Where did this idea even come from? In the recent release of the new season of Wednesday, there is a brain eating zombie similar to those classics like the film Return Of The Living Dead released in 1985 which was the first one to bring the idea to light in the first place in the world in the 60's! But why? Why did Romero, the director of the movie decided that the dead would crave the brains of the living?
Other director's such as in White Zombie released in 1932 and I Walked with a Zombie by the year of 1943 are the more traditional zombie movies. The zombies in these are based on the traditions of Haitian voodoo. So why did Romero made them that way?
Well, while other writers and directors for various fiction pieces thought that would be the most gory and scary. It is revealed by the author of Return of The Living Dead that the reason for zombies eating brains is because it hurts to be dead, as they can feel themselves decomposing and by eating the brain of the person who was alive eases their pain much like a drug. Such as dopamine. Although he said all of this wasn't in his mind at first and it started as a joke when producing the movie, the "brain eating zombie" it actually popular so they went with it.
It's silly. But let's dive deeper. If the zombies are dead bodies which are infected, why do they bite and keep eating? Shouldn't it just spread at first bite and then move on? why go around eating every single bit of the person the caught making it impossible to spread the virus on to them cause with barely having a body they wouldn't even be able to move while doing it!
The thing is the zombie doesn't need to eat. The infection animating the corpse does.
Because if the infection animating the corpse didn't convince the body to bite others, then it wouldn't spread. Like the Spinochordodes tellinii, this is how it propagates. This is a parasite that controls a grosshopper, it literally makes it dive into a pool of water (so it will kill itself) and the parasite can burst out of its body.
The infection makes the zombie bite, the zombie doesn't want it. It's just hijacking the mechanisms for hunger and eating in order to spread, the same way rabies makes animals more aggressive to spread. - Natural selection, baby. It's gruesome.
But then why keep eating beyond spreading? We know they are not intentionally spreading the infection. Their instinct is to feed and they are bad enough at it that most people escape after a bite or two. If you cant escape them they just keep on eating because that is what they do.
In a more scientific approach you could say the zombie needs the flesh and brain chemicals to sustain its rotting form. Some zombies, while still decaying, get a bit of regeneration, strength boost, or maybe some mental clarity from ingesting the flesh and neural chemicals they can no longer produce naturally. SPOILER: Such as Isaac from Wednesday. CONTINUES: It highly depends on the type of zombie. Some theories propose that the nutrients in brains, such as serotonin, vitamin B12, and phosphorus, could provide essential energy and chemicals to sustain the decaying zombie body.
Now getting into a more horrible suggestion. Why don't we eat human's brains if it's so good for these undead beings?
- Firstly: humans do not contain the same caloric value as other dietary animal option.
- Second, we're not dead, of course.
- Third: Cannibalism was for ritual purposes rather than hunger. The headhunters of Papua New Guinea are known for their ritual cannibalism. Cannibalism is not universally practice due to the fact that it could be deadly. Prion diseases, fatal brain- eating malformations, can spread by consuming contaminated flesh of humans or other animals. The human brain is more contaminated with prions than any other body part. Examples include kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, and mad cow disease in animals. The kuru epidemic is associated with a ritual of feasting on the brains of the dead. Ultimately consuming human brains will result in humans becoming very ill.
Nice curiosity for today right? Tune in for when i get to dive deep into other weird shit in media, i hope you've enjoyed this one. Thanks and until next time!