There are 5 different prompts to choose from ever you feel most comfortable doing that’s the one that I will go with. Sources do have to be cited but there is not a set amount.
1. Compare female figures or feminized figures (or, arguably, figures that occupy marginal “feminized” positions, such as Victor’s monster) in some of the zombie texts we have covered—Frankenstein, Tell My Horse, White Zombie, I Am Legend, 28 Days Later, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, The Road, The Walking Dead, Get Out, The Last of Us. Do female figures in zombie texts—including female zombies–demand certain kinds of accountability from male figures in zombie texts? Do they signal kinds of exploitation or potential exploitation? Do they demand justice, or signal other kinds of values? Pick three or four examples to discuss (or more if you like). Feel free to bring in video games as well with a lot of narrative content, such as The Last of Us and/or The Last of Us 2 (or the HBO show based on these).Discuss at least one written text.
2.What are the limits of human obligation to “Others” in the texts we have read? “Others” can be other humans, the poor, victims of violence, voodoo zombies, vampires (I Am Legend), the living dead, disabled people, queer and trans people, women, Cordyceps runners, clickers, or bloaters (The Last of Us), etc. Are zombies in these texts still part of the human family? What do we owe the living, or the dead? Pick three or four texts (or more) and talk about this issue. You might consider The Magic Island, or I Am Legend, or Dawn of the Dead, or I Am Legend (the book), or Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, The Last of Us, or the TV series The Walking Dead,The Road, or Get Out!. Remember to also talk about at least three other texts from class. Discuss at least one written text.
3. Does The Walking Dead TV show or The Last of Us (TV show or game) feel like a part of the zombie tradition? Does Get Out!? How do any of them resemble I Am Legend, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later,World War Z, or The Road? What values are earlier zombie texts concerned with? What do those later TV and/or game texts have in common with the earlier tradition, if anything?
4. Thinking about Stuart Hall, what values or cultural fears would you say are being fought out in your favorite zombie texts? You should use at least three or four (or more) texts we have talked about in class, such as The Magic Island, Tell My Horse, White Zombie, I Am Legend, 28 Days Later, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, The Walking Dead, Get Out!, The Road–but you can also bring in others, including video games with some narrative content such as The Last of Us and The Last of Us 2, or the spinoff HBO show. Don’t forget to consider representations of disability and intersectionality in your discussions!
5. Write a new and updated Zombie Survival Guide, with an eye to helping a wider group of people to survive than the typical guy Max Brooks imagines in his 2003 guide. You can focus on one group in particular left out of Brooks’s imagined community–parents and caretakers of small children or elderly relatives, pet owners, people living in areas without ready access to transportation or supplies, people with disabilities, women and/or people of color and/or LGBTQ folks who may feel especially vulnerable in a dystopian environment–or aim your guide towards several groups at once. Your guide can include illustrations, but should be long enough to feel like the beginning of its own book, or a real insert that could be added to the original in the event of an apocalypse. (5+ pages)
