Religion and the Representative Anecdote: Replacement and Revenge in AMC’s The Walking Dead

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2016

Publication Title

Journal of Media and Religion

Volume

15

Issue

3

First page number:

123

Last page number:

135

Abstract

The current study examines how the horror-based AMC television series The Walking Dead portrays religion in terms of a reframing of the role, if any, of faith in a higher power, and the portrayal of the faithful. The religious-themed discourse of this highly successful story about survivors of a zombie apocalypse as presented through dialogic and visual imagery serves as the text analyzed here; specifically, related episodes set in churches at two separate points in the series that combine to offer a metaphor of “structure” used to disassemble and reconstruct the role of religion. These episodes interlace religious themes to develop an overarching message that forms a representative anecdote of replacement in which the notion of “faith” becomes redefined. © 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Language

English

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