Good Q, in it’s own odd way… I have no clue, not being a fan of either. I will enjoy the answers! :-)

No parallel at all.

Bacon tastes good but can kill you.

Zombies can kill you but don’t taste good.

Has Kevin Bacon done a zombie movie yet?

World War B writes itself!

What they have in common: unhealthy eating habits?

I’m not aware of either matter as an obsession, though, and I kind of hate it when somebody puts out an impression like that about all Americans, which sticks to all of us even if it has nothing to do with us.

You weren’t aware? @Jeruba?

Smithsonian
Has America’s obsession with all things bacon gone hog wild?

The Washington Post
Stanford scholar explains why zombie fascination is very much alive

No, I wasn’t. I don’t watch TV at all, and I don’t pay any attention to entertainment or celebrity news. I’ve seen a lot of zombie stuff go by kind of in the background, but I had no idea that somebody thought it was a national obsession. As for bacon, well, I know that it’s a popular food, and I saw some mention of it here on Fluther recently, but no, really. Obsession? That’s crazy.

I also see frequent references to supposed celebrities that “everybody” knows and that I’ve never heard of. I look at the cover of, say, People magazine at the dentist’s office, and it’s “Who are these people?”

I know that most of the topics and personalities in my world are not universally known. I don’t see why so many other people think that their interests equal “everyone’s.” Don’t they know that people like and care about different things?

They’re both nostalgic, and nostalgia is zeitgeisty right now. People in their 20s and 30s are the driving force behind this particular wave of nostalgia. We were the first generation to have computers in large numbers and grew up with the message of new everything. Technology is improving so quickly that several generations of “new” stuff have come out and become obsolete in our lifetimes.

My elementary school had 8-bit Apple computers, which seemed laughable as soon as Windows 95 came out. We had one machine with Windows 95 shared by the whole family, and my sister and I crowded around it to play computer games on CD-rom. A few years later laptops came out, and now every family member (except me) has a smartphone. We grew up with pop culture milestones like Y2K and The Matrix, which are very much about a brave new world of technology. Fifteen years later, all that stuff seems quaint and just… lame.

(I think Inception is the Matrix of this decade. The aesthetic of the Matrix was very much about coolness and especially the coolness of technology. You’ve got hackers, stoic badasses in sunglasses, goth/industrial clubs, downloading knowledge directly into brains, etc. It looks like it takes place in the future, even though “inside” the matrix is everyday life in 1999. Technology is a major part of the movies and kind of what they’re all about. The aesthetics of Inception are totally different. There are some clean, modern buildings and crisp suits, but a lot of the scenes have a dusty, shopworn feel to them. The scenes are shot in mostly clear, everyday sunlight. When technology shows up, it’s just a tool. It’s sci-fi, but no longer futuristic. Come to think of it, when is the last time we’ve seen a brand new, imaginative sci-fi epic sweep the nation? Star Wars is a throwback and there have been a rash of dystopian young adult movies like the Hunger Games and Divergent. It’s a pessimistic view of the future.)

I think the idea of newness being cool just grew stale with my generation. We’re the first cohort that grew up with new things becoming old and obsolete so quickly. Stuff that was hyped as the big new technology thing when we were young now seems unimaginably quaint and corny. The video I linked also makes a brief mention of people turning their backs on corporations, and I think the idea of the Next Big Thing is inextricably commercial. So we’re turning to nostalgic things like beards, bacon, folk music, handmade everything, and zombies in a search for meaning, and also I guess in a search for novelty.

The only correlation I can see, other than both obessions being, in my judgment, silly and a total waste of time, is that with his weird hair, skinny frame and sunken face, Kev kinda looks like a walking dead guy these years.

Ok, I am just going to throw this out there for now. I am still looking for a correlation. Bacon Flavored Condoms and Zombie Condoms

@rojo How can bacon flavored condoms not be called “Porkers”?

@filmfann I have no idea! and zombie condoms remind me of something my mother used to say: “And the dead arose and appeared to many”.

If I’m not mistaken, over the centuries great lengths have been gone to in pursuit of assurances that condoms not end up smelling like zombies?