Marx and the walking dead

1. Marx and the walking dead Popular culture Fall 2013

2. MArx • 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. Zombies = capitalists?

3. The communist manifesto • Capitalism expands vociferously (almost like a … virus?) to all corners of the globe in pursuit of profit. • Dominate markets • Exploit workers • Destroy local markets • 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.

4. More manifesto • Goal for Marx: eliminate private property • Reality for the survivors: private property is futile and useless • Goral for Marx: abolition of families • Reality for the survivors: with the exception of the Grimes (kind of, no spoilers here…) there isn’t really any family to speak of save for the survivors. The survivors of The Walking Dead operate as one unit.

5. To those who don’t fit in? • What of the survivors who can’t overcome their own issues or work as a team? • To those who try to be too independent, what is there fate? • The racist, sexist among the survivors, what happens to them?

6. Money has no value