Monsters are symbols and representations of a culture. They exist because of certain places or feelings of a time period. Monsters are “the embodiment of a certain cultural moment.” The author of Grendel, John Gardner, and the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, both create a monster to represent something greater than themselves to make the reader reflect on their "fears, desires, anxiety, and imagination" in society , which is explained in Monster Culture (Seven Theses) by Jefferey Cohen. The latest trend in monster media, zombies, also fits into Cohen's theses about what a monster is. Jeffery Cohen's first thesis states that “the body of the monster is a cultural body”. Monsters give meaning to culture. The characteristics of a monster derive from a culture's deepest fears and fantasies. Monsters are metaphors and pure representative allegories. What a society chooses to make monstrous says a lot about the people in that society. Monsters help us express and find our darkest places, deepest fears, or most disturbing thoughts. The monsters that scare us, vampires, zombies, witches, help us face what we fear most in life. Fear of the monstrous has united communities and cultures. Society is made up of different cultural beliefs, ideas and actions. Within society there are always outcasts, people who do not fit the norm or do not follow the status quo. Those people who don't fit in become monsters almost unanimously feared by those who stick to the status quo. As human nature, we tend to judge too much. We judge others by the color of their skin, their weight, whether they have acne or not, and how they dress. The Creature, from Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, is judged throughout the novel. It seems different: “His… middle of paper… cannot be satisfied. The zombie is a consumer. Nowadays, zombies are often used as a metaphor for the uncontrollable consumerism that plagues our generation. We buy blindly without thinking, because of the low price, lust, or simply because we want more. We are guilty of “zombie consumerism”. Zombie consumerism is evident in George Romeros' film, Dawn of the Dead. In this film, a shopping mall is where the characters take refuge and becomes the setting where the humans find themselves in the battle against the zombies. They gorge on free food and are happy to have almost everything on hand and all to themselves. It looks perfect. They can consume whatever they want and they will be fine, forever. It is ironic then when there is nothing left and they have to find new sources of shelter, food and resources, or become the resources themselves..