Self, Infinity, Rebirth: a Jungian Critique of the Walking Dead
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Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Self, Infinity, Rebirth: A Jungian Critique of The Walking Dead Buchanan, Emma Award date: 2021 Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 05. Oct. 2021 Self, Infinity, Rebirth A Jungian Critique of The Walking Dead By Emma Buchanan Self, Infin ity, Rebirth A Jungian Critique of The Walking Dead By Emma Buchanan Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Bangor University School of History, Philosophy and Social Sciences th 25 January 2021 i Yr wyf drwy hyn yn datgan mai canlyniad fy ymchwil fy hun yw’r thesis hwn, ac eithrio lle nodir yn wahanol. Caiff ffynonellau eraill eu cydnabod gan droednodiadau yn rhoi cyfeiriadau eglur. Nid yw sylwedd y gwaith hwn wedi cael ei dderbyn o’r blaen ar gyfer unrhyw radd, ac nid yw’n cael ei gyflwyno ar yr un pryd mewn ymgeisiaeth am unrhyw radd oni bai ei fod, fel y cytunwyd gan y Brifysgol, am gymwysterau deuol cymeradwy. I hereby declare that this thesis is the results of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. All other sources are acknowledged by bibliographic references. This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree unless, as agreed by the University, for approved dual awards. ii Abstract This interdisciplinary thesis offers a Jungian investigation of the AMC television series The Walking Dead with a strong focus on the series’ gender representation. It examines rebirth and the relationship between ego and self in the lives of the survivors in a post-zombie- apocalypse landscape in order to appraise the series’ treatment of gendered norms and find meaning in relationship between the series, the Jungian concept of the self and quantum physics. In so doing, it posits infinity as a metaphor for the self and psyche. Traditionally, studies of zombie narrative have focused strongly on the zombie figure, giving the impression that any rebirth the genre can depict must relate to the resurrection and dehumanisation of the living dead. Moreover, the small number of papers investigating The Walking Dead, though interested in the human survivors, are overwhelmingly cynical in their conclusions about the post-apocalyptic world the series depicts, convinced it is one not only of hopelessness, but, more pertinently, of dreadful sexism and a staunch adherence to patriarchal norms. Recently, a few studies have posited that, actually, this apparently obvious misogyny is not as simple as it seems. Rather, as time goes on, significant, complex change is taking place. This study expands upon these observations, taking advantage of the long-running and survivor-focused nature of the television series to examine an overarching theme of change throughout the series. This thesis shows that, when a deeper analysis of the series over time is conducted, a more positive view of gender in the series is reached. Using a Jungian investigative lens, and continuously marrying its psychological argument with quantum physics, this thesis makes several major and unique claims. First, by exploring the series as an example of archetypal rebirth, it is shown how the narrative to date can be understood as a series of seven rebirth cycles, and that those cycles are even organised around metaphorical phases of pregnancy: conception, gestation, labour and (re)birth. Moreover, it is shown how the first rebirth cycle is a hopeful one characterised by dramatic socio-political change which has a positive effect on gender roles and representation. Second, by exploring the series as a whole system in which the time before and immediately after the apocalypse may be seen as the development of the ego and post-apocalyptic time may be seen as the development of the self, leading to union, it is shown how the event of Lori’s death and Judith’s birth is a symbolic one which reverses the patriarchal values of the ego time and introduces a new feminine value. This means that the time after her death depicts another rebirth: a shift both to the self from the ego and to feminine dominance from masculine. Moreover, as Judith grows up, she becomes representative of the union of ego and self: a synthesis of old and new in the series, and the hero image is passed from Rick to her. Third, the rebirth imagery created in this investigation shows a clear parallel with both the quantum field and the infinity symbol. Thus, it is also argued that the self is essentially the same thing as the quantum field, with archetypes and waves, and archetypal image manifestations and particles, being comparable pairs, and that both material and psychological reality may be understood using the infinity symbol. Furthermore, this leads to a greater understanding of the self, since both infinity and the quantum field show how the self is a dynamic process that is constantly in motion, and how the self can be both the whole and the parts of that system. iii Dedication: For Stephen, who introduced me to The Walking Dead and has tolerated the impact of this project in our lives admirably, and for Crookshanks, who keeps me in my place. Special thanks to Lucy Huskinson for her support and belief in this project. “No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell” – C. G. Jung iv Contents Declaration p. ii Abstract p. iii Dedication p. iv Chapter 1: Introduction p. 3 1.1 The Walking Dead in Context p. 3 1.2 Key Concepts and Methodological Considerations p. 30 1.2.1 Essential Jungian Thought p. 31 1.2.2 Methodological Approach p. 36 1.2.3 The Self p. 43 1.2.4 Depth Psychology and Quantum Physics p. 50 Chapter 2: Rebirth and the Self p. 57 2.1 Understanding Rebirth p. 57 2.2 Cyclical Rebirth in The Walking Dead p. 61 2.3 Symbolic Death and Rebirth p. 74 2.4 Beginning to Relate Quantum Physics to Jungian Thought p. 94 2.5 Journey p. 103 Chapter 3: Archetypal Rebirth and Socio-Political Change p. 110 3.1 The Archetype of Rebirth p. 110 3.2 Socio-Political Change and Enlargement p. 113 3.2.1 The Downfall of ‘Ricktatorship’ p. 113 3.2.2 Work, Economy and Gender p. 126 3.2.3 Introduction of the Female Warrior p. 133 Chapter 4: Union and Archetype p. 143 4.1 Rick’s World Becomes Judith’s: Union of Ego and Self p. 143 4.2 Archetype and Chaos p. 153 4.3 Rick’s Shadow Integration p. 163 Chapter 5: Synchronicity, Self and Quantum Physics p. 173 Chapter 6: Conclusion p. 190 6.1 Summary p. 190 6.2 Revisiting Aims and Method p. 197 6.3 To Finish p. 202 Glossary p. 204 1 Bibliography p. 206 Videography p. 226 2 1. Introduction 1.1 The Walking Dead in Context The zombie apocalypse, a horror sub-genre, has been with us for over one hundred years, emerging out of the racism and chaos of the slave trade in Haiti. Zombification is almost a satirisation of the Catholic oppressors: it is blasphemous to suggest that anyone can return from the dead, it conjures a notion of Jesus as a mindless, disposable slave if he did, and the thought of eating zombie flesh, which might infect you, suggests that taking communion might poison you.1 Over the last few years, the zombie narrative, once rather neglected by scholarship, has attracted academic attention, largely because the zombie itself (re)surged in popularity; the prevalence of the word ‘zombie’ in English books spiked significantly in the year 2000.2 Much has been written on the zombie itself, especially in recent decades.3 This work, however, will be a different approach. It will take advantage of the television series’ long- running coverage of the survivors to focus on the human survivors and the society they rebuild. That is a key goal of this project: to offer insight into the potential structure of society and community, and gender roles within them, if humanity found itself the victim of 1 Christopher M. Moreman, ‘Dharma of the Living Dead: A Meditation on the Meaning of the Hollywood Zombie’, Studies in Religion, 39.2 (2010), 263–81 <10.1177/0008429810362316> (p. 268). 2 John Vervaeke, Christopher Mastropietro and Filip Miscevic, Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis (Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2017), p. 1. 3 Kyle Bishop’s work has been particularly influential, helping Zombie Studies to coalesce into a coherent field. For example: Kyle William Bishop, American Zombie Gothic: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Walking Dead in Popular Culture, (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010); Kyle William Bishop, How Zombies Conquered Popular Culture: The Multifarious Walking Dead in the 21st Century (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2015); Kyle William Bishop and Angela Tenga (eds.), The Written Dead: Essays on the Literary Zombie, (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2017).