Zombies, absence and existentialism: 'We are the walking dead!'

Editors: Yuen, W.

Publisher: Open Court

Place of Publication: Chicago, IL. USA

ISBN: 9780812697674

Abstract:

Although the living dead continue to decay, their stories are evolving. This paper uses existential philosophy to analyse The Walking Dead (both Image comic and AMC TV series) in the wider context of zombie narratives. It argues that the text is representative of contemporary zombie texts in its desire to excise zombies from their own narratives, and that this development is best understood in the context of existentialism. The paper focuses first on the notions of essence and ethics, whereby the ‘soul’ is determined only by one’s choices and actions, and discusses the ways in which Rick’s self-imposed quest(s) (to find his family, to protect his wife and children, to keep his group alive) illustrate this idea and project meaning into his life. It points out that the still and empty landscape of The Walking Dead contributes to this depiction, and argues that a zombie text is the perfect foil for this setting. Concepts such as identity and the Other are then discussed. Identity is consistently problematised (although ultimately not denied) in The Walking Dead – whose zombies, in contrast to more traditional narratives, are not the demonised Other. Instead, Rick and his group are in conflict with the people they encounter. The paper identifies a similar tendency in other contemporary zombie texts and concludes by situating The Walking Dead in relation to these. It notes the current cultural trend to redefine zombeism as a disease across multiple media (28 Days/Weeks Later; Resident Evil) and the link between technology and transmission (Pontypool, The Cell). It therefore suggests that The Walking Dead is exemplary of the next phase in a developing narrative of zombies. Early themes (possession/slavery) that gave way to twentieth-century concerns (consumerism, technology) have now replaced by a ‘post-zombieism’ that, although it seems to sustain the presence of these monsters, in actual fact seeks to excise them from their own narratives in order to better illustrate the existential plight of humanity.

Source: Manual

Preferred by: Julia Round