s mind may become worn out and tired, therefore it is impossible to think straight and answer questions correctly. The mind need breaks in order to operate properly and popular culture provides this.

There are several things one can gather from popular culture about human nature and society; the stories did a great job in showing this, especially “Why Vampires Never Die”. The fact that humans created myths, legends, fantasy creatures, etc. can say quite a bit. They came from people’s imagination, which will, subconsciously, have fragments of themselves within these creations. Toro and Hogan say “Monsters, like angels, are invoked by our individual and collective needs” and “In other words, whereas other monsters emphasize what is mortal in us, the vampire emphasizes the eternal in us”, meaning fantasy came from our desire for excitement, action, adventure, and anything different. People want to live in a fantasy, and they do not even mind the side effects of monster; in fact, the side effects and risks may add to the intrigue; much like how people constantly ride roller coasters and watch horror movies all the time despite the fright they receive. Risks, living on the edge, fighting for survival, control over the lives of others, deep down inside everyone wants these things, whether they admit it or not.

Zombies are a perfect example of these yearnings. While people do not wish to become zombies themselves, usually, the monster provides an enemy. With an enemy, one can fight to survive and have the adventure they have longed for. Zombies also give people a chance to think that they may be special. Zombie entertainment always involves most of the world’s population somehow turning into mindless contagious walking undead, usually by a virus, but there are always those few lucky survivors. Everyone wants to be special, and being one of the few to survive the random selection of zombification is the proof they need. Parker says “Once again, and with great gladness, we see shotguns, frantically tuned radios, smoke pillars of apocalypse on the horizon—the full zombie opera” expressing our joy to see the chaos of the world were laws and morals are in ruin due to an outbreak which will set us free from the mundane.

Parker, James. "Our Zombies, Ourselves." Atlantic Monthly Apr. 2011: 32-33. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Sept. 2015.
Del Torro, Guillermo, and Chuck Hogan. "Why Vampires Never Die." The New York Times. N.p., 30 July 2009. Web. 27 Sept. 2015.