The skin color is due to the skin changing color in death (either white when it all the blood drains out of them or a bluish color when the blood coagulates and sticks inside the arteries and veins causing the discoloration.). As for the arms out stretched I don't know, could be a trope of recent development (like werewolves being associated with the full moon and being vulnerable to silver bullets (the moon being from movies and the silver bullet dating back only to one incident in france in the 1700s). Although I do know the Jiangshi (the hopping ghost from china) is represented that way. They function like that due to rigormortis though, so I don't know if that has anything to do with western depictions or not (its also why they hop, because rigormortis stiffens their limbs to the point where they cannot bend the joints in the legs so they hop).
Just pure conjecture absent any research but they might be inspired by the frail, and sickly, and elderly, and even the actual deceased. As muscles atrophy and arthritis kicks in and so forth, that kind of bent posture and overall bent joints of the first one might kick in with limited mobility.
Second case with arms outstretched perplexes me more even in terms of wild guesses. But maybe if you imagine the body language and gesture of a being with limited sensory perception, and mobility, and driven by ravenous hunger, that kind of body language of the arms outstretched might make some sense in terms of having a dramatic effect, as though they're blindly being pulled in a certain direction.
I presume they’re supposed to look unwell and frightening because the point of the images were to scare. Also many probably looked like that when they died so they just made them look like they’re frozen at that point in time? Are ghosts frozen in time at the point of death? Good question...
Because they have no control of their brains 🧠 and just make a movement and stays...
apparently the first movement is to extend them and after that they remain there and just walk retardedly :/ 🧟♀️
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In the original movies that established most of these monsters, they never walked around like that, though they occasionally reached out for people.
Jiangshi of the Chinese Hopping Vampire is so stiff that it cannot bend its limbs and body, so it has to move around by hopping while keeping its arms stretched out for mobility.
In fiction it's also to seem menacing as if it's gonna get you.
Real zombies don't walk like that. Holding arms out takes too much effort
Could be a play on human psychology. Being asked for something from someone who looks creepy could freak people out more than a freaky thing on its own.
Reaching out a hand is a sign of human interaction.
Nothing brings more fear than someone openly sticking their arms out at you.
Honestly it might just be there to convey movement and the preparation of an attack.
It’s also a rather unusual pose which distinctly separates them from a ordinary human.
The weird colour to represent decomposition and outstretched arms because of rigor maybe?
Too make them look old/broken/bad i guess?
Becouse they are hungry, very hungry, craving for that Choochie
If their hands were the other way up, it would be a little weird...
Here's my thought when i was young. I always thought they were blind and they use their hands to sense things I don't know
Caz it's not just fiction according to people who calmed to saw ghost describe ghost with big hands
It's to remind us of death. They are showing us what we'll be like eventually... pale skinny dead
For dramatic effect
The unliving
Nice sketch
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