Classics and Zombies

Went to Sam’s club today and browsed the book section with Kanga. A book cover caught her eye and she showed me. It was a zombie lady. I saw the title: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. What?! I thought. I then glanced at the author: Jane Austen and Seth Grabame-Smith. What in the world?! My mind shouted. So, of course, I read the summary on the back. The final sentence said, “Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.” I was floored, stupified, and disgusted. Now, I like a good classic and enjoy mind candy once in awhile too but, each on their own merits.

What is with our Media today? Dumbing down a masterpiece of literature and telling people that now it is something they will want to read. Telling them that anything “good” and worth their time has to be filled with gore, sex and/or watered down. Striving for excellence is rarely emphasized. Instead mediocrity is the norm. The growing popularity of horror, You fill in the blank for Dummies, and sex as “art” to sell products reveals a dissatisfaction with life, acceptance of laziness, and absence of true creativity. What does that tell you about our society? I asked my husband this and he said, “That we’re going backwards.” I agree, I think it is an indicator of something we don’t want as a societal trend. For me, homeschooling and revealing to my circle of influence these observations and the fact that absolute principles need to be taught and reiterated are a start to correcting this disturbing drift.

Horror desensitizes.
Dumbing Down robs us of freedom.
Sex is not art, it is sacred.
Life is a gift.
Laziness should not be glorified.

...Creativity inspires, not requires. :)