Interpreting the Zombie As Cultureal Manifestation of Social Trauma

Abstract

During the first decade of the 21st century, zombie-related popular films, video games, books and board and card games enjoyed a strong increase of popularity (Sarah Lauro 2013, Jon Stratton 2011, Robert Saunders 2012, Christopher Moreman 2010). The recent adaptation of Max Brooks’ World War Z into a Hollywood Blockbuster and the successful AMC series The Walking Dead give a clear indication of the widespread popularity of the zombie, which has enjoyed a wide symbolic diversity within popular culture in the 20th and 21st century. From Romero’s Dawn of the Dead of 1978, where the zombie represents the wanton consumerism of Western society, to films such as Resident Evil and 28 Days Later, both of 2002, which stand for the fear of disease and contamination, the zombie has been used as a symbolic Tabula Rasa which could take on many identities, and has the potential to be a symbol for many different negative events and discourses.