Accuracy and realism in zombie representations

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Permalink Reply by Alpha on August 31, 2009 at 11:50am

Hmmm i agree with you as far as the limb tearing goes but as for the biting? I think a zombie could easily tear chunks with its teeth, having been bitten by a human myself i know how easily the skin is broken by human teeth. Plus since zombies feel no pain think how much more force they could actually put into a bite, especially as they seek to stop the never ending hunger for fresh meat, they must have far higher endurance levels than a human, as we would bite so far and think "ouch that hurts my teeth im biting no harder". As zombies wouldnt have this same reaction (according to the movies etc) they would make up for a lack of overall strength (caused by rotting as they hobble along) with perhaps more strength in the biting department.

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Permalink Reply by axl on August 31, 2009 at 12:05pm

Alpha, I really don't think a human can get a full mouth of flesh from biting another human. Not great-white-shark bite like.
I asume you're bite was so strong becouse of alcohol or andrenaline. And I suppose it only broke the skin, not the muscle. Did the guy had a piece of you in his mounth?

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Permalink Reply by Alpha on August 31, 2009 at 5:33pm

I agree a human mouth cant get great white shark mouthfulls but the human jaw is easily capable of applying enough pressure to strip muscle, maybe not a mouth full but but a large bite non the less, and yes my bite was adrenaline fuelled and no he never left with a piece of me in his teeth lol.

Also considering the highly infective capabilities of the human bite purely through oral bacteria, i would consider a zombie bite to be alot more infective (due to increased bacteria from all the rotting lol), i think a zombie bite would kill quicker than a normal humans for this reason.
And i still think a zombie bite would be larger due to them feeling no pain and being able to bite well past the point a normal living person would, yes they may be no stronger than when they was alive but are free from all the things that would stop me or you being able to rip flesh with our teeth, like a conscience and a pain barrier, even so i do agree with you the way the movies show great mouthfulls of flesh being ripped from the body is unrealisitic, yet muscle strippage by human jaws is infact possible if only toned down alot.

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Permalink Reply by PRIME_Ω_PREDATOR on August 31, 2009 at 11:54am

A bull's skin is much thicker than a humans. That's why we use leather for different things. A human's skin is no where near as thick as a bull's.

Limbs are attached by tendons, cartiledge and muscle. All these things are soft. It is all interwoven under the skin. You start pulling away layers and you weaken the whole thing. Pull off some tendons, skin and muscle and what happens?

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Permalink Reply by axl on August 31, 2009 at 12:00pm

But a lioness has far much stronger teeth, especially designed for that. And far more bigger and stronger neck muscles than a human.

I agree about the muscles and the tendons, though tendons might be pretty rough to chew. But the cartiledge isn't soft. Try tearing appart a pig's leg with your hands, after you removed the meat and the tendons. It won't be easy. I know. I do it every X-mas.

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Permalink Reply by PRIME_Ω_PREDATOR on August 31, 2009 at 3:05pm

You have to remember that a zombie feels no pain itself so that allows it to go beyond the exertion that a normal pain feeling human would. They don't feel breaking teeth or bones. They bite, claw and rend.

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Permalink Reply by josh smith on August 31, 2009 at 3:43pm

well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but human teeth can bite and tear chunks out of human flesh. My mom works in the mental health field basically with kids who end up in foster care or group homes and I have personally seen the results of kids biting chunks out of staff working at the facilities and they literally had chunks of flesh in their mouth

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Permalink Reply by Dario on August 31, 2009 at 4:08pm

I think it also depends on what kind of zombie we're talking about.

A lot of movies depict the "runner," or the virus-infected person as a zombie. They could feasibly bite off flesh and perhaps even tear off a limb (with others with him, of course).

Human teeth are certainly capable of tearing off flesh from the human body, I don't think this can be adequately disputed. Indeed, I seem to recall a story a while back of this crazed man who bit off the flesh of a neighbor or something of that nature.

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Permalink Reply by JB on September 1, 2009 at 1:58am

Axl,

What you fail to understand, probably because your in a drunken stupor...is that the human skin is usually less than half a cm. An animals skin is multiple cm...plus, a humans teeth are sharper than a lions. But the jaw of the lion is stronger, thus your interpretation of the lioness tearing away for a while on a dead carcase is completely feasable.

Now, for your limb tearing theory...come here...lets test this theory of yours...
Me, I could tear your arm off. With the right leverage, any limb will come
off. It's science. Tendons and ligaments can only withstand so much
pressure before they tear, it's the reason professional athletes retire. It's
the muscles that keep everything in place. Now, with enough pressure the
muscle tears as well. When you have nothing holding that joint in place, it
pops out, it's how shoulders get dislocated...

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Permalink Reply by axl on September 1, 2009 at 2:16am

It's funny you said "with the right leverage". It's funny becouse, from my point of view, you're proving my point of view. The invention of leverage is one of mankind's greatest achievement, my God, that and the wheel. How did they THINK of that?

Ofcourse you could tear my arm off. You think. You'll place your foot on my chest and pull my arm off. Anyone could do it, if they want to, with the right leverage. Or use some tae k*** do technique they learned in self defence classes, wich also implies leverage.

But they don't think, do they? Accidental limb tearings may hardly happen under the circumstances.

I just read what I've written here and I'm sorry if I sound a little arrogant or fighsty, it wasn't my intention. I say it 1st in romanian and in translation it looses the warm context.

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