MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

As noted by numerous authors, the methods of zombification portrayed in films in recent decades increasingly reflect the general public’s fears about the perceived dangers of extreme science and technology. From the deadly radiation brought back to Earth by a space probe in Night of the Living Dead, to the T-virus of the Resident Evil series and myriad other examples, zombie outbreaks in popular media demonstrate that monstrous science breeds literal monsters. The central lesson taught is that of Victor Frankenstein - scientists cannot hope to control the powers unleashed when playing God, whether it be with our genetic code or the atom.

A particularly modern bogeyman is the particle accelerator or “atom-smasher.” Hurtling particles around humongous high-tech racetracks at nearly the speed of light before intentionally colliding them to recreate the conditions seen not long after the Big Bang sounds incredibly exciting to particle physicists and simultaneously frightening to some non-scientists. As demonstrated by the legal suits, hysterical discussion board posts, and, importantly, fictional disasters portrayed in popular media (especially related to the 2000 and 2008 completions of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and Large Hadron Collider, respectively), a segment of the population is uncertain as to the safety of these machines. Will they create a black hole, punch a hole into another dimension, or perhaps even cause the destabilization of the very fabric of reality? Or, perhaps, create zombies! This paper situates examples of particle physics zombies and related undead creatures (e.g. Decay, The Flash, The Rising, The Outer Limits) within the larger framework of unfounded public fears of accelerator technology and experiments.