Zombie Survival Guide

I've been watching a lot of horror films recently.
With each genre of horror I watch, I try to decide what basic human fear the movie is exploiting. Some are obvious: most people are a little scared of a crazy guy coming after them with a chainsaw. It is one of those universal "very bad things." The fear excited by zombie movies was much more subtle than the ax-wielding maniac, and because of this, took me many movies to figure out.
So here's the scenario (or at least one of the popular ones): virus spreads rapidly across earth, making everyone but a select few zombies. Zombies can infect you through bites, so stay far away, and kill them on site. Generally, the movies follow a single character, or small group of characters who struggle to maintain their humanity while everyone around them falls. Lots of running, falling, gore, and rotting flesh. Think "Night of the Living Dead", "28 Days Later", or even "Resident Evil".
It's a simple, yet deep fear the films exploit: the fear of losing your individuality. Is there any idea more horrifying than existing, but without the essence, the being that makes you who you are? If there is, I can't think of it. Through some small accident, your reason, your memories, your personality, are gone and you exist as an empty shell, mindlessly following the mob in order to widen the ranks.
The heroes of these films are many times desperate, accidental warriors who fight to remain separate from the every-growing horde of mindless beings: a normal enough person, thrown into a situation where everything is hostile, and they just struggle to get through and keep their humanity intact. Getting ready for the day ahead, strapping on a sawed-off shotgun, slightly scarred, and maybe bleeding, but determined not to be taken.
The zombie films made me think of the "carnivalesque" as described by Mikhail Bahktin. Bahktin theorized on the importance of the carnival to works of literature, but extended these concepts further, encompassing the ability of the people to affect the society in which they live. Carnival is a wild, largely unstructured celebratory event. Think Mardi Gras, or Brazil’s Carnivale. Basically, he states that periods of carnival exist and break down the structure of the society in which they are performed. The societal rules are discarded for an agreed upon amount of time, and people exist in equal power relationships to each other. It is a sanctioned expression of rebellion, safe because while the rules have been suspended, the sanctioning keeps the overall power structure secure.
Perhaps these zombie film serves a similar function to the carnival. Through the hero, we get to experience the fight, the struggle to live outside of the societal system that has been created. The zombies are the system and they strive to bring in the rebels just as much as the heroes try to avoid it.
We watch the hero wage war against the system and experience terror as he fights an unvanquishable foe. Sometimes, we get to see the hero triumph, remaining free from the tyranny of the shuffling masses. But even in triumph, the hero is left to live on the outskirts, fighting as long as he can, or living alone in a world that is laid to waste, like in "I Am Legend" or "Omega Man".
For roughly two hours, we can watch a fellow human struggle against society. A lone individual struggles to retain their humanity in the face of an overwhelming force. It's safe and we get to vicariously feel the fear of being swallowed up in society; feel the victory of retaining the sense of self when pitted against public mores; and after the agreed upon time is over, we slide right back into the masses, performing the role that has been prescribed for us. Just like the hero that doesn’t make it: his eyes glaze over, and he joins the shambling dance in progress, like in "Thriller".
If we can learn anything useful about zombie films, apart from how to survive the highly unlikely zombie apocalypse, it is that we have the same difficult choice as the hero, we can either fight the power, or succumb to it.