Many of the freshman seminar classes allow students to think creatively as they adjust to the college lifestyle. One of these seminar classes, however, turned their students into zombies. Literally.
Jennifer Campbell, lecturer in the university’s writing department, developed “Using our BRAINS: An Interdisciplinary Study of Zombies in Popular Culture” to be taught as a FSEM this fall. She used her academic financial budget to hire a professional makeup artist to make over students for attending the Denver Zombie Crawl on Oct. 22.
After witnessing the rise of zombies in popular culture over the past five years, Campbell decided to create a class that could examine how zombies cross disciplines and have become a popular topic not only in the media, but in academic studies such as science and anthropology.
Students have read academic studies produced in scientific, media and anthropological backgrounds, which has enabled discussion about why zombies have become so popular in our culture. They are also reading “World War Z” by Max Brooks, a novel in the form of oral history surrounding a zombie apocalypse taking place in 2006.
The classes begins by looking at the history and evolution of zombies through Voodoo, reanimation and contagion.
According, to Campbell, as zombie films have moved from B-roll films to the star-studded screen, zombies films have always reflected the era they were produced and have often been used to create political statements.
“We look at how zombie films and the idea of zombies reflect cultural anxieties,” said Campbell.
When the time came to make a decision on how to spend their academic budget for their class, they decided to hire Rick Bongiovanni, a professional makeup artist who has worked on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Godzilla, to name a few.
On the morning of Oct. 22, students gathered in Campbell’s office to receive their transformation from Bongiovanni. Throughout the makeover, Bongiovanni discussed the typical day of a makeup artists, the hours he puts into films and television shows, as well as how they create the special effects of realistic zombies.
The mob of zombies then headed downtown to the 16th Street Mall to join the hoards of zombies forming there for Zombie Crawl. On their way, the mob interacted with the wedding taking place at the Evans Chapel as well as the Homecoming parade. Of course, there was an assignment attached to this escapade. The students were asked to write a feature article as though for a newspaper, discussing the event and the relevance and interest zombies of the participants.
“I wanted to hear the students’ reactions to the fact that thousands of people had come together and created costumes all for the cause of zombies,” said Campbell. “When else do that many people come together for a common cause?”
Campbell will offer this FSEM again next fall. She admits to sprinkling a healthy dose of zombie knowledge into her other courses, and she will be teaching WRIT 1122 in the winter and WRIT 1133 in the spring.
