The Zombie Media Monster and its Evolution as a Sign and Historical Allegory
Open Access
- Author:
- Lizardi, Ryan
- Graduate Program:
- Media Studies
- Degree:
- Master of Arts
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- March 20, 2009
- Committee Members:
- Matthew Frank Jordan, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Matthew Frank Jordan, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- Zombie
sign
allegory
media - Abstract:
- This thesis examines the evolution of the Zombie character as a signifier, and its role in allegorically commenting on societal. The Zombie is a character that popular culture has been fascinated with in the current, as well as historical, media landscape. Making its film debut with White Zombie (1932), this “monster” derived from non-Gothic Afro-Caribbean roots was difficult at first for Western society to understand. There was an attempt in early Zombie depictions to control or Westernize this creature into a Gothic mold readily understood by audiences of the day. Other media monsters, like Dracula or Frankenstein, were understood and controlled more easily because of their Gothic and literary bases. Conversely, the Zombie’s base was unknown due to the lack of correct knowledge of Haitian culture and religion. These mysterious origins, as well as the highly controlled nature in which the Zombie was introduced, set up a universal malleable semiotic signifier that even today has the ability to shift and change to fit whatever genre or societal issue that becomes prevalent at a given time. Acting as a form of “Historical Allegory,” the Zombie can be read in many different ways at various times in oppositional and counter-hegemonic ways. Many of the Zombie signifying traits that these allegories depend upon were solidified in the Romero films. This is not to say that universally the Zombie is ideologically confrontational. Eras like the “Zombie spoof cycle” in the 1980’s certainly resisted against this counter-hegemonic type of depiction, opting instead for a more controlled and commodified version. However the importance of this postmodern spoof Zombie was that it emptied the undead signifier of meaning and eventually enabled the Zombie sign to spread out to many divergent cultural areas. Across the long and eclectic time that the Zombie has been a staple of media, this creature has proven able to be applied to any situation and any cultural text, making the Zombie signifier uniquely capable of ideologically addressing historically contingent societal issues.