The Morphology of Horror: Propp and The Walking Dead as Myth
“For all peoples, death is the first teacher, the first pain, the edge beyond which life as we know it ends and wonder begins.” – Wade Davis
There exists a strange fervor in humanity for the horrific, a desire for that which in reality frightens, and in the imagination thrills. Despite our efforts to avoid the harsh touch of death, we still flirt playfully with its presence, and dream of situations where the unknown and impossible become a true, tangible reality. The power of narration allows the replication of life experience, solutions to the problems found within, and instructs others to take heed of them. These stories have changed shape during their evolution and transfer through …show more content…
Their existence within Haitian folklore and their now worldwide influence cannot be coincidental. Therein, I will run my finger along elements of Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of Folktale to show that Robert Kirkman’s comic series The Walking Dead corresponds with Propp’s thirty-one functions of folklore, and to demonstrate the findings in correlation to the similarities found in zombie mythology and European oral fairy tale traditions. I exemplify some key functions that exist within nearly all folklore, according to Propp, and how, because of this correlation, The Walking Dead and nearly all narratives of zombie culture, form part of a larger ongoing social myth, indifferent of the elements of myth found in the European traditional …show more content…
Due to this, the series’ narrative is no different from canonized fairy tales. I find that the characterization given to drive the narration forward has reached an unprecedented quality of social relevance. In other words, it is a definite mark on the cultural image, an announcement that folklore has never ceased to adapt, even if the subject matter has become vastly unfamiliar. I find that the concept is not too foreign from initiatory acts found in some fairy tales, and certainly through the scope of Russian Structuralism during the 19th century. Compared to all these, one can see that The Walking Dead presents a showcase of human within decadent rebirth, where death and life become a synonymous occurrence in everyday life, and much like fairy tales provides a method in which to discuss the issues of race, governmental power, and the effects of a deconstruction of the zombie
“For all peoples, death is the first teacher, the first pain, the edge beyond which life as we know it ends and wonder begins.” – Wade Davis
There exists a strange fervor in humanity for the horrific, a desire for that which in reality frightens, and in the imagination thrills. Despite our efforts to avoid the harsh touch of death, we still flirt playfully with its presence, and dream of situations where the unknown and impossible become a true, tangible reality. The power of narration allows the replication of life experience, solutions to the problems found within, and instructs others to take heed of them. These stories have changed shape during their evolution and transfer through …show more content…
Their existence within Haitian folklore and their now worldwide influence cannot be coincidental. Therein, I will run my finger along elements of Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of Folktale to show that Robert Kirkman’s comic series The Walking Dead corresponds with Propp’s thirty-one functions of folklore, and to demonstrate the findings in correlation to the similarities found in zombie mythology and European oral fairy tale traditions. I exemplify some key functions that exist within nearly all folklore, according to Propp, and how, because of this correlation, The Walking Dead and nearly all narratives of zombie culture, form part of a larger ongoing social myth, indifferent of the elements of myth found in the European traditional …show more content…
Due to this, the series’ narrative is no different from canonized fairy tales. I find that the characterization given to drive the narration forward has reached an unprecedented quality of social relevance. In other words, it is a definite mark on the cultural image, an announcement that folklore has never ceased to adapt, even if the subject matter has become vastly unfamiliar. I find that the concept is not too foreign from initiatory acts found in some fairy tales, and certainly through the scope of Russian Structuralism during the 19th century. Compared to all these, one can see that The Walking Dead presents a showcase of human within decadent rebirth, where death and life become a synonymous occurrence in everyday life, and much like fairy tales provides a method in which to discuss the issues of race, governmental power, and the effects of a deconstruction of the zombie