Originally posted on Sociology in Focus
AMC’s award-winning zombie apocalypse drama The Walking Dead is currently in its third season of undead annihilation. The show’s protagonists are a motley crew of survivors, led by Sheriff Rick Grimes, who have beat the odds to stay alive in the Georgia wilderness. In this post, Ami Stearns pits the human group as communists employing classic Marxist tenets to avoid being eaten by the cold-blooded symbols of capitalism.
“Society suddenly finds itself put back into a state of momentary barbarism; it appears as if a famine, a universal war of devastation, had cut off the supply of every means of subsistence; industry and commerce seem to be destroyed…”
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
That sound of a twig snapping in the forest? For the small band of survivors on The Walking Dead lead by Sheriff Rick Grimes, it’s much more likely a zombie staggering along in search of a fresh human snack than it is a deer or a squirrel. Zombies, called “walkers” in this high-adrenaline drama, can only be stopped with a bullet to the head or a swift decapitation. In this world, letting down your guard or relaxing your weapon means you might be the next item on the walker’s lunch menu. With episode after episode featuring an exponentially increasing zombie population, it’s a miracle that any humans are able to survive at all. Or is it a miracle?
I’m a sociologist, so I did what sociologists do; I analyzed the zombiepocalypse sociologically. The survival tactics of Grimes’ warm-blooded group in The Walking Dead can be viewed through the lens of Marxist theory. Without complete cooperation, shared responsibility, and equal allocation of assets, the entire fate of the human race would be doomed. The zombies embody the classic Marxist critiques of capitalism. The heartless creatures mindlessly devour resources (i.e. human brains) in the same way that capitalism pursues profit for its own sake. In case you’ve been holed up in the woods preparing for the next pandemic (hint…it’ll be zombies!), here’s a quick overview of Marx’s Communist Manifesto. In the mid-1800s, Karl Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto within the context of the Industrial Revolution. The epic struggle of zombies versus humans in The Walking Dead can help illustrate the principles of each orientation. Capitalism, according to Marx, reached into the far corners of the globe to dominate markets, exploit workers, and destroy local culture. The zombies in The Walking Dead have completely overtaken urban Atlanta, and it’s not long before hoards of walkers begin pillaging the surrounding small towns and countryside as well. The zombies symbolize capitalism’s insatiable need to constantly expand, exploiting (or feeding on, more appropriately) people to reach its end goal, which is merely to sustain itself. The main idea of Marx’s Communist Manifesto is the elimination of private property. Grimes and the survivalists must keep on the move to stay a step ahead of the zombies, so claiming any property as private would be futile. They inhabit campgrounds, a farmhouse, and a prison as shared, communal property, abandoning shelter and moving on when threatened. Marx also advocates abolition of the family as another principle in The Communist Manifesto. Although a few family units are represented on the show, the members of the group care for one another communally. One character recently stated that the survivors are his family. A communist society, Marx says, will cause differences and antagonisms to diminish. We see this is true among Grimes’ community of survivors. The characters who have shown intolerance toward one another due to race or gender present a danger for the group’s safety and have been eaten by (or left to be eaten by) zombies. The desire for profit is absent among the group, as it would be absent among a communist society. Instead, survivors rely on one another to meet basic needs. Finally, not only does money never change hands, but it has become completely obsolete in this society. The Walking Dead’s human survivors versus zombie dynamic illustrates some of the basic principles in Marx’s The Communist Manifesto. Theory can sometimes seem dry and undead, but viewing a popular show through a sociological lens can help bring theory to life. Dig Deeper:
Ami Stearns Ami Stearns is a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma and is interested in the sociology of literature, sociological and feminist theory, female deviance, and women's reproductive rights.
nick p
3/10/2013 04:53:22 pm
I've mentioned walking dead in class to illustrate feminism. I've only watched the first two series but i was very striking to me how gendered the survivors community was, laughably so at times (e.g. i think the season 2 finale where the women wait in the house while the men shoot zombies). the women even do the laundry!
Nicole
3/10/2013 11:27:36 pm
That's not illustrating feminism. That's a television show relying on tired sexist gender roles.
Sandro
12/29/2021 06:21:27 am
You just write bullshit!
Joseph
2/3/2016 07:50:11 am
Nicole, The women in the show steadily become seen as they truly were all along, equal share members of the society. In that respect is is very feminist. It is especially interesting to note that women fill traditional societal assigned roles when the circumstance is safe or stable. When there is more danger, societal roles become less important and survival takes over as the guiding principal. They have only just begun to deal with the "propagation of the species" problem. There are some very strong women in the show and the men are often surprised at the valuable contributions they make. Please remember that everything takes place in a setting or context so . . . It is the south after all. Give them boys a minute to shed centuries of programming. They killed the wife beater first though right?
nick p
3/10/2013 11:42:26 pm
i should have said illustrating patriarchy, that post was first thing in the morning for me!
amelie
4/20/2013 02:37:54 am
This actually isn't a new idea. Zombie culture in itself has always been essentially a commentary on capitalist consumerism since the 90s or early 2000s for the very reasons that you just highlighted. But still, your analysis is pretty well though out and insightful.
William Nevins Weaver
10/14/2013 09:09:08 pm
You get to the nature of Marxism as an apocalyptic cult, more than actually the heart of the matter, which is human nature, a subject for which Marx largely failed to account. You could probably find similar language in Revelations, or any other prophecy of doom - nonetheless, I fail to see how your analysis works in consideration of "outsiders" of the tribe - i.e. the hitchhiker in the episode "Clear" - isn't he just another member of the proletariat? And shouldn't they have helped him by stopping and picking him up in order to "share" all the property communally? Instead they ignore him, and leave him on the side of the road to be killed, and then pick up his backpack later. This seems more like tribal warfare than Marxist evolution. But, it looks like you make a living at this, so who am to tell you anything about your business?
Sandro
12/29/2021 06:32:01 am
How idiotic! Just the fact of commenting on all the insanities written in this text is embarrassing. And to think that this kind of asshole is what makes the heads of young people in the US and most of the West.
rafageist
2/8/2022 04:54:55 am
It is false that Marx also advocates the abolition of the family 12/13/2022 03:26:53 am
I have little time but it is funny every so often I get a reminder about this post from way back before I finished my own sociological paper. Now if I reviewed this I would use the lens of Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory, which is quite critical of Marxism. Still I think the show is about modern fears of societal collapse or a collapse of differentiation as Luhmann might say. Marx of course felt that capitalism would destroy or collapse itself. I would also however pull in some folklore - as the zombie is certainly part of our modern ‘folk’ tradition. Comments are closed.
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