burial customs, death, zombies, and art
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:19 pm
If you like zombies, read on. If reading about decomposing bodies strikes your curiosity, read on. If you're not into that sort of stuff, this won't be for you.
This is a bit of an old topic.. during halloween I was reading about how bodies decompose, in an effort to come up with a plausible theory on how zombies are made. I was shooting for 80% fact, 20% magic sort of a ratio, so that a lot of it could happen, just not all of it. A theoretical problem I had with zombies (still do) is that they move around using decomposing muscle, and yet they're super strong. (or invincible) Clearly, I think there should be a time limit on just how decomposed a body can be for it to function as a zombie. Well, long story short, the time window seems to be about 72 hours in ideal conditions where rigor mortis reaches maximum. After that, the muscles start decomposing and your zombie is going to be weaker the later it comes to life. (or death)
Of course, there's the problem of animals and bugs eating the flesh before it even rots. If the muscles are gone, then forget zombie walking. The body may be fresh, but without actuators it ain't moving. (nevermind HOW you actuate them) So I started looking into caskets/coffins, embalming and burial customs. Apparently, in the US, embalming is very common, and people are mostly buried. Cremation seems to be unpopular. Embalming is good for zombies since it delays the decay process, though I'm not so sure how the embalming fluid affects joints and muscles.
I read a lot of questions and comments going to morticians (there's a forum for everything), and there seems to be a wide spread concern for people's loved one decomposing, or being eaten by bugs. People pay lots of dollars for fancy, heavy duty coffins. Some advertise to even stop the body from decomposing, which turns out to be impossible. The most problematic ones are the ones that have seals, to seal out water and supposedly makes the buyer feel like their loved ones will stay in there fresh, like tupperware. In reality, bacteria that break down the body release gasses, and create pressure inside the sealed coffin. (now a bomb) The body still putrefies and turns to liquid. So imagine a casket full of, um.. "liquid" under high pressure. Bad idea. Some newer models even have "vents". Even worse idea. Casket explosions and leaks do happen.
What struck me was people's sincere concern to keep their loved ones from decaying. That makes people buy exploding caskets and avoid cremation. On a scientific level, the process of decomposition is like a symphony driven by a perfect math equation. Everything about it, even including the bugs, starts the intricate choreography of turning dead meat into dirt the moment the heart stops beating. Having read about what happens, it seems very natural, and more inevitable than taxes. Why would people want to mess with the process? It's written all over (in science) that it is what nature intends to do. A dead body is not meant to stick around forever. (although I still want to figure out how to make zombies)
Historically, humans have messed with the decay process for a very long time. Cremation is even artificial in that it speeds up the process of decay. Mummifying, various methods of embalming, plastination, the list goes on and on. Does messing with the decay process somehow make us feel like we can control death? Or even if can't control death itself, perhaps it makes us feel more acquainted with it? And somehow that eases the sorrow and mystery of death?
And, coming around full circle here.. Zombies. The fascination with zombies, or my fascination.. perhaps it's a subconscious effort to ease my own pains and uncertainty about death. Zombies are symbolic. They reanimate, cause grief, and some hero shows up with a gun and blows their brains away. Victory. Victory over zombies signifies victory of death. But I'm not interested in winning. My zombie theory is much more elementary. I'm trying to figure out how to make a contracted, rigor mortis, ATP less muscle extend. So, it's less a zombie, but more "dead body that can move", or even more humbly, "a single strand of dead muscle that can move".
Mentally traversing the exact threshold of life and death is an interesting exercise. Quickly, you run into the issue of, "well, if muscles need ATP, and ATP is part of what makes life what it is, then what exactly needs to re-enter the body?", and more importantly, "what exactly leaves the body when it dies?" and, "what exactly IS life anyway". Anyway, thought it'd be interesting to share with the great minds on Z. Lots of art implications too. The theme of death is something I keep hitting, but yet to digest fully in an artistic sense. But I think it's there, like a veil over all my more serious material. Serious, still, and inevitable.
This is a bit of an old topic.. during halloween I was reading about how bodies decompose, in an effort to come up with a plausible theory on how zombies are made. I was shooting for 80% fact, 20% magic sort of a ratio, so that a lot of it could happen, just not all of it. A theoretical problem I had with zombies (still do) is that they move around using decomposing muscle, and yet they're super strong. (or invincible) Clearly, I think there should be a time limit on just how decomposed a body can be for it to function as a zombie. Well, long story short, the time window seems to be about 72 hours in ideal conditions where rigor mortis reaches maximum. After that, the muscles start decomposing and your zombie is going to be weaker the later it comes to life. (or death)
Of course, there's the problem of animals and bugs eating the flesh before it even rots. If the muscles are gone, then forget zombie walking. The body may be fresh, but without actuators it ain't moving. (nevermind HOW you actuate them) So I started looking into caskets/coffins, embalming and burial customs. Apparently, in the US, embalming is very common, and people are mostly buried. Cremation seems to be unpopular. Embalming is good for zombies since it delays the decay process, though I'm not so sure how the embalming fluid affects joints and muscles.
I read a lot of questions and comments going to morticians (there's a forum for everything), and there seems to be a wide spread concern for people's loved one decomposing, or being eaten by bugs. People pay lots of dollars for fancy, heavy duty coffins. Some advertise to even stop the body from decomposing, which turns out to be impossible. The most problematic ones are the ones that have seals, to seal out water and supposedly makes the buyer feel like their loved ones will stay in there fresh, like tupperware. In reality, bacteria that break down the body release gasses, and create pressure inside the sealed coffin. (now a bomb) The body still putrefies and turns to liquid. So imagine a casket full of, um.. "liquid" under high pressure. Bad idea. Some newer models even have "vents". Even worse idea. Casket explosions and leaks do happen.
What struck me was people's sincere concern to keep their loved ones from decaying. That makes people buy exploding caskets and avoid cremation. On a scientific level, the process of decomposition is like a symphony driven by a perfect math equation. Everything about it, even including the bugs, starts the intricate choreography of turning dead meat into dirt the moment the heart stops beating. Having read about what happens, it seems very natural, and more inevitable than taxes. Why would people want to mess with the process? It's written all over (in science) that it is what nature intends to do. A dead body is not meant to stick around forever. (although I still want to figure out how to make zombies)
Historically, humans have messed with the decay process for a very long time. Cremation is even artificial in that it speeds up the process of decay. Mummifying, various methods of embalming, plastination, the list goes on and on. Does messing with the decay process somehow make us feel like we can control death? Or even if can't control death itself, perhaps it makes us feel more acquainted with it? And somehow that eases the sorrow and mystery of death?
And, coming around full circle here.. Zombies. The fascination with zombies, or my fascination.. perhaps it's a subconscious effort to ease my own pains and uncertainty about death. Zombies are symbolic. They reanimate, cause grief, and some hero shows up with a gun and blows their brains away. Victory. Victory over zombies signifies victory of death. But I'm not interested in winning. My zombie theory is much more elementary. I'm trying to figure out how to make a contracted, rigor mortis, ATP less muscle extend. So, it's less a zombie, but more "dead body that can move", or even more humbly, "a single strand of dead muscle that can move".
Mentally traversing the exact threshold of life and death is an interesting exercise. Quickly, you run into the issue of, "well, if muscles need ATP, and ATP is part of what makes life what it is, then what exactly needs to re-enter the body?", and more importantly, "what exactly leaves the body when it dies?" and, "what exactly IS life anyway". Anyway, thought it'd be interesting to share with the great minds on Z. Lots of art implications too. The theme of death is something I keep hitting, but yet to digest fully in an artistic sense. But I think it's there, like a veil over all my more serious material. Serious, still, and inevitable.