Varieties of Zombieism: Approaching Comparative Political Economy though 28 Days Later and Wild Zero (Derek Hall)

Varieties of Zombieism: Approaching Comparative Political Economy though 28 Days Later and Wild Zero (Derek Hall) takes the comparison between Zombies and Capitalism to a level I have never seen before! I didn't read the section on Wild Zero as I have not seen the film and found it hard enough to follow the section on 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle 2002) despite my familiarity with the film. This has nothing to do with bad wording or writing you just need to spend a lot of time solidifying the economics and the history of capitalism before even attempting to apply it to the films.

Hall first shows that in today's media permeated world, with zombies on top, the undead creatures of the night can even reach the more dry and most serious of subjects, the banking crisis, which is clearly one of the most important things happening in the world now and for the last 10 years. He quotes news sources using terms such as "zombie crises" and "zombie banks" showing how far the ideological link between zombies and banking/ capitalism has grown to be widely accepted by both audiences and film makers, it no longer needs to be made an issue of, everyone gets it and is now applying it to real life. Hall's most interesting and compelling argument, the focus of the essay, is that in 28 Days Later the outbreak of "rage zombies" mimics the "outbreak" of capitalism as outlined in Ellen Meiksins Wood's The Origin of Capitalism (Wood 2002).

The article is elloquent and full of small points and explination about both 28 Days later and The Origins of Capitalism however after sifting through all of the difficult language it boils down to three main points (that I can get my head round):

1. Capitalism began and stayed in England. From the 1400's to the 1900's England was the only Capitalist country.

2. Capitalism happened by accident or more appropriately "capitalism emerged as an unintended consequence of he struggles of feudal actors trying to reproduce themselves as they were."

3. "Once it did emerge, its dynamism meant that it would inexorably spread"


In comparison:

1. The whole film is simply set in England, one of the characters suggests that England has even been quarantined, further suggesting it wont spread any further, exactly like capitalism.

2. "Two social groups- scientists and animal rights activists- have confronted each other within the constraints of an existing social system, a confrontation in which both groups are carrying out their respective roles" Similarly to the lords and peasants of the 1400's. "Rage" is released by accident and all become infected "more precisely, as an unintended consequence of struggles between people who have no intention of changing the fundamental nature of social relations"

3. Zombies continue to consume, there is no doubt about that!

Some compelling arguments, and thats not all of them, religious and rebellious parallels are also drawn but for me the best other line is the comparison between the army barracks at the end of 28 days Later and Soviet Union. "having followed stirring calls to action that spoke of salvation and the answer to zombieism/ capitalism, what they have discovered instead is an oppressive  militaristic society engaged in an armed stand off with capitalism and hoping capitalism will collapse of its own accord." A truly brilliant analysis which I hope was encoded by Danny Boyle and the writers and not just something read into the film.

The section like the film itself ends with the opening up of the story to a world wide stage and Hall describes the translation in capitalist terms as "the persistence of diversity in the globaal political economy that allows our heroes to be rescued".

I found this really enlightening even if it was really difficult to understand I feel as though I learned a lot whilst reading it and what I learned is reasonably applicable and well evidenced in the case of 28 Days Later it has definitely given another new reading to the film. Not only that but next time I see the common capitalist subtext in zombie films I will look more closely at what it is actually saying rather than jsut taking for granted the fact that it is there like I have in the past.