LIT 110 THIRD STUDY GUIDE: ZOMBIES
I. Zombies
1. Name ten zombie texts (literature, film, TV, etc.).
2. Name three facets or components that help make up the character of the zombie.
3. Name one way in which representations of zombies have changed dramatically over the last two decades.
4. Explain three reasons why zombies might be so ubiquitous (common/widespread) in contemporary culture.
5. List five different contemporary political or social issues that the figure of the zombie have been used to explore. For bonus credit
list a specific book, film, video game, etc. that uses zombies to explore each issue.
6. Write a paragraph explaining how one moral dilemma raised by zombie narratives is resolved.
7. Briefly explain what you think the implications or ramifications of this resolution are.
8. What is your favorite zombie text and why?
9. Briefly explain three ways in which zombie narratives differ from Whitman’s poetry.
10. Briefly explain three ways in which zombie narratives resemble Eliot’s poetry.
II. World War Z the novel
1. In Max Brook’s novel World War Z, in what country is Patient Zero (the first zombie) found?
2. List three aspects of globalization that are raised in the novel.
3. Explain what the Redekker Plan is and why it is significant.
4. What role does technology play in fighting zombies in the novel?
5. What direction are North Americans told to go to escape the zombies?
6. How does Roy Elliot try to inspire people during the zombie wars?
7. What urban and architectural structures were used as defenses against zombies?
8. What physical disability helps Kondo Tatsumi survive?
9. What military vehicle does Admiral Xu Zhicai use to escape China?
10. People from which three of the following occupations were interviewed in the novel: a stripper, an astrophysicist, a pot dealer, an
astronaut, a chef, a musician, a vice president, and an organ surgeon.
III. World War Z the film
1. List three significant differences between the novel and film versions of World War Z.
2. In the Brad Pitt movie World War Z, what country does Pitt’s character (Gerry Lane) visit to search for patient Zero?
3. From what country does the tenth man (who thinks outside the box) come?
4. Briefly explain the significance of the plane crash in the movie.
5. How is the cause and cure of the zombie outbreak different in the movie from how it is portrayed in the novel?
6. How does Brad Pitt find the cure for the zombie outbreak?
7. Which text, novel or film, do you think ends most optimistically and why?
8. What do you think of Pitt’s acting in the film? Is it better or worse than his other performances that we have looked at? Does it
capture or distort the feel of the novel?
9. What is your favorite Pitt film and why?
10. Briefly explain what you have learned about Brad Pitt as an actor from this course.