I feel like a lot of zombie fiction where characters know what zombies are and the dangerous of getting bitten end up being semi-satirical comedies. Movies and shows where the idea of zombies didn’t previously exist seem to be a bit more serious from what I’ve experienced. I don’t know if it’s the aura of suspense and mystery or because it leads to more pandemonium.
Not at all.
Feed, by Mira Grant, is one of my all time favorite works of zombie fiction. In it, the zombie uprising happened, but George Romero movies existed, so humanity was prepared to fight back, and as a result the events of the book take place in a world much later, where zombies are still a problem, even a huge one, but the book is actually about some reporters covering the events of a presidential election. Also, George Romero has been canonized as a national hero for giving us all the means to fight back against the zombies.
The book is absolutely brilliant. The sequels… I have complicated feelings about the sequels. But the first stands entirely on its own two feet and is fantastic.