Warm Bodies ‘Ad Nauseum’

First off, let me apologize for the terrible title. It got stuck in my head for reasons that will become clear later, and the only way to get it out of my head was to actually use it. HA! Moving on.

So I am coming back at’cha after yet another hiatus. And I am not going to apologize for the absence, because frankly, nobody really cares. We all have our lives, and things come in and out of it at alarming rates. We make time for somethings, and let others go, revisiting them when we must. We cannot keep all of the balls of our juggling act in the air at all times, and any attempt to do so will make you feel inadequate at all of them. And you will feel like you are harboring some raging crazy lunatic in your head. Ask me how I know.

So the Great Grad-School Hiatus continues. Maybe.

For now, I have a post for you.

So I have heard that ‘Warm Bodies’ is a decent flick. It’s been getting talked about quite a bit at the reputable film and lit nooks like Bad Ass Digest and LitReactor, and apparently also in places you wouldn’t expect a movie based on a YA novel with Shakespearean tendencies to be discussed. The thing is, I really didn’t have any interest in it, what with the poster that is freakishly reminiscent of Twilight (which you all know is one of my LOVE TO HATE go-to’s) and the fact that I have zero time to get to the theater these days.

But getting back to that poster.

I don’t think I even have to explain why one reminded me of the other. Kristen Stewart and Teresa Palmer look like sisters in these two posters, and Nicholas Hoult is rocking that same tousled “I have seen horrors in my non-life, but my boyish and honest innocence shines through” look as Robert Pattinson.

But it was a book first! So, this means I should read it. So should you, because according to Faraci, this story shifts the zombie genre in a fundamental way, and if the Zombie Apocalypse genre is a mirror of our societal fears, then I want to witness that shift. It isn’t often that you can watch the shift of something entrenched in the current zeitgeist as it occurs. Hell, some could even say that when Devin labeled it, he automatically situated the occurrence as a thing of the past, but I am fine overlooking that bit of perspective in this instance. I am particularly keen to read this book to see how the question of ownership of one’s soul and emotions is addressed. From what I understand, R eats pieces of Julie’s boyfriend’s (who he killed) brain and experiences the dead lover’s emotions. So I want to know – does R really feel this way about Julie or is he simply absorbing external energy? Does it make a difference? Does the fact that he has “inherited” these emotions make them any less his? I’m kind of fascinated by that aspect…

So anyone else read it? Seen the movie? What do you think?

Oh, and one last thought: if the two main star-crossed lovers of the movie are named R and Julie, the Shakespearean influence isn’t that hidden.