IS THERE LAW IN A POST-ZOMBIE WORLD? A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF POWER, AUTHORITY, AND GOVERNANCE IN AMC’S THE WALKING DEAD By Sarah Bray A Thesis Submitted to Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Criminology July, 2014, Halifax, Nova Scotia © Sarah Bray, 2014 Approved: Dr. Michele Byers Supervisor Approved: Dr. Robert Gray Reader Approved: Dr. Ashley Carver External Date: September 12th, 2014 ii ABSTRACT IS THERE LAW IN A POST-ZOMBIE WORLD? A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF POWER, AUTHORITY, AND GOVERNANCE IN AMC’S THE WALKING DEAD By Sarah Bray Using one of AMC’s “original series,” The Walking Dead, as a narrative frame, this thesis offers a qualitative critical analysis of different and competing discourses of power, authority, gender, race, class, the law, governance, risk, and the body in the first two seasons of the series. I critically examine and analyze these discourses to demonstrate how the power and authority to govern, the management of risk, and the control of the body are brought into being in the text as well as how these discourses produce régimes of truth in the series. In particular, I argue that the power and authority to govern are gendered, raced, and classed, overwhelmingly falling in the purview of those who are male, white, middle-class, and heterosexual; I also argue that discursively the able, clean, and living body is privileged as normal in the text and that the body is governed through the management of risk, more so than through overt physical violence or force. I draw on Jacques Derrida’s vocabulary of deconstruction, Michel Foucault’s concepts of discourse, knowledge, power, truth, governance, normalization, resistance, and the body, and Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection to compile the conceptual tools and language I need to deconstruct, critically analyze, and speak about this text. September 12, 2014 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to recognize the following individuals for their contribution in the completion of this Master’s thesis: It has been an honour to work with Dr. Michele Byers. You have been a constant mentor and inspiration and this thesis would not have been possible without your commitment, guidance, care, and support. Thank you for challenging me to deepen my analysis and for showing me that I can incorporate my passion and interests (like zombies!) into my academic work to create a final product that is critical, fun, and that I am proud of. It is with immense gratitude that I acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Robert Gray, who has offered me invaluable feedback on this project, and Dr. Ashley Carver, for being a wonderful mentor and supporting me not only on this project, but in other aspects of my academic career and professional development. Thank you both for your knowledge, patience, genuine interest, and excitement in my research. Thank you to Dr. Debra Langan, Dr. Andrew Welsh, and Dr. Lisa Wood, who I had the privilege of learning from during my undergraduate degree at Wilfrid Laurier University. Your passion, knowledge, and support is the reason I pursued graduate studies and words cannot express how grateful I am to each of you. I owe my sincerest gratitude to the faculty and staff in the Department of Sociology and Criminology for supporting me through this process and to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research for funding this project. I give my heartfelt thanks to my friends and colleagues for giving me so much emotional support over the last few years. Thank you for providing me a safe space to express my anxieties and frustrations and afterwards, thank you for making me laugh. I am forever in your debt. My deepest gratitude goes out to my parents. Thank you for your constant thoughts, prayers, and for always believing in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. You have no idea how much your love and support means to me, and how grateful I am that you are my parents. And to my husband and best friend, Jon. Thank you being there every day to love and support me. Thank you for listening to my frustrations and my rants (and even joining in) and, afterwards, thank you for always putting a smile on my face. I am excited to now have the opportunity to return the support as you embark on your own thesis. iv Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ....................................................................................................... iv Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Significance of the Zombie .......................................................................... 3 Chapter Outlines .......................................................................................... 4 Section 1.0 ................................................................................................................. 11 1.1 Literature Review .............................................................................................. 11 The Medium of Television .......................................................................... 11 Horror ........................................................................................................... 16 An Evolution of the Zombie ........................................................................ 20 Representations of Zombies ......................................................................... 27 1.2 Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................... 33 Poststructuralism .......................................................................................... 33 Derrida and Deconstruction ......................................................................... 34 Examining Foucault ..................................................................................... 38 Foucault and the Body ..................................................................... 41 Kristeva and Abjection ................................................................................ 45 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 46 1.3 Methodology ....................................................................................................... 48 AMC’s The Walking Dead .......................................................................... 52 Data Collection ............................................................................................ 53 Post-structural Concepts in my Analysis ..................................................... 59 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 64 Section 2.0: Analytical Chapters ............................................................................ 66 2.1 Binary Oppositions in The Walking Dead ........................................................ 66 Urban/Rural ................................................................................................. 66 Male/Female ................................................................................................ 68 White/Black ................................................................................................. 70 Us/Them ....................................................................................................... 73 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 77 2.2 Competing Discourses of Power, Authority, and Governance ...................... 78 Three Models of Authority .......................................................................... 78 Gender .......................................................................................................... 80 Gender and Weaponry in The Walking Dead ................................ 90 Race and Class ............................................................................................. 97 Whiteness and the “White Trash” Identity .................................... 101 v Authority Figures ......................................................................................... 110 Expert Knowledge ......................................................................... 128 Power and Land ............................................................................. 132 Three’s a Crowd ............................................................................ 141 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 145 2.3 The Body and Abject ......................................................................................... 148 The Concept of Risk .................................................................................... 148 The Abject Body .......................................................................................... 150 Suicide and Abjection .................................................................................. 160 Bio-power and the Discourse of Contagion .................................. 164 Bio-power and the Fear of Reproduction ...................................... 168 The Power of the Norm ..............................................................................