What would be the scientific reason (scientific, religious or magical) for why undead beings (originally humans) are restricted to only eating human flesh, and why vampires only feed on human blood, when there's plenty of other animals they can feed on?
2006-11-06 03:40:41 · 21 answers · asked by Sarmad S 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
I'm writing a horror story about a cannibalistic zombie. It feasts on human flesh obviously to make the srory more scarey (as opposed to eating cows, etc), so I'd like to mention some explanation to why it's restricted to eating only human flesh.
2006-11-06 05:05:54 · update #1
Zombies originate out of Haiti, Not the Hollywood kind but that's where the idea of zombies came from. They are not flesh eaters, but to make them seem more vicious Hollywood had to make them a threat to us (people) or the movie just wouldn't have been very scary. Vampires drink blood because in history many people (Vlad the Impaler, Countess Elizabeth) (the two who help create the book Dracula) Blood is the very reason for life. So imaginably Blood would be the source for vampires to live.
2006-11-06 04:15:43 · answer #1 · answered by Charisma 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because film scripts are written by people who must get out a story that other people will pay good money to go and see. the best way of doing this is to think up far fetched things to fill the gaps that exist in between peoples ears. The more far fetched - the better.
No one likes to think about being eaten (alive!) no matter if what is eating you is a zombie, a great white shark or a tiny bug. When I was a child I was nipped by an earwig, this caused me to jump and to fall into the toilet, good job there were no sharks swimming in there, or a zombie taking a well deserved break.
2006-11-09 08:03:11 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a ratio balance. Zombies and Vampires could eat off animals, but the animals aren't enough to sustain them. The human flesh is greater than an animal and will keep them satisfied longer.
Think in our terms, if you were to eat a hotdog it would take care of your hunger for a little bit, but if you were to eat a steak that would satisfy you much longer than a hotdog. Same goes for zombies and vampires, and besides if they were to only live off animals they would need to feed much more and for vampires they could do so, with long term effects, but a zombie would soon decay. It is human flesh that keeps a zombie intact and from falling apart from decomposition. It will eventually happen anyways, but eating human flesh a equal nutrient to their appetite than what a animal would be prolongs their decomposition. Vampires only need blood to live on and animal blood is no where near as potent as a human's.
2006-11-06 11:53:28 · answer #3 · answered by Fallen 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The real answer...
If the horror story showed the zombies going around eating cows, instead of humans, it wouldn't be as scary.
The "scientific" answer you ask for..
Well, supposedly Vampires CAN eat animal blood.. but the ones who do become more bestial.. sharing more traits with animals that human.
You know.. you are what you eat.
Zombies probably eat humans because A) we taste better.. more tender and such.. and B) they are jealous of what they've lost and want the rest of the humans to join them.
2006-11-06 12:14:46 · answer #4 · answered by Momma CAT 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i am speaking here of the only true zombie, the george romero zombie, (night, dawn, day and land of the dead).
the zombie takes no nutrition from what it ingests, it is working purely on instinct, most likely a confused desire to be with other humans and the desire to eat and satisfy hunger. the disease that causes zombieness seems somehow to preserve the body slowing the rate of decay with the neo cortex the last area to be affected. zombies of this nature can in the case of early revival function for as long as 10-12 years.
2006-11-07 19:33:03 · answer #5 · answered by davidtrueofvoice 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you're looking at this a little too deeply. If the setting was a city, humans would simply be the commonest live food supply. That and tales of deer being hunted through the woods just aren't as compelling as, say, a busty 18 year old cheerleader being chased through the woods. And you can't forget that human brains are so very tasty.
mmm brains....brains...
2006-11-06 11:45:38 · answer #6 · answered by rob p 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's just the institutional bias against the differently-incarnated!
Most "undead" (BTW, that's a word only acceptable for differently-incarnated to call each other) are good, decent beings who would never harm anyone else.
Most of the ones I know are vegetarians (although the Nosferatic-Americans I know stick to hormone-free, biodynamic farm animals).
It's time we started giving the differently-incarnated the respect they deserve!
2006-11-06 11:45:03 · answer #7 · answered by kent_shakespear 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Would you be scared if they were feasting on cows or pigs or chickens or other things like we do? It just adds to the creepy factor to imagine someone who is hunting you down for the soul purpose of eating you. Takes away from it if they are just eating the same thing that we do.
2006-11-06 11:42:36 · answer #8 · answered by cream 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In many zombie movies the zombies need to eat the pituitary gland in the brain to ease some sort of pain that goes along with being a zombie, hence the zombie cliche: "BRRAAAAAAAAINNNS"
2006-11-06 11:47:31 · answer #9 · answered by bored 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the zombie maybe getting something out of the flesh other than just the meat. some ancient tribes cannibleised the dead of thier enemies to gain their power, maybe the zombie absorbs life energy [its real sustinance] through eating its victims.
2006-11-09 15:24:29 · answer #10 · answered by BERNON W 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋