, November 2, 2016
Daily Bafflements
The North Dakota Access Pipeline and zombie of the year
Zombie film producers want action figures, not social problems. / Gervasio Varela
• The pipeline protests in North Dakota illustrate how difficult it is for communities to agitate successfully against corporations, which the law regards as people, when corporations want to take over the nature they value. Would granting legal personhood to nature help?
• George A. Romero says he couldn’t get his socially-conscious zombie films made today, though they are arguably still relevant:
When we made the film, I thought that we were talking about miscommunication—people who, even when faced with impossible and improbable situations, still argue among themselves about petty things rather than facing the problem.
A.S. Hamrah wrote about the Brad-Pitt-ification of zombie flicks in Baffler no. 28.
• Oh, Bono.
• The numbers are in, and Americans like to read about . . . work.