Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. We’ll look back one day and realize it ruined everything.
When I first heard about PPZ, I wanted to lobby the state legislature to change laws so that I could marry the thing. I love Jane Austen, and I love zombies. What, I ask you, could be better?
How, I wondered, could it be bad?
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is bad, though. It’s a nitpick that I’ve had before and I may be one of the only people picking this particular nit, but I wish that Seth Graeme-Smith had played it just a little straighter or been a bit more proficient (compared to ‘not at all proficient’) in writing to mimic Austen’s tone and language. The finished product reads like a clumsy The Princess Bride, with a classic text being editorialized on by a modern voice. Of course, William Goldman was writing the entire thing and not just appending nonsense references to Zatoichi into an existing Regency romance. But even still, there’s something powerful about the idea of mashing up classic literature with modern-day supernatural elements, all born out of the kind of ‘ninja viking samurai spy cop movie star who is also a dinosaur’ zeitgeist that kind of captivates geeks of late.
So PPZ may not be great, but it is immensely popular, which is more important. You might be wondering, “How can I get my piece of that pie?” Well, I have a few mathematical (dare I say mathemagical) formulas that will point you in the right direction. Behold:
(FICTIONAL CHARACTER or HISTORICAL FIGURE) + (SUPERNATURAL ORIGINS) = $$$$$
The example I came up with when joking about this on Twitter this morning was “SCARLETT O’HARA is a LEPRECHAUN.” But some other good ones include:
What if FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER was a VAMPIRE?
Did you know that JACK LONDON was a WEREWOLF? This is a particularly good one because London often wrote about wolves (knowing over a century before the advent of the Three Wolf Moon shirt the mystic power that lupines emanate) and there is also a lazy Warren Zevon reference ripe for the plucking.
What if FRANK SINATRA were actually the Aztec god of drunkenness TEZCATZONTECATL? The best is yet to come indeed.
Advanced Equation:
{TWILIGHT – vampires + (SUPERNATURAL ORIGIN) / (CLASSIC LOVE STORY) x (POPULAR CULTURE)} + ZOMBIES and/or A POST-APOCALYPTIC SETTING = OMGSUCCESS
“So, it’s like Twilight – except there are mummies instead of vampires – by way of Sister Carrie and the characters are all on Jersey Shore when the zombie apocalypse happens.”
Now you try!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Let me try that last one.
“So it’s like Twilight, only with Chthulus instead of vampires–by way of Say Anything and the characters are on the Hills when a Theromonuclear War Happens.”
So it’s like Twilight, only with Smurfs instead of vampires by way of Thundercats and the characters are in Dances With Wolves when the alien invasion happens!
Oh wait… James Cameron beat me to it on this one.