Shuffling Narratives: Apocalypticism, Postmodernism, and Zombies

Abstract

Zombies and the tropes that surround them have become a staple of popular culture and a familiar presence in movies, television series, graphic novels, and video games. From their Caribbean folklore origins, the undead are palimpsestic metaphors for social issues and cultural anxieties. This article examines the rarely studied tensions between apocalyptic desires to resurrect narrative stability through monstrous bodies and postmodern voices that utilize zombies to decompose societal conventions. Despite this supposed antagonism, the article suggests that zombies amalgamate these contrasting mindsets by assuming a role of pop-cultural mediators that bridge the gap between increasingly divisive cultural epistemologies.