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I was invited to join this panel, at least in part, because I wrote an essay titled “Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse: Trauma and Transformation in AMC’s The Walking Dead” which was published in Psychoanalytic Inquiry. In that article, I examined in depth the recent phenomenon in popular culture of the zombie apocalyptic narrative, specifically that an “epidemic” would result in the transformation of recently deceased people into reanimated, flesh-eating ghouls, armies of which would take over the world, overwhelming and destroying civilization. Putting aside the patently ridiculous nature of this narrative, I argued that the fantasy of the apocalypse has a deeply resonant function in contemporary society, expressing and dramatizing a pervasive fear (and longing).
Apocalyptic narratives are stories of traumatic, pervasive, and permanent loss. The Walking Dead explores the impact of this type of crisis on the psychological and emotional lives of the survivors, whose stories the series explores at length. Rick Grimes, the main character, wakes from a coma in an abandoned hospital ward to confront a world devoid of government, functioning technology, community, family, and friends. Everything by which he defined himself, gave meaning to his life, and depended on for survival appears to be gone. The only people he meets are “undead” ghouls, who, without hesitation, seek to kill him. As the story unfolds Rick seeks to restore some connection to his past, and to reconnect with his lost family – it does not go well. Over the next four seasons Rick’s identity, system of civilized values, and fundamental relationship to others are repeatedly tested, worn down, and ultimately annihilated, until he experiences, in a moment of terrible insight, that he himself is one of the walking dead. This recognition becomes the basis of Rick’s restoration as he adapts to the grim conditions of his new life and the need for a complete revision of identity and values that is necessary to his e