Zombies have always represented society’s greatest fears. If this is the case, why is The Walking Dead killing them off?

Depictions of evil and the supernatural in literature, film and TV can always be interpreted as  symbolic. The existential fears of contemporary readers and viewers are often expressed through these creatures and magical forces. Monsters and villains, therefore, tend to possess a much deeper meaning and reveal something significant about their era. One recurring example of this is the figure of the zombie. For decades it has inspired countless books, films and, now, TV shows. The world crumbles when faced with hordes of bloodthirsty, reanimated corpses.

Zombies became a popular horror trope during the 20th century, after the success of George A. Romero’s film Night of The Living Dead in 1968. However, the concept of zombification is much older, originating from a Haitian spiritual belief system. The people of Haiti believed that witch doctors could revive those who had died from unnatural causes. They conceptualised a new form of life: the ‘zombi’. When the US invaded Haiti in 1915, Catholic missionaries aimed to convert the people to their faith. Inspired by these events, White Zombie (1932) was the first film of its kind and spawned a whole subgenre of its own. The film follows a white man and woman as they travel to Haiti to get married before the woman is transformed into a zombie by voodoo magic. The undead figure played upon American fears of the ‘primitive’ and disordered Haitian society. The native people in the film threaten the Western tradition of marriage with their dark magic. Since White Zombie, the zombie has continued to symbolise many other perceived evils and fears. Everything is covered; Nazism, economic collapse, capitalism and mass contagion.

One prime example of the continued relevance of the zombie in popular culture is AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead. In the pilot episode, the series’ central protagonist Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is hospitalised after being shot whilst on duty as the county sheriff. As he awakes from a coma in hospital, he finds himself in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. ‘Walkers’ plague the streets and survivors exist in small scattered pockets across cities and the countryside. During the first series, the zombie is the overall enemy and Rick gathers his initial band of walker-fighting friends. The gorey action is notably more disturbing as the ‘walkers’ are very much humanised. Their facial features are still recognisable and their clothes are very much intact. Throughout the first few series, the most climactic scenes feature main characters being bitten by the undead and their subsequent gruesome conversions to their flesh-eating forms.

From season two onwards, the plot structure tends to be cyclic. Firstly, the group finds a new home that acts as a safe haven from zombies; a farm house, a prison or a walled community. Then the group prospers for a few episodes. Finally the group’s safe haven is brutally torn apart, again and again by intruders: zombies or the breathing human antagonists. A tense atmosphere presents itself. There is no safety in this new world. Despite this recurring plot device, the show surprisingly avoids becoming repetitive or dull. This is the result of show creator, Frank Darabont, and his human focus. Screen time is allocated to continual character development and convincing portrayals of intimate relationships in a tumultuous, post-apocalyptic world. With rich dialogue and touching moments of humanity, the characters and their dynamics have slowly become the central focus of the show. Instead of a constant cat and mouse chase with resurrected dead bodies, the struggles involved with establishing a sustainable life in a new society now dominate the action. Mutinies, disease, food shortages and rival groups have taken the congregation by surprise and accounted for far more conflict than any member of the undead in recent episodes. Perhaps humanity in distress is the only thing that can evoke a real sense of horror in the modern viewer.

Last April, fans of The Walking Dead were left with a cliffhanger that kept us guessing for six whole months. Who of the main cast had been killed? The seventh season of the show returned with an eventful first episode. In typical The Walking Dead fashion, two central characters’ skulls were cracked open. A new living antagonist named Negan is seen wielding a baseball bat covered with barbed wire. These horrifying scenes caused major controversies amongst fans and TV watchdogs alike. The US television advocacy group, The Parents Television Council, labelled it as “one of the most graphically violent shows we’ve ever seen on television”. The undead provided atmosphere and background noise while Negan, a survivor himself, hogged the spotlight. His callous demeanour and sadistic nature made him one of the most petrifying villains in recent TV history. The psychological torment he inflicts upon characters is thoroughly uncomfortable viewing – more so than any of the gory human disembowelment by walkers that came before.

The walkers that do feature in the first episode of series seven support the fan theory that the central antagonism of the zombies has deteriorated over time. As The Walking Dead has unfolded, the zombies look less like undead humans and more like skeletons covered in mud. When a walker makes a rare appearance in series seven, it’s unusual to spot one that doesn’t have a missing limb or huge chunk out of its face. This seems to be Greg Nicotero’s intent. The special effects supervisor reportedly tells his team to remember that the walkers are rotting corpses and to “pay special attention to how skin has been affected by heat and dehydration”. Just in case this motif wasn’t clear enough, producers include a hidden message in the opening title sequence of every episode. In series one, ‘The Walking Dead’ would flash on screen in bold, white lettering after the credits have rolled. In the years to come, the font has become increasingly yellow and dilapidated. As the zombies decay, so does the title card of the show. The solid binary between good and evil, human and zombie, has broken down and characters are left with tough moral dilemmas when it comes to killing off the living who, thus far, have survived.

This momentous shift from zombie epidemic to rebuilding humanity is incredibly interesting to analyse from a sociological perspective. The Walking Dead illustrates what producers believe fascinatingly frightens their viewership; providing an insight into the greatest anxieties of our generation. The initial fears producers set out to convey were revised somewhere down the line to suit their audience. The fears could no longer be metaphorically portrayed by the undead. The Walking Dead differs from other zombie narratives. Being bitten is not a prerequisite for becoming a zombie and the ambiguous origin of the walkers proves it difficult to pinpoint exactly what they represent. Humans, living and dead, are indiscriminately infected with death being the factor that allows everyone to rise again. Logically, this indicates that vast numbers of people were infected by the ‘walkers’ disease simultaneously. Yet it lies dormant in the living. How this occurred is indicated in Fear the Walking Dead, a spin off show which premiered on AMC in August 2015. The demand for a spin off is testament to the current popularity of the dystopian genre amongst TV audiences. Although Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead, follow totally separate groups of survivors, they both highlight the complexity of evil. A zombie lurks deep inside every character awaiting activation. Humanity similarly awaits to recognise their propensity for immoral acts. From conspiracy and cannibalism to killing sprees, humanity’s most devious tendencies are constantly highlighted in the post apocalyptic world. The moral: no one can be trusted.

The early episodes of the spin-off are full of clues as to the origins of the disaster. A new flu vaccine that has been administered recently is referred to repeatedly in the first series, along with many shots of contaminated water supply as the culprit. Fans have subsequently interpreted two potential theories for the first wave of walkers and what they mean. Firstly, that it was the accidental result of medical advancement. This suggests the walkers are symbolic of modern day anxieties about medicine and mass contagion. Secondly, that the government may have contaminated water sources worldwide, evoking the kind of fear and suspicion that fuel anti-establishment conspiracy theories. Either way, at some point in the main series, producers decided that the cruelty of living people is far more terrifying for audiences than the zombie. Power mad and tyrannical figures like Negan and the Governor are expected to resonate with viewers as a result of the world that we live in. The powerlessness of ordinary viewers against organised guerrilla warfare and unpredictable political figures is enough to make the reanimated dead seem harmless, ridiculous and frankly unrealistic.

The Walking Dead has realised what we’re really afraid of and it’s much scarier than any corpse can ever be.

Illustration by Choy-Ping Clarke-Ng.