Philly_SWAT
30-Jan-2009, 05:26 PM
Some of you may have seen in general discussion that I posted a thread asking "Does anyone know who this is"?
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l150/Philly_SWAT/book.jpg
It seemed unlikely that anyone would know, but I figure that it never hurts to ask. Well, due to some crack investigative work by krakenslayer and his girlfriend, the mystery was solved, it is Vladimir Nabokov, known primarily as a novelist, as well as writer about chess problems and entomology, specifically dealing with butterflies.
This pic is a screen capture from Dawn of the Dead. It has been flipped to show the author's face right side up. (It was upside down in the film). We see this book on-screen for literally one second. It is laying on Peter's bed as he is taking off his jewelry and throwing it down, preparing for the biker raid.
While the inclusion of this book could simply be a case of "find a book to have on the bed, we can show money being used as a bookmark to show how unimportant it is now", with no thought as to what book, what the book should mean to the character, etc., that explanation is no fun. So I would be curious as to what people choose to believe about Peter's character in light of knowing what material he was reading. Unfortunately, we can not see the title, so it could be any book by Nabokov, but the most likely case would be that it is "Lolita" the famous story about the narrator, Humbert Humbert, becoming obsessed with a 12-year-old girl named Dolores Haze. After its publication, Lolita attained a classic status, becoming one of the best known and most controversial examples of 20th century literature. The name "Lolita" has entered pop culture to describe a sexually precocious young girl. It is considered by literary experts to be one of the most important novels of the 20th century.
So what do you think Peter was reading, and why? I will state the case for the 5 choices in the poll.
1. Reading about butterflies - as an active fellow who enjoys the outdoors, most of Peter's life now is spent cooped up in a mall with legions of the undead slapping at the doors. The only semblance of the outdoors he can enjoy in playing raquetball by himself against a wall up on the roof, something he doesnt find that satisfying. So he reads a book about butterflies, marvels in their natural beauty, and dreams of a normal life in a normal world, where he can live life to the fullest in the great outdoors, seeing all nature has to offer.
2. Reading about chess problems - as a highly intelligent person, and one who always seems to have a plan and stay one step ahead of the zombie problem, Peter always enjoyed things that tested his brain. Now in the mall, there is nothing stimulating to do. The video games suck, his best buddy is dead, and Fran and Flyboy dont exactly have the sharpest knives in the drawer. So Peter escapes the every day hum-drum of a zombie outbreak by studying chess problems from one of the great minds of the 20th century.
3. Reading to ease his sexual frustration - as a tall, tough fellow, no doubt he was quite the ladies man prior to the outbreak. Perhaps this explains his intimate knowledge of performing abortions. Now thanks to the world being overrun with the undead, he is stuck in a mall with only one woman ,who is pregnant with the other guys child. Common courtesy, as well as a desire to not cause a rift with Flyboy (who as inept as he may be, does help with Peter's chance of survival) keeps him from putting the moves on Fran. So he reads sexually charged materials, in order to fuel his imagination when he goes to the "reading room".
4. Peter is a pervert - As capable a leader as there can be, Peter was a closet sexual predator. There were a couple of incidents in his past, but being a fellow police officer, he had help in sweeping these problems under the rug. Now trapped in a mall where the only young girls around are those that are dead, and want to rip his throat out with their bare teeth, the only outlet Peter has to deal with these inner feelings is to search the mall book shops for the most depraved sexual material he can find.
5. Peter enjoys great literature - An obviously intelligent man, Peter has enjoyed fine literature his whole life. While he is definitely not happy that throngs of flesh eaters are keeping him a prisoner in a tomb of consumerism, as a fellow who always tries to make the best of any situation, Peter is taking the time to catch up on some great literature that he never had time for back in the days of "normal" life.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l150/Philly_SWAT/book.jpg
It seemed unlikely that anyone would know, but I figure that it never hurts to ask. Well, due to some crack investigative work by krakenslayer and his girlfriend, the mystery was solved, it is Vladimir Nabokov, known primarily as a novelist, as well as writer about chess problems and entomology, specifically dealing with butterflies.
This pic is a screen capture from Dawn of the Dead. It has been flipped to show the author's face right side up. (It was upside down in the film). We see this book on-screen for literally one second. It is laying on Peter's bed as he is taking off his jewelry and throwing it down, preparing for the biker raid.
While the inclusion of this book could simply be a case of "find a book to have on the bed, we can show money being used as a bookmark to show how unimportant it is now", with no thought as to what book, what the book should mean to the character, etc., that explanation is no fun. So I would be curious as to what people choose to believe about Peter's character in light of knowing what material he was reading. Unfortunately, we can not see the title, so it could be any book by Nabokov, but the most likely case would be that it is "Lolita" the famous story about the narrator, Humbert Humbert, becoming obsessed with a 12-year-old girl named Dolores Haze. After its publication, Lolita attained a classic status, becoming one of the best known and most controversial examples of 20th century literature. The name "Lolita" has entered pop culture to describe a sexually precocious young girl. It is considered by literary experts to be one of the most important novels of the 20th century.
So what do you think Peter was reading, and why? I will state the case for the 5 choices in the poll.
1. Reading about butterflies - as an active fellow who enjoys the outdoors, most of Peter's life now is spent cooped up in a mall with legions of the undead slapping at the doors. The only semblance of the outdoors he can enjoy in playing raquetball by himself against a wall up on the roof, something he doesnt find that satisfying. So he reads a book about butterflies, marvels in their natural beauty, and dreams of a normal life in a normal world, where he can live life to the fullest in the great outdoors, seeing all nature has to offer.
2. Reading about chess problems - as a highly intelligent person, and one who always seems to have a plan and stay one step ahead of the zombie problem, Peter always enjoyed things that tested his brain. Now in the mall, there is nothing stimulating to do. The video games suck, his best buddy is dead, and Fran and Flyboy dont exactly have the sharpest knives in the drawer. So Peter escapes the every day hum-drum of a zombie outbreak by studying chess problems from one of the great minds of the 20th century.
3. Reading to ease his sexual frustration - as a tall, tough fellow, no doubt he was quite the ladies man prior to the outbreak. Perhaps this explains his intimate knowledge of performing abortions. Now thanks to the world being overrun with the undead, he is stuck in a mall with only one woman ,who is pregnant with the other guys child. Common courtesy, as well as a desire to not cause a rift with Flyboy (who as inept as he may be, does help with Peter's chance of survival) keeps him from putting the moves on Fran. So he reads sexually charged materials, in order to fuel his imagination when he goes to the "reading room".
4. Peter is a pervert - As capable a leader as there can be, Peter was a closet sexual predator. There were a couple of incidents in his past, but being a fellow police officer, he had help in sweeping these problems under the rug. Now trapped in a mall where the only young girls around are those that are dead, and want to rip his throat out with their bare teeth, the only outlet Peter has to deal with these inner feelings is to search the mall book shops for the most depraved sexual material he can find.
5. Peter enjoys great literature - An obviously intelligent man, Peter has enjoyed fine literature his whole life. While he is definitely not happy that throngs of flesh eaters are keeping him a prisoner in a tomb of consumerism, as a fellow who always tries to make the best of any situation, Peter is taking the time to catch up on some great literature that he never had time for back in the days of "normal" life.