{"id":1171,"date":"2017-12-12T15:00:57","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T20:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bsuenglish.com\/dlr\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2017-12-12T15:00:57","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T20:00:57","slug":"zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/","title":{"rendered":"Zombie Apocalypse and the Other in &#8220;iZombie&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by <em>Savana Newton,<\/em> Ball State University<\/p>\n<p>Seattle\u2019s been hit by a zombie invasion, and not even singer Rob Thomas was able to make it out alive; that is, if you\u2019re a character on the CW show <em>iZombie<\/em>. With a female-zombie protagonist, we see this world through the eye of the \u2018other\u2019: we watch as Liv Moore comes to terms with her new reality. She moves from being a medical resident and paragon of perfection to a brain-eating morgue attendant who occasionally solves crimes. It\u2019s a tough road for Liv and the rest of the hidden zombie-kind, especially since their existence is starting to become a very real threat to the non-zombie residents of this overcast town.\u00a0 In Seasons One and Two, as we come to grips with Liv\u2019s life and how zombies exist in this world, we are really treated with a look at the ethics of being a zombie. However, there is a shift between the end of Season Two and into season Three. Once the zombie secret is out to a wider group of people, the creators of the show shift their focus to exploring \u201cus\u201d vs. \u201cthem\u201d dynamics between the zombie and the human community, in which the human residents draw a decisive line between themselves and the zombie residents of Seattle.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In this way, the show harkens back to the history of Seattle and the forced resettlement of the Native American people by white settlers. Scholars Jean and John Comaroff claim a connection not only between zombies and the action of removal but also between zombies and colonialism and imperial encounters: \u201cZombies themselves seem to be born, at least in the first instance, of colonial encounters; of the precipitous engagement of local worlds with imperial economies that seek to exert control over the essential means of producing value, means like land and labor, space and time\u201d (Comaroff 795). \u00a0When people are forced to give up everything that makes them unique because a secondary controlling group forces them to abandon key parts of their culture and land, a zombification of self seems only natural. In the case of <em>iZombie<\/em>, while the humans of Seattle are not responsible for the actual zombification of some of the city\u2019s residents, they are responsible for the marginalization of this group as shown in Season Three of the show.<\/p>\n<p>Zombies are treated as \u2018other\u2019 and stigmatized in this way all throughout the series.\u00a0 For example, Max Rager, the energy drink company, is run by a man named Vaughn Du Clarke who is using zombies as his own personal lab rats. Mr. Du Clarke even hires former zombie Major Lilywhite to \u2018take-out\u2019 all the zombies that remain in Seattle. And those are just events that take place in Season Two. In Season Three after Max Rager is no longer a threat, Fillmore-Graves, a group of all-zombie military contractors, decide that the best thing for all of zombie-kind is a self-imposed exile to an island off the coast. They believe that, by relocating to this island, they will escape persecution by humans when zombieism is discovered by the wider population, but after a terrorist attack against a group of zombies, they decide fighting back is the only option.<\/p>\n<p>In the show\u2019s Season Three finale, Fillmore-Graves infects the Aleutian Flu vaccine with zombie blood, thus turning everyone who took the vaccine into a zombie. The goal of this action was not to harm the living; in fact, those who were all but lost to the viral contagion were cured. Rather, the goal was to take over Seattle. The repressed \u2018other\u2019 decided that they were sick of hiding and that they would no longer be removed or attacked simply because of a condition that they cannot change, so they took over Seattle. Chase Graves, head of Fillmore-Graves, closes his broadcast to the citizens of Seattle by stating, \u201cLet\u2019s show the world there is no need to fear the other\u201d (3:13 \u201cLooking for Mr. Goodbrain, part 2\u201d), and yet we leave Seattle in a veritable war-zone as the remaining humans attempt to take back their rainy city. Regardless of Fillmore-Graves\u2019 assurances or foolhardy faith in humanity, as long as there is an \u2018other\u2019 to be feared, they will be fought; in <em>iZombie<\/em>, the \u2018other\u2019 just happens to be zombies, but they are only a representation of real world stigmatization that is ordained daily. The \u2018other\u2019 will always be relevant in our society as long as people continue to stigmatize and separate those that they do not think \u2018fit in\u2019; the showrunners of <em>iZombie <\/em>are attempting to demonstrate to every person who watches the show that by stigmatizing people, we are setting ourselves up for mutually assured destruction. We are given Liv\u2019s point of view in this show because the most important thing that we could ever expose ourselves to is the worldview of those who are not like us because, in the end, the most important distinction to be made is that we are all, in some way, human, even those who are zombies.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Works Cited<\/p>\n<p>Comaroff, Jean, and John Comaroff. \u201cAlien-Nation: Zombie, Immigrants, and Millennial<\/p>\n<p>Capitalism.\u201d\u00a0<em>South Atlantic Quarterly<\/em>, pp. 780\u2013805., doi:10.5749\/j.ctt1pwt6zr.13.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas, Rob, and Diane Ruggiero, creators.\u00a0<em>iZombie<\/em>, CW, 17 Mar. 2015.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLooking for Mr. Goodbrain part 2.\u201d\u00a0<em>iZombie<\/em>, created by Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero,<\/p>\n<p>season 3, episode 13, CW, 27 June 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Savana Newton, Ball State University Seattle\u2019s been hit by a zombie invasion, and not even singer Rob Thomas was able to make it out alive; that is, if you\u2019re a character on the CW show iZombie. With a female-zombie protagonist, we see this world through the eye of the \u2018other\u2019: we watch as Liv [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[399],"tags":[403,400],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post-apocalypse","tag-film-and-television","tag-zombies"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Zombie Apocalypse and the Other in &quot;iZombie&quot; - The Digital Literature Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zombie Apocalypse and the Other in &quot;iZombie&quot; - The Digital Literature Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Savana Newton, Ball State University Seattle\u2019s been hit by a zombie invasion, and not even singer Rob Thomas was able to make it out alive; that is, if you\u2019re a character on the CW show iZombie. With a female-zombie protagonist, we see this world through the eye of the \u2018other\u2019: we watch as Liv [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Digital Literature Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-12T20:00:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"bsudlr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"bsudlr\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/12\\\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/12\\\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"bsudlr\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dbdfd204803a40c0c244970784e8cd42\"},\"headline\":\"Zombie Apocalypse and the Other in &#8220;iZombie&#8221;\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-12T20:00:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/12\\\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":898,\"keywords\":[\"Film and Television\",\"Zombies\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Post Apocalypse\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/12\\\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/12\\\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\\\/\",\"name\":\"Zombie Apocalypse and the Other in \\\"iZombie\\\" - The Digital Literature Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-12T20:00:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dbdfd204803a40c0c244970784e8cd42\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/12\\\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/12\\\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/12\\\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Zombie Apocalypse and the Other in &#8220;iZombie&#8221;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Digital Literature Review\",\"description\":\"Food Matters in Literature and Culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dbdfd204803a40c0c244970784e8cd42\",\"name\":\"bsudlr\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e2632ecc536239b97fa78465932f47afe9e7947b6692ca7b9beb2ab0754f0989?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e2632ecc536239b97fa78465932f47afe9e7947b6692ca7b9beb2ab0754f0989?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e2632ecc536239b97fa78465932f47afe9e7947b6692ca7b9beb2ab0754f0989?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"bsudlr\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/author\\\/bsudlr\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Zombie Apocalypse and the Other in \"iZombie\" - The Digital Literature Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Zombie Apocalypse and the Other in \"iZombie\" - The Digital Literature Review","og_description":"by Savana Newton, Ball State University Seattle\u2019s been hit by a zombie invasion, and not even singer Rob Thomas was able to make it out alive; that is, if you\u2019re a character on the CW show iZombie. With a female-zombie protagonist, we see this world through the eye of the \u2018other\u2019: we watch as Liv [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/","og_site_name":"The Digital Literature Review","article_published_time":"2017-12-12T20:00:57+00:00","author":"bsudlr","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"bsudlr","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/"},"author":{"name":"bsudlr","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/#\/schema\/person\/dbdfd204803a40c0c244970784e8cd42"},"headline":"Zombie Apocalypse and the Other in &#8220;iZombie&#8221;","datePublished":"2017-12-12T20:00:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/"},"wordCount":898,"keywords":["Film and Television","Zombies"],"articleSection":["Post Apocalypse"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/","name":"Zombie Apocalypse and the Other in \"iZombie\" - The Digital Literature Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-12-12T20:00:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/#\/schema\/person\/dbdfd204803a40c0c244970784e8cd42"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2017\/12\/12\/zombie-apocalypse-and-the-other-in-izombie\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Zombie Apocalypse and the Other in &#8220;iZombie&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/","name":"The Digital Literature Review","description":"Food Matters in Literature and Culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/#\/schema\/person\/dbdfd204803a40c0c244970784e8cd42","name":"bsudlr","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2632ecc536239b97fa78465932f47afe9e7947b6692ca7b9beb2ab0754f0989?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2632ecc536239b97fa78465932f47afe9e7947b6692ca7b9beb2ab0754f0989?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2632ecc536239b97fa78465932f47afe9e7947b6692ca7b9beb2ab0754f0989?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"bsudlr"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/author\/bsudlr\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}