The Capitalist 'Dystopia' in Robert Kirkman's Picture Novel The Walking Dead

Abstract

Capitalism is an economic system wherein a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. By the early 21st century, the capitalist world system has entered into a structural crisis, and relentless capitalist accumulation on a worldwide scale is presently in essential clash with the survival of human civilization. Karl Marx (1818-1883) is the author of The Communist Manifesto (1848) and his critique became a prominent perception of capitalism during the mid-19th century. Looking back at the history of the “zombie” in American culture, it is a form of political commentary. The top of “zombiedom” today is The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman which centers around former deputy sheriff Rick Grimes who wakes from a coma to find the world invade with “zombies” and in a condition of aggregate social and economic crumple. Since Marx’s theory is based on capitalism and its running amok, the walkers can be used to symbolize capitalism in the story. They walk around doing nothing more than consuming any living thing that gets in their way. Marx's theories about society, economics and politics known as Marxism, hold that human societies expand via class struggle. So analyzing the representational fluidity of Kirkman's “zombies” in The Walking Dead by placing them in two disparate Marxian positions and a class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie are highlighted in this study.