Exploring the Limits of the Human Via the Posthuman Zombie In
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ZOMBIFICATION VERSUS REIFICATION AT THE END OF THE WORLD: EXPLORING THE LIMITS OF THE HUMAN VIA THE POSTHUMAN ZOMBIE IN CONTEMPORARY HORROR FILM by Kelly Ann Doyle M.A., Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2007 B.A. (Hons), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2005 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) September 2015 © Kelly Ann Doyle 2015 ii Abstract The zombie figure is ubiquitous in contemporary horror film—particularly in the United States—and has prompted me to explore why zombie films have regained popularity post- 9/11, why the zombie has become a figure in flux, evolving from slow to fast, from un-dead to living, and from decaying to mutating body, and finally, to explore the practical use of an allegory of the zombie at the end of the world. My fascination with horror film has bloomed into an analysis of the ways in which the zombie figure in film troubles and in part reifies the human figure delineated by classical humanism and anthropocentrism; how posthumanism serves as a critical lens through which the zombie figure not only threatens ontology, but also the ideological constructs of speciesism, racism, and sexism that depend upon the fantasy figure of the human to justify dehumanization and atrocities. Zombie films’ apocalyptic narratives warn of ecological crisis, of over-consumption, of ends that are always near yet always deferred. They are intertextual, historically and politically resonant, and draw particularly though not singularly on America-centric fear and trauma. It is particularly significant as a genre when one considers the 9/11 attacks as a benchmark. Extant criticism has focused on examining the political and cultural critiques of American society in George A. Romero’s canonical films, and others, to conclude that “they” are “us”. Moreover, it often suggests that zombies provide a background against which humans reach their full potential—re-endorsing humanism and anthropocentrism—or alternatively, they highlight essential flaws and the aggressive, ‘animalistic’ nature of humans. By contrast, I argue that these films do more than mediate terror; they profoundly affect political life since 9/11 by insisting that posthumanism must be addressed if we are to understand the ways in which the human subject is mapped and remapped by such events. iii Preface This dissertation is original, unpublished, independent work by the author, Kelly Doyle. iv Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... ii Preface...................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. vi Dedication .............................................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1 Introduction: Rising Dead, Falling Towers, Posthuman Nightmares ...................... 1 Chapter 2 “They” are “us”, but Who or What are We? The Limits of the Human, Deceptive Realism, and Zombification by Moving Image in George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead.................................................................................................................... 35 Romero’s Dead Films and their Sociopolitical Concerns: Critical Overview ................. 40 “The Camera Sees, and What the Camera Sees the Audience Sees”: Media as Meaning-Maker ........................................................................................................... 51 The Zombifying, Dehumanizing Eye of the Camera ....................................................... 59 Dr. Maxwell: Last Stand of the Human Subject .............................................................. 70 “Are We Worth Saving?”: Final Footage, Finite Humans .............................................. 79 Chapter 3 The War on Zombies: Ecological Crisis, Human Hierarchy and American Exceptionalism in World War Z ............................................................................................. 86 Ecological Crisis in WWZ ............................................................................................... 90 Ecological Abandonment, Human Exceptionalism ......................................................... 98 The View from America: Reifying the Human Subject in WWZ ................................. 108 In Defense of Security, Militarism, and Totalitarianism: The “Salvation Gates” of Jerusalem ....................................................................................................... 119 Chapter 4 Corporate Maleficence, the Posthuman, and the End of the World in the Resident Evil Film Franchise ................................................................................................ 130 Stumbling, Running, Tunneling Forward: Resident Evil Zombie Evolution and Posthumanism ......................................................................................................... 139 Under the Umbrella of Humanism: Undermining Umbrella’s Human Subject ............ 153 Race, and Resistance to Umbrella’s Anthropocentrism and Speciesism ...................... 162 “They did something to me. I barely feel human anymore”: Alice in Posthuman Wonderland ................................................................................................. 168 “My Name is Alice, and this is my World”: Last Stand on a Charnel Ground ............. 176 Chapter 5 All the Rage: Broken Speed Limits and Broken Ontological Boundaries in 28 Days Later ........................................................................................................................ 187 v I Ran With a Zombie: Speed, Fear, and Leaving Slow Zombies in the Dust ................ 191 Global Pandemic in 28 Days: Viral Rage and “Real-Life” Resonance ......................... 209 Imperialism, Speed, and Humanism .............................................................................. 219 “There is no Infection”: Rage, Survival, and the Un?-infected ..................................... 224 The Elephant in the Room: Humanized Animals, Animalized Humans ....................... 234 Hopeful Hopelessness and Uneasy Endings .................................................................. 241 Chapter 6 Conclusion: Vexed Eschatologies ........................................................................ 246 Coming Full Circle: Apocalyptic Un-Veiling and the Terror of Dehumanization ............................................................................................................. 262 A Look to Future Ends .................................................................................................. 272 Works Cited .......................................................................................................................... 279 vi Acknowledgements I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to research and explore what began as a childhood interest and hobby, and to have had the encouragement and support of family, friends, and colleagues. I am grateful for those who tirelessly read this thesis in its various incarnations, and who offered their support, time, expertise, and energy to make thoughtful and invariably helpful comments: thanks are due especially to my supervisor, Dr. Jodey Castricano, for seeing the potential in me and in this project from the first email I sent her as a prospective student back in 2008, but also for her guidance, critical feedback, and provocative questions on every page of my work and in meetings, and her encouragement at every stage of my PhD. Thanks to my committee members, Dr. Daniel Keyes and Dr. George Grinnell, who were always available to discuss the work and its progression and who thoroughly and thoughtfully read this thesis and offered comments, suggestions, and critical insights that allowed me to approach it with new eyes and to introduce more nuance and complexity to the work. Thanks to Dr. Francisco Pena, who suggested helpful texts on apocalyptic rhetoric and whose knowledge on the apocalyptic was instrumental in inspiring my conclusion. Looking back at my time at Memorial University, I would like to thank Dr. Faith Balisch for telling me in my first year that literary studies was where I excelled, and Dr. Noreen Golfman for her advice, her support, and for admitting me into her full third-year Film Studies class, which gave me a foundation on which to build my interest in film scholarship. To Dr. Danine Farquharson, I am grateful for the class that made me ask the questions and see the connections that allowed me to dream the idea for this dissertation into existence. I would also like to thank the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan for their support via University Graduate Fellowships, which allowed me to focus on the completion of this project, and most recently for awarding me with a FCCS Dean’s vii Scholarship in the eleventh hour; this extra support at the final stages of my revision process was critical. Research preparation for this work was facilitated by a Graduate Student Travel Grant from UBC Okanagan’s