MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

AMC’s The Walking Dead (2010-present) is part of a post-9/11 wave of post-apocalyptic narratives that can be read as allegories for the September 11th terrorist attacks. Like the array of government-themed rescue shows produced during the last decade and a half, these dystopian television programs present fear-based storylines centered on similar themes: survival, community, justice, revenge, resurrection, and (the dark side of) humanity.

The Walking Dead also engages with common post-9/11 gender portrayals (e.g. the resurrection of the “manly man” and the “damsel in distress”). The show both conforms to and rejects the stereotype of “the emotional woman” and the association of women with nurture more generally and motherhood specifically. The program’s main characters include a prominent father-son duo, but as the seasons stretch on it is devoid of any long-term mother-child relationships. As part of its complicated critique of 21st century gender roles, The Walking Dead presents motherhood as both horrific and traumatic.

This paper analyzes the ways in which the show uses one character (Carol Peletier) to carry out its gender commentary. As she progresses from the role of the emotional woman (an abused wife and mourning mother) to that of the hardened female (an exiled group leader and child killer), she continually pays the price for deviating from expected (gendered) behavior. This presentation discusses reactions from fans and critics concerning one particular scene – deemed one of the most horrific, disturbing, and shocking moments of fictional television – wherein Carol, a surrogate mother figure, is forced to assassinate the child she was tasked with caring for. The emotional reactions that viewers had to this plot twist reconfirm that various societal expectations for women are so ingrained in our culture that even post-apocalyptic programs about hoards of zombies are expected to conform to them.