Article
A Postapocalyptic Return to The Frontier: The Walking Dead As Post-Western
Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies
Document Type
Article
Language
eng
Publication Date
1-1-2018
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Original Item ID
DOI: 10.1177/1749602018796696
Disciplines
Abstract
This article argues that The Walking Dead is a post-Western, a genre that extracts classical Hollywood Western themes and iconography, and resituates them in a dystopian, postapocalyptic setting. The program features characters forced to reconquer the frontier amid the disintegration of modern society, who must battle undead walkers and other human survivors. As a post-Western, the program inverts the ideological optimism of the classical Hollywood Western. In doing so, it highlights the linkages between the seemingly unconnected narrative universes of the Western and the postapocalyptic tale.
Citation Information
Amanda R. Keeler. "A Postapocalyptic Return to The Frontier: The Walking Dead As Post-Western" Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies (2018) ISSN: 1749-6020 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/amanda-keeler/26/
Accepted version. Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies, Vol. 13, No. 4 (December 1, 2018): 422-437. DOI. © 2018 SAGE Publications. Used with permission.