Horror, of all the genres, is the only one that can provoke an involuntary visceral reaction.
Stephen Graham JonesRead
Most zombie stories, the problems they solve are not the actual zombies. The problems they solve are the human interactions.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Zombie stories often reflect deeper human issues rather than just the presence of zombies themselves.
Stephen Graham Jones highlights that the essence of zombie stories is not merely about the undead, but rather about the complexities of human interactions and relationships that arise in extreme situations, such as a zombie apocalypse. This suggests that the true focus of such narratives is on how people cope with crises and each other, revealing deeper truths about human nature and society.
Themes
ZombiesHuman InteractionsRelationshipsCrisisNarratives
In practice
Example use cases
During a book discussion group focused on interpreting hidden themes in horror literature.
More from Stephen Graham Jones
All quotes βWe watch a romantic comedy because we want to cry, say, or an action movie so we can participate in heroics. Horror's different. It can hit you with a moment of revulsion so hard you might want to erase the last five minutes of your life, please.
Stephen Graham JonesRead
I figure anytime you put an adjective before 'writer,' it's a way of dismissing the writer.
Stephen Graham JonesRead
The way humor's usually used in horror, it's as a pressure-release valve; without it, the drama would escalate out of all control almost immediately.
Stephen Graham JonesRead
Every time I lock my people in a spacecraft or land them on an asteroid, the blood wells up again, and I'm writing horror. Horror's my default setting. It's also where I prefer to write.
Stephen Graham JonesRead
Making people laugh is so much more difficult than making them sad. Too much fiction defaults to the somber, the tragic. This is because sad endings are easy in comparison - happy endings aren't at all simple to earn, especially when writing to an audience jaded by them.
Stephen Graham JonesRead
Similar quotes
It is futile to try to make the universe add up. But I guess we must go on anyhow.
Philip K. DickRead
As long as we have some definite idea about or some hope in the future, we cannot really be serious with the moment that exists right now.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
And so, lastly, does the very name of "Catholic", which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house.
Saint AugustineRead
What if we never 'get over' certain deaths, or our childhoods? What if the idea that we should have by now, or will, is a great palace lie? What if we're not supposed to? What if it takes a life time...?
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My disenchantment? Oh no, my dear, there are no disenchantments, merely progressions and styles of possession. To exist is to be spellbound.
Robert CooverRead
There is no doubt that there is a huge difference between human and nonhuman animals. But what we are overlooking is the fact that nonhuman animals are conscious beings, that they can suffer.
Peter SingerRead