UC Irvine Offers Online Zombie 101 Class

It's fall and the nights grow longer. Are you truly prepared?

ZOMBIE 101: Colleges are sometimes known for offering courses that are a) timely and b) fully plugged into the pop culture zeitgeist. And let's add a c) on there, too: Free online classes make it possible for a whole lot of people to participate. It's all rather nice, when you think about it, though "nice" is perhaps not the first word one thinks when they consider the online class kicking off via the University of California at Irvine on Monday, Oct. 14. It is, after all, a class that deals in grappling with a possible zombie apocalypse.

HOLLER, RICK GRIMES & CO: Now if you're thinking to yourself, "Self, didn't AMC's "The Walking Dead" just begin its fourth season on Oct. 13? And isn't it the official month of Halloween?" you'd be correct on all counts. The eight-week UC Irvine online course is both timely *and* very pop, meaning it will draw both attention -- like here -- and students from all over. Oh, and very worth noting? It's free. "Society, Science, Survival: Lessons from the AMC's 'The Walking Dead" is the official class title, by the by. And, yes, interpersonal politics among the living will be examined, which is exceedingly interesting. The humans, not the undead, are very often the scariest villains around, as anyone who has ever seen exactly two minutes of any zombie-centric television show or movie well knows. Public health, infectious diseases, and other weighty matters are on the syllabus, meaning it isn't all Hollywood-type gore and ghouls. Serious, solve-it-or-face-consequences issues are on the docket, and not mere special effects.

AND... kudos to Creepy LA for calling our attention to this one. They're the people behind ScareLA convention, so they know their undead studies, back and forth. It wouldn't surprise us if Creepy LA doesn't release a whole line of terrifying textbooks soon. Monsters University in real life, maybe? It could happen.

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