The Tragic Potential of Queer Zombies

what would you do in the zombie apocalypse it's a hypothetical discussion that I'm almost certain that you will have had before even just with yourself some people like my brother ellia might take the scientific crew talking about the best supplies to ensure food and first aid is available in the long run others think about their role in a group what they might have to offer how they would find people to trust and others still might decide that they don't want to survive at all the zombie genre has the potential to give us everything from an ethical thought experiment to a meaningful look at our ideas of individualism and Community or even just a fun Icebreaker exercise at a corporate event if you know you're brave enough today I want to look at the current presence and future potential of queerness within these stories because however much the naysayers might have rallied against the inclusion in The Last of Us winners and the zombie genre go hand in hand in so many ways the history of zombies the earliest use of the word itself is within Haitian and Voodoo folklore where they're said to be corpses revived by the use of magic but the basic concept of people returning from the dead as dangerous creatures has a widespread history of fear around the world archaeological sites of ancient Greece for example found skeletons pinned down by rocks and other heavy objects to prevent their Resurrection in one way or another this is a creature that humans have feared for thousands of years over the centuries the idea of the zombie has expanded to include not just the undead but also other origin Stories the most common being those bitten by another zombie infected with a virus through a scientific accident or exposure to radiation the 1930s saw the first films about zombies creating the image of the soulless and emotionless monster often with the socio-political elements from the folklore remaining the 1932 film White Zombie for example involved a land-owning entrepreneur bringing back the dead to work on his sugar cane plantation it doesn't take a huge leap to see the Thematic readings there in 1968 George a Romero's Knight of the Living Dead was released itself including commentary on capitalism and modern consumers as Professor Peter dendel has explained this significant cinematic moment liberated the zombie from the shackles of a master and invested them not with a function a job or task such as zombies were standardly given by Voodoo priests but rather a drive eating flesh this Landmark movie has been credited with beginning the popularization of the genre in mainstream Cinema and it certainly is popular in 2014 at least 55 zombie-related movies were released in a single year alone I think nowadays when we think of the zombie genre a few common elements arise the stories are often focused on the personal following a small group of survivors although it has the scope of a disaster movie with the potential for worldwide destruction a key part of the zombie threat it differs from the pillars of that genre in a zombie movie The protagonists aren't necessarily those with the power to reverse the disaster we almost certainly aren't following the head scientists the president or the soldier who bravely destroys the Comet or flies their jet into the alien spaceship for example there are also common thematic elements Too Many Zombies zombie movies tap into the idea that humans are the real monsters doubling the fear and Terror of the genre the surviving members of humanity often prove themselves as equally inhuman as their zombie counterparts willing to use others to protect themselves or even make the apocalypse more sadistically bearable a classic example that comes to mind is the I promise them women scene from 28 Days Later according to Stamford literary scholar Dr Angela bakara vitica the modern fascination with end of the world narratives can be traced back to the Advent of nuclear warfare during World War II the horrendous violence on a mass scale that was witness gave many Ordinary People a greater understanding of the human capacity for inhumanity she theorized we're left with this cultural fixation on fictionalizing our own death very specifically Mass scale destruction it's not only the survival of ourselves as individuals that we are concerned with but the survival of entire communities even Humanity as a whole in this way zombie stories do more than give us an individual stake in a movie with a danger limited to the characters we follow on screen it's also about the destruction we know is happening around them and the lack of Safe Harbor for them to return to Max Brooks author of World War Z has argued a zombie story gives people a fictional lens to see the real problems of the world societal breakdown famine disease chaos in the streets and I think it's key to the genre's appeal right the question of what we become when the structures and limits of society are removed both as zombies and as survivors it's interesting to note that zombies hit all five of the elements of Carl albrecht's five basic fears Extinction or death this is an obvious one the human race itself is at risk of Extinction within pretty much every iteration of the zombie genre mutilation the decaying corpse visuals of zombies even those that don't start out as risen dead is universally recognizable loss of autonomy this is a particularly key element of the zombie genre in comparison to even other infected human creature narratives as a zombie you are utterly out of control in contrast to werewolves who might only lose control one night a month or vampires who retain their human autonomy one of the most chilling elements of Last of Us many have pointed out is that those infected seem to retain consciousness of what the fungus is forcing their body to do and their brain to want social separation or becoming a non-person again this is pretty self-explanatory in terms of the zombie infection but also Taps into the ideas of being separated from other survivors and human contact and finally ego death or the loss of Integrity of the self I mean need I say more many of these elements of fear can also be mapped onto the very real experiences and perceptions of queerness in the world today the ways the lenses of homophobia and transphobia via the lgbtq plus Community as non-people seeing a fundamental part of us as false and unnatural for example how the experience of being closeted is often linked to the loss of Integrity of self the very real loss of autonomy in societies that will force you in Tetra normative lives or prevent you from transitioning the fears of children being mutilated from transphobic pundits all of these Maps so easily onto these kind of fears what better way to enforce ideas of otherness than by making queer people and quinus itself seem monstrous the queer villain Trope has a long history in cinema I've talked about it in many videos on my channel already but essentially it forces lgbtq best characters into the role of wrongdoer and Thai stereotypical mannerisms behaviors and acts of self-expression to villainous roles the Monstrous is created and then forced upon queerness by those outside of the community stoking fear that aligns with antiquare politics law making and social attitudes to Fan those Flames into mainstream Society there is fear from without and from within fear of isolation and rejection by queer people and fear of infection and Corruption against them these fears around zombies and queerness mirror each other in ways that have been utilized by Indie filmmakers over the years but more as a disparate collection of projects than a clear sub-genre or Trope movie titles like a Twilight come the flesh eaters creatures from the Pink Lagoon the nature of Nicholas and gay zombie are seen scattered as references and academic papers but are often out of print and unavailable to what themselves ironically the most readily available queer zombie media online is arguably a 2000 spoof sketch on YouTube that misses the interesting potentiality of the genre and instead treats queerness itself as a world-ending disease but in recent years we've seen two standout examples of zombie TV shows which integrate queerness within not just its overarching plot and characters but its thematic resonance as well let's start with The Last of Us based on the video game of the same name The Last of Us centers around a post-apocalyptic World 20 years after Humanity began to be infected by a fungus that turns them into zombies we follow hard and Smuggler Joel who has been tasked with a mission to accompany teenager Ellie to a group of Freedom Fighters known as the fireflies outside the relative safety of an uninfected human compound in season one we're introduced to four queer characters Ellie herself her best friend Riley and two men we meet only in a flashback episode called Bill and Frank and although it might seem counter-intuitive in the world of The Last of Us in many ways the these characters are able to thrive in a way they might not have in a traditional setting from isolation to community in episode 3 we're introduced to Bill a doomsday prepper and self-described survivalist who has been meticulously planning for the end of days the episode follows him from outbreak day all the way to Ellie and Joel passing through his compound 20 years later all his paranoid work comes to fruition when the town he lives in is put under mandatory evacuation as the outbreak begins Bill hides in his basement as the town is emptied and soon emerges from his house to a completely empty neighborhood he's alone but the bright Sun Shines Stillness and almost idyllic front Lawns don't let us dwell on the reality of that to begin with we watch as he builds fences and puts extensive security measures in place to keep the zombies and everyone else out bill is seemingly now living his best survivalist life although we're never told What specifically led to him being a prepper we do see a blatant hostility towards governmental Authority and eventually when he meets Frank a vulnerability as he begins to express is suppressed queerness it isn't hard to draw parallels between Bill isolating himself out of what he sees as a necessity to survive and the experiences of queer people physically and metaphorically separated from a society that might mean them harm Bill knows the world can be a cruel and dangerous place before the actual zombies arrive on the scene without knowledge of the potential dangers becomes an obsession that stops him from actually connecting and forming community in the pre and post-outbreak world at least at first the episode set up begs the question now that he's living without traditional societal Norms is there the possibility that he will be able to live the way that he wants to or will the confirmation of Humanity's apparent inherent violence and corrupt nature only make Bill isolate himself further everything changes when he meets Frank Frank is the last survivor in a group that had been looking for somewhere safe who ends up caught in one of Bill's traps Bill reluctantly helps him out of the Trap shares a meal with him and that night agrees to take him in soon the two share a blossoming romance that we see unfold across the rest of the episode this romance gives us intimate and vulnerable connection between the two men from first kisses to screaming fights to tending to each other's wounds often queer characters narrative arcs will primarily be about the need to suppress or hide their identity out to fear of being discovered and there could easily have been a version of The Last of Us that double down on that the show doesn't pull punches with its portrayal of fear and destruction after all but the episode gives us the opposite of the fear of your secrets being known instead allowing Bill and Frank the joy of being truly seen by one another this contrast of gentle software love against the violence of the Apocalypse background of the show feels special it is in many ways a radical thing to give the queer characters that role in The Narrative create an showrunner of The Last of Us Craig Mason on the Last of Us podcast said in response to this episode that this is something that I talked a lot about with our many partners on the episode who were gay so what is it like when you're trying to figure out if the other person is like you in the minority of sexuality and all of the men that I spoke with basically said there are people you really don't know about there are people you're pretty sure about and then there are people you're like oh I see you and this was a case where we felt it was important that Frank could see Bill as Bill and Frank get to know each other we see Bill's body language change the woolsey's put up around himself externally in the Persona he presents Dr fade the person he is away from the homophobic background noise of his pre-outbreak life emerges this connection and intimacy sees Bill shift from the survival of the self to the protection of others it gives him an opening into community and all the joy and pain that comes with it like he says of Frank I was never afraid before you showed up because opening yourself up to the possibility of Love is also giving yourself up to the inevitability of pain of loss in many ways but this stubborn grumpy isolationist man decides that it's worth it we find out at the end of the episode that bill wrote a letter to Joel before he died explaining what had happened knowing that Joel would likely be the next person to come by the house in it he said I used to hate the world and was happy when everyone died but I was wrong because there was one person worth saving that's what I did I saved him that's why men like you and me are here we have a job to do and speak and speaking of queer romance now seems like a great time to thank today's returning sponsor Dipsy once more I committed asexual Rowan Ellis I'm giving the people what they want and that is hundreds of short and sexy audio stories sleep and wellness sessions and sex and relationship education by and for women featuring characters of all genders and sexualities I listened to one of their soothing nature soundscapes you listen to a fake dating friends to love a story I listened to a rainy Cafe as I do some reading you listen to an erotic fantasy about a charismatic Butch coming to fix your sink last time we talked about the Dipsy Cinematic Universe and Jay the Charming non-binary Barista I have more news on that front uh the butch handy woman is called Rachel and her romance with Lucy is this whole series they hook up in a lesbian bar she rescues Lucy when her car breaks down and there are even audio options to hear Rachel talk directly to you Dipsy has stories for listeners of all sexualities and over half of their voice Talent are people of color plus new content is released every week so you 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and loved as a queer person feels like a privilege I think especially for queer men who would have lived through the AIDS crisis like Bill and Frank would have and they suggest as much in the show I'm sorry for what getting older faster than you I like you older older means we're still here Bill and Frank don't meet a violent death at the hands of homophobic attackers or the classic burial Gay's weapon of choice a stray bullet instead Frank decides where and how he wants to die he's suffering from an illness that isn't treatable and knowing he only has so much time left he details to Bill how he would like to spend his remaining time giving himself as much agency as possible in a world where most people are taken down screaming and lose all agency in their undeath as the fungus takes over their body forcing it to kill while they watch on as bill says when revealing to Frank thee is given a lethal dose of sleeping pills to them both so that they can die peacefully together this isn't the tragic suicide at the end of the play I'm old I'm satisfied and you were my purpose they had the opportunity to live a fully realized life together just like any traditional heterosexual Ever After something so often denied to queer characters on screen as critic David Opie explains younger queer people need to see a future for themselves that isn't full of pain or fear because if you can't see it existing out in the world it's hard to imagine it for yourself and then there's the countless queer people from older Generations who are robbed of their chance to find this kind of Happiness to love each other for a long long time they deserve to see a story like this too their story out in the world at last we often see the burial gaze tribe in the context of queer characters dying to further straight insist characters arcs with the queer characters being the first or only ones to die or receiving particularly gruesome or tragic deaths with little actual character Arc of their own but within the context of the show we've seen that death and grief touch everyone the character of Riley unlike Bill and Frank doesn't get to experience a long and full life in episode 7 we see in a flashback sequence that Ellie and Riley were both attacked and bitten by an infected person having snuck out together one night when they realized fate Riley says to Ellie we don't quit whether it's two minutes or two days we don't give up I don't want to give that up there's this tragic parallel with Bill and Frank's decision giving these characters as much agency as the story allows as well as Riley finding joy and meaning in her own terms through her new fan queer love till the very end we have the traditional zombie bite death with Riley the peaceful death of two husbands in love with Bill and Frank and then the centering of Ellie in her enduring immunity avoiding these single gay characters fake cliche a place for us these couples don't just have a sense of agency within a world of chaos they're also given dignity in their time on screen particularly in their final moments after Bill and Frank make the decision to end their lives they're given a sense of Peace we see them enter their bedroom and the door closes and that's it we as a viewer don't see their dying moments or their bodies when Ellie and Joel realize that something's wrong we don't even see Ellie and Joel seeing their bodies they're simply allowed to rest in peace they give him privacy an intimacy that the view is not allowed to see the ending shot of the episode instead lingers out of the open bedroom window hearkening back to the original game and giving us a moment of calm and Stillness when speaking about The Motif in the game and this episode in particular show writer Mason has said as a player I just always love the start screen in The Last of Us looking at this window and how peaceful it was even though the world is not peaceful and what happens to these characters isn't peaceful and it seemed like a good place for us to go there's an opportunity to show both the idea of this permanent love that's always going to be there in that building in their home but also just the theme of that window being the epitome of Peace in the world of The Last of Us Bill and Frank have been able to claim this space for themselves there is love safety understanding and vulnerability in that house a life that ironically it suggested bill would never have had if the end of the world hadn't come the attention that Frank spends on the house is an expression of his love after an argument where Frank asked for some paint which bill is reluctant to give he says this isn't for me me this is for us who cares what they look like I do our home isn't just our house it's everything around us paying attention to things it's how we show love this is my street too just let me love it the way I want to and in fact we see at the end of their lives together the house is full of paintings shows of love all over their small world as we watch the course of their relationship it's easy to forget what's happening beyond the fences with the idyllic setting neat flower boxes homegrown strawberries and white picket fences aside from an attack from a group of Raiders who approach the gate their time together in any other context would be considered a pretty standard Love Story showing a couple through our everyday life we see them playing music together looking after their home having a dinner party with friends in a way during Bill and Frank's last day we even see them get married this is perhaps the most poignant element of this precious personal queer Sanctuary they built together as the outbreak happened well before equal marriage was enshrined into law in the US this Final Act of love was something that they would legally not have been able to do but it's something that they've decided to do for themselves all the same now in this space together there are no restraints that granted the joy that they know would have been denied to them otherwise after all they've been there for each other in sickness and in health for two decades already for Ellie and Riley the more that they sneak into is another kind of beautifully queer space a place they get to be themselves is filled with wonders as Riley calls them and we're given a sweet teenage romance between two girls who don't seem to have been brought up in a world of active homophobia when they kiss Ellie isn't dramatically fighting her sinful gay feelings she does say I'm sorry but within the show it seems to be more about the suddenness of the case or the possibility of ruining their friendship and not the kiss itself and then Riley responds with for what and then they giggle together that's it not a big deal except for how finally getting to kiss a friend you have a crush on is a big deal in the life of a teenager their semi date in the mall is full of classic imagery of traditional dates that straight great teens are able to partake in without worries photo booths and Fairground rides it was a really emotional thing to see these same cliche moments played out with two girls with sweetness and silliness and so many smiling happy looks at each other it's something we don't often get to see on screen these stories dropped into the often grim and Dark World of The Last of Us emphasized the idea that after something awful even world ending happens you can still find happiness and love and that in fact that might be the most important thing that you can do so The Last of Us shows the potential of including queer survivors in the zombie genre but what about including queer characters within the class of the undead ostensibly this might strike many as a doubly tricky proposition combining both the burial gays and the queers and monsters tropes but if we dig a bit deeper we can see how apt this horror sub-genre is to explore the experiences and complexities of queerness after all if the zombie genre is tied to the personal wouldn't this concept only be intensified if the idea of the personal reaches the point where identifying with the zombies themselves horror and homosexuality first it's worth noting that just because a Trope exists doesn't make it automatically bad representation the prevalence of queer coding in villains from Monster horror to Disney Classics has long been a topic of discussion if you're looking for a symbolic monster then queer people are already aligned with the fear they represent through history and society as Alessandro Grille describes in the essay querying the dead gay zombies in the dark room where people are seen to disturb seemingly stable Notions of the self by contagion be it of AIDS or of homosexuality itself or by establishing the possibility of difference and of community by acting as a direct menace to receive social structures like the nuclear family we see themes of contagion transformation radicalization across horror monsters that turn people into creatures like them who seduce innocence who destroy families and normality if you truly believe that queer people are doing these things then you might produce a horror narrative that paints them as the real villain of the piece but there's also the opportunity to interrogate the supposed horror of these actions where the monster is treated with empathy by writers does the monster seduce an innocent or simply allow them the escape from heteronormative life that they were already craving when we look at zombies in particular there's an obvious string of commentary to be pulled these are us they are human but they are us altered not quite right there are natural in their Undead form of their uncontrolled State it's uncanny in many ways and we've seen this used before in Classics of a genre to highlight the ways that other nurses employed against actual marginalized communities as quickly explains in the close of Night of the Living Dead the only human Survivor in the house besieged by zombies is paradoxically killed by the police who come to his rescue seeing him an African-American from their helicopter they mistake him for one of the monsters there are only a limited number of movies and TV shows that make use of the queer zombie but the most fleshed out pardon the pun happens to be one of my favorite TV shows of all time so I guess it's time to talk about In the Flesh in the flesh is a very different kind of zombie show choosing to pick up after a treatment for the undead has been found rather than focus on the apocalypse itself the zombies are in the flash are indeed the undead this isn't a story about people overcome by a virus or a fungus or creatures able to spread their inhuman State through a bite wound instead it takes place in a fictional version of 2010 and the bodies are those who died the year before in 2009 reanimated from the grave in an event called the rising who then started attacking the living in a Mindless rage we pick up after several years of a human zombie Civil War in the UK known as the pale Wars scientists have found a treatment for what is starved to partially deceased syndrome or PDS they've rounded up as many PDS sufferers as they can and process them in massive Regional treatment centers the doctors Pharmacists and therapists present they were not in control of themselves in their untreated State and can remember what they did when untreated so you know a lot of them aren't doing very well the first episode begins as our lead character a queer teenager called Kieran Walker is due to be released back into the care of his family the show follows this premise to all of its logical and often heartbreak conclusions what is it like to have lost loved one only for them to return from the dead could you kill a monster wearing your family's face how will Humanity react when the zombies who have decimated the population return back into the community how do you deal with the memories of what you did when you Rose from the grave and the people that you killed in the flesh takes a very British attitude to the genre a pacing Nine episodes over two seasons and with a limited budget this isn't a show where you're going to see hordes of CGI zombies swarming towards Plucky survivors instead it's an intense and insular drama about a single fictional Village in West Yorkshire called rorton because when the dead began to rise the government concentrated resources into the major cities and so many Rural and isolated communities form their own militia known as the human volunteer force or hvf as such many people in the village including kieran's teenage sister gem actively fought and killed PDS sufferers the first season is about the initial wave of PDs sufferers attempting to reintegrate back into life in rotten we see the Prejudice of the townsfolk the tensions of across human and not quite human inhabitants the effects of the trauma this period has had on them all and always in the background and sometimes the foreground of the show is a threat of violence on both sides the second season sees Kieran ready to leave rorton for France to start a new life but before he can leave an undead travel ban is put in place as the government rolls out a scheme to ensure that PDS sufferers give back to the communities they once unwillingly terrorized it becomes apparent across this season that this as a Penance the government has no plans on ending anytime soon with PDS sufferers losing their citizenship indefinitely alongside this we also have external forces arriving in the village as it was allegedly the first sight of the rising and political and religious groups are determined to use that significance for their own gains the show examines queerness and other ring through the classic metaphoric lens of the zombie but also gives us explicit queerness within the characters on screen in Kieran Rick and Simon across the two seasons Kieran as I mentioned is the lead character of the show only 18 years old when he dies he never fit into the Macho masculinity of many men within his homophobic Village instead turning to Art to express himself through struggles with his mental health and striking up a close friendship with a classmate Rick Rick is one of kieran's childhood friends with their friendship developing into a romantic relationship one of their closeness when they were living teens for the events of the series he was pushed to join the Army by his father after he discovered Rick and kieran's relationship and was killed while on duty overseas in 2009 we find out towards the end of season 1 that the loss of Rick was a trigger for kieran's original death as he took his own life in the woods where they would meet to be together Rick's Father Bill Macy Whose actions inadvertently led to the deaths of both boys went on to become the head of their local human volunteer force during the pale Wars when Rick who also Rose during the rising returns from his treatment his father is in total denial of his PDF status as well as his sexuality in season 2 we're also introduced to Simon a charismatic follower of the undead Prophet a PDS activist figure who claims to be seeking a second Rising to wipe out Humanity entirely although he's initially important to hunt down and kill the first risen his growing care for Kieran turns into a romantic relationship that causes him to defy his mission after he discovers that Kieran himself was the first to rise from the grave in rorton I want to talk a bit about the themes and topics that the show discusses always with both the metaphorical and canonical queerness in mind firstly the obvious sexuality and discrimination sexuality and PDS are explicitly linked on screen in the show in terms of how the reactions to both mirror each other so clearly within the village Bill Macy is clearly in denial about both his son's PDS status and his sexuality for example he conceptualizes humans and PDS sufferers as separate from each other just as he does with gay and straight people not only different but lesser that lesser status allows him to treat them with violence and contempt using animalistic language to try and persuade Rick himself to kill Kieran when he finished him say something like when I mount up with the Walker lad he started foaming at the mouth something like that he's not a person Rick he's an animal worse than an animal they might walk and talk but rotors are evil here we can see this cognitive dissonance at work rotors are evil he tells his PDS suffer a son but this isn't something he can force his son simply not to be like he believes he's done by sending Rick to the Army to straighten him out Rick is unquestionably one of the Risen similarly in reality he is just as able to change his sexuality as he is to magically become someone who never Rose when Rick attempts to stop his father killing Kieran coming to him for the first time without the makeup and contact lenses he's been given to disguise the visual appearance of his PDF status we see a coming out scene Rick tells his father I don't want to hurt Bren he's my best mate if Ren's evil dad then so am I it's this desperate hope that if his father truly sees him as he is if he loves him like he's supposed to he'll see Kieran in this light too instead the opposite happens and Bill sees his son as a queer PDS sufferer and takes his son's life off screen for her he then snaps back to denial telling his wife that the last time he saw their son was showing him off to the airport when he joined the army Reinventing the reality of his son's identities and erasing both his queerness and his PDS status in one Fell Swoop series Creator Dominic Mitchell has said before in interviews I always thought that at its core it's about otherness and the fear of otherness and I think it's fair to say that the other ring of PDs sufferers across the series is achingly familiar with parallels to queerphobic discrimination felt in the layers of the narrative from Individual characters attitudes to sweeping political movements in the second season but there's also this underlying essence of internalized homophobia in the way Kira meticulously covers up his outward appearance whether it's its appearance with makeup and contacts or his behavior once in in particular sees him sitting at the table with his family play acting eating the dinner in front of him to make his presence more palatable to his parents PDS sufferers don't eat but to acknowledge that will be a step too far for his parents and so he mimes cutting and eating the food going through the motions of what a normal son would do and say that sake it's something that reflects the unspoken ways that he censored himself in life while struggling with his sexuality and the loss of Rick in the show after Bill kills Rick Kieran isolates himself in the cave where they used to meet and his Mum comes to find him the tefl exchange feels just as much about Karen's fear of rejection for his sexuality as it is about his PDF status he says it's becoming just like it was before and I don't know how to change it this time you live you don't leave you stay you want me to stay when I'm like this yes God Kiran I'd love you with all my heart if you came back as a as a goldfish the way the family had been tiptoeing around each other gives a sense of Tolerance rather than acceptance for Kieran and at the end of season 1 he takes a risk to break down those barriers of benign politeness he confronts his Placid father pleading to be engaged with told off for running off the day before and worrying them and we see the parental fear finally bubble to the surface the idea that they aren't getting him to mime eating at the table to punish him or because they want him to be be different but because they're scared for him and what this means for his future just the same as parents of queer children worry about the hardships that they might face it's one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the show I was concerned yet I know that now very concerned why because because because because you know why tell me you know come on dad come on harder because I was worried sick and we realized that his dad isn't talking about care and running off that day he's talking about Kieran disappearing in 2009 after hearing of Rick's death in the Army and how he went out to find Kieran and got up to the cave and we realized just before he says it with a horrifying certainty that he was the one that found kieran's body there you are you're sitting down leaning on a rock and I think oh thank God he's okay he's okay but then I get close and you're covered in blood so much blood and I take you in my arms and I run with you in my arms and I run and I run and I run but I can't because you're you're and in that moment Kieran stares at his father's arms out in front of him as if carrying the invisible body of his younger self and he walks forward to pull his father into an Embrace throughout the show there's this continuous atmosphere of public and private suppression especially in season one which reflects the stigma surrounding both queer and PDS identities when we finally see Kieran and Rick meet for the first time since the rising what should be a Romeo and Juliet reunited moment between these two boys is instead stilted by taking place in the local pub surrounded by the people in the village the attitudes are a blanket of fear as Rick greets Kieran with a you're right mate reinforcing an acceptable level of unemotional male friendship for those who might ever hear offering only a handshake not even a hug a Lona kiss we see it in their longing Expressions the weight of this suppression but isn't enough to take the risk they've survived the apocalypse and found their way back to each other but they're too scared to show how much that means to them although not explicitly disgusting in the flesh I think it's worth noting the potential parallels of zombie narratives with AIDS myths and metaphors when placing queer characters as the treated zombies themselves we can see them as victims of a so-called plague that changes how they're perceived by wider society as Tommy Dickinson noted in the book curing queers mental nurses and their patients HIV was originally dubbed grid gay-related immune deficiency a label that is partially responsible for the framing of AIDS as a gay plague the rhetoric of contagion infection disease and fear permeate both the fictional and Real Worlds here the fear not just of the HIV virus itself but the human beings who live with air has led to a stigma that still exists today conspiracies of widespread plots to deliberately infect unsuspecting innocence with HIV reflect the pre-existing conspiracies of queer people infecting others with queerness itself I think this metaphor walks a thin line between the potential to give us an empathetic look at this experience but also risking linking HIV too closely with the horrific implications and dangers of the zombie figure in season 2 of In the Flesh we do see a connection specifically made with PDS human sex but at heterosexual brothel with MP Maxine Martin proclaiming is this what they meant when they told us to integrate thank God we're waking up is all I can say because this is only the start if this illness goes untreated we are vulnerable her own Prejudice is couched in the language of concern for Public Safety a common rhetorical device used against sex workers as well as the LGBT community in real life her comments also demonstrate the impossible hypocrisy of her party's policies the demand that there is an integrate into society but also stay outside of it assimilation versus Liberation the tension between assimilation into mainstream Society or Liberation from its constraints are Central themes of In the Flesh for both PDS sufferers and queer characters the questions of do you try to integrate and become palatable to their sensibilities do you work to contain and alter yourself to fit the mold is that the easy Road are the hard one is that the right way or the wrong the ability to pass as a heterosexual or cisgender person to fit so well into the ideas of appearance and behavior that people assume the Australian cyst runs parallel to the ideas of assimilation but the two are not always linked the way that someone speaks or how they look is not necessarily within their control it's not necessarily an act of decision made to deliberately assimilate passing is a concept within the lgbtq plus community that exists on a complex Spectrum for some passing a stray is a way to avoid danger whereas for others it feels like a form of Erasure on the part of a heteronormative society passing assist might give a feeling of safety gender Euphoria or validation or the complete opposite from those within the trans and non-binary communities passing might be something that you only do some of the time or only in certain spaces or with certain people we see some of the same discourse focused around PDS sufferers passing for living and In the Flesh as part of their medication education packs they're given colored contact lenses that disguise the characteristic fracture pupils of PDs as well as Foundation moves to cover up their bloodless skin in short they're being told to pass as alive we get shots of Kieran and Rick putting on the mousse and contacts in front of the mirror of various points in the first series they're ritualizing this masking of their inner selves in a way and it's hard not to see the parallels to both their repressed sexualities it's a performance for others but also for themselves for much of the show they need the security of the Mask just as much as the living villagers need it to feel safe yet we also see the limits of attempting to pass in season two there's this scene where two of the Risen Amy and Simon come into the local pub where Kieran is working without their mousse or contacts on members of the old human volunteer Force began yelling abuse at them clearly against those so-called rotors who don't conform yet when Kieran who's wearing the moose and contacts tells the screaming hvf patrons to leave they respond I don't take orders from a lad wearing makeup prejudice against PDS sufferers and against queer people are both evident in this attitude either way Kieran cannot win whether he tries to pass or not because assimilation ultimately is a thankless task it's about other people's comfort of your own needs it doesn't matter how much mousse you wear you're still fundamentally seen as inferior even if you disguise yourself as normal at the end of the first episode Kieran sees his neighbor shot in the street in a nightgown by Rick's father bill before Bill kills her he asks why do your eyes look like mine when she tells him that she's wearing contacts he responds in this terrifyingly gentle tone take them out love when she does he shoots her it doesn't matter to him that she was trying to fit in to assimilate back into life there was nothing she could do to change the fundamental hatred and fear that he had for her difference there's a scene in season 2 where Kieran brings Simon to dinner at his parents house the meal is interrupted by the arrival of gem and fellow hvf member Gary who begins to describe his pleasure while hunting down PDS sufferers during the pale Wars as one critics Stacey Gillis observes although the subject matter of the conflict between the two couples seems to focus on the issue of PDs and living animosity it's impossible to ignore the fact that kieran's narration of his fear whilst being alive and the exhilaration felt after returning from the dead is first ignored by his family then repressed more through repeated entreaties to stop talking even more impossible to ignore is the polite efforts made by Kieran and Simon whilst the social group to which they belong is bashed by a member of a much more privileged group along with the fact that one homosexual couple sits surrounded by one heterosexual couple which attacks our identity while the other chooses to ignore and dismiss it the whole scene reads as a metaphor for the hopelessness of the assimilation of queer identity ultimately kieran's journey through season 2 is one of personal Liberation a first sees instinctively against foregoing the Cosmetic elements of its treatment pack but throughout the course of the series he starts to question whether attitude comes from this is an interesting deviation from a lot of traditional coming-of-age narratives which move from Wild youth to confident social adulthood encouraging the idea that fitting into society is a successful growing up story that you're on your journey to work and marriage and children in season one we see Kieran not even being able to look at himself in the mirror he refuses to see himself in his unmade up State as it reminds him too much of his difference and his expressions of self are mired in shame whereas in season two and especially with his relationship with Simon we start to understand that actually his journey to find his strength is going to be the complete opposite of this assimilation into Human Society it's going to be about acknowledging his own differences while still being able to live beside the people that he loves who don't identify the same way as him kieran's rejection of PDs assimilation is hand in hand with the rejection of heteronormative assimilation through the encouragement of his love interest Simon who's a confidently non-conformist activist Simon however is caught up in a kind of Liberation extremism in his place with the undebt prophet a PDS leader who preaches PDF superiority Simon's experiences being experimented on against his will in the development process for the EDS treatment left him with a lot of anger and resentment towards humanity and assimilation back into that felt impossible for him so when the only alternative presented to him is in the form of the undead Liberation Army he's also easy to radicalize Simon's attitude to the treatment of PDs sufferers throughout the show seems to be a mix of his genuine feelings and the doctrines of the undead Prophet as he makes speeches to the local PDS in rorton I went down to the GP surgery today they had two rabbits there locked up in a cage that they're going to send away for treatment so they can teach them to integrate to be what the living demand I find myself looking at them wondering how long they were going to be in that cage huh how long are you going to be in your cage what's stopping you from being the people you are instead of copies of who you used to be of what they tell you you have to be why don't you break free why don't you show yourselves because when you do when you finally do I promise you're not going to want to go back because you're going to be beautiful you're going to be Flawless you're going to be the future I've first this group is portrayed in the show as the only current alternative to the extreme of dosala simulation but it's Kieran who eventually finds his own Middle Ground that's authentic to him that doesn't rely on rejecting any part of himself or those he loves there being someone with PDS doesn't necessarily mean hating all of living humanity and that once Being Human doesn't make his life with PDS a source of damnation either mental health and Trauma the show does an incredible job of emphasizing the long-term consequences of mental illness and external trauma rather than ignoring or resolving them after one episode or two and it feels particularly tragic yet realistic to have our queer lead Karen suffer with existing mental health issues when we know in reality so many in the lgbtq plus Community experience negative reactions to queerness as a catalyst for mental health struggles themselves Kieran has had this leveled against him but also coming from within before he even has the new guilt and Trauma of remembering the rising and the pale Wars because we realize in the second season Kieran remembers not just snatches of his time killing and eating the living but the moment it was a rebirth too all there is is just darkness it's so dark doesn't make a difference if your eyes are open or closed what you think is that you've been buried alive in the treatment center at the start of the show we see Kieran and the other newly treated PDF sufferers repeating the same rehearsed phrase that we can tell that Kieran doesn't quite believe yet I am a partially deceased syndrome sufferer and what I did in my untreated state was not my fault where many zombie movies focus on the terror of being hunted and the catharsis are fighting these creatures in the flesh makes us consider the traumatic implications of this fight if the corpses rise from the dead they are the bodies of your loved ones your neighbors those infected with the virus are people that you know and care about what kind of traumatic toll does it take to have to kill them after seeing them utterly removed from their Humanity we see within Kieran this deep sense of Shame that's familiar to many queer people around who he is and this is Amplified by even his loved ones as it is for many of us in real life the experience that even those who claim to love you and private will not show that love openly in public because of who you are and how it would look the fear for impairments of how others react to their children's authentic selves which Feels Like Loving protection to them but stifling discomfort to their children kieran's family literally hide him when he first returns home keeping him indoors and away from Windows his father gives him his treatment injections as quickly as possible not wanting to talk to his son about his fears or anxieties and then bundles him into a literal closet when they get an unexpected visitor not listening to his son's protests and only letting him out once he's had a panic attack after a flashback to waking up in his coffin it feels important to acknowledge hair that the real-life treatment of marginalized and mentally ill people as well as those with trauma is often inhumane how many people are ready to turn away refugees who have survived War natural disaster and persecution how many children have been forced into conversion therapy which is still legal in the UK how many exposes have there been about careless abuse and insisted living facilities nursing homes and psychiatric care how many jokes are made about prisoner abuse and assault Dr Megan jeromelay has written about this connection are gestures of Rehabilitation are designed to make us feel more human and transform the recipients of that unsolicited help into people who while they may still technically be alive have been stripped of the agency that would imbue that life with meaning in this way the treatment of PDs sufferers is not a fiction like most dystopian or post-apocalyptic texts it's a mirror to the injustices of our present reality politics and activism we see this particularly clearly in the second season with the inclusion of the one issue anti-pds political party Victors reflecting actual right-wing and nationalistic parties often opposing equality like ukip or the BMP PDS sufferers lose their British citizenship in the show and are forced to work menial jobs for local government for the chance to earn back that right this is dubbed the department for partially deceased Affairs Community give back scheme and is delivered in PSA video form with a cheerful friendliness that portrays its Sinister reality at first most of the PDS sufferers are Keen to back their rights deciding to move forward within the system rather than thinking to challenge it after all if you acknowledge that you're being treated inhumanely that you have no power that's a brutal thing to come to terms with not just your own circumstances but the idea that other people were capable of doing that to you deliberately and that's assuming that you can change it after all this system is remarkably similar to work Fair policies implemented at various times in the UK the concept being that people must undertake work in return for their welfare benefit payments or risk losing them these essentially become jobs that pay under minimum wage allow governments to artificially decrease unemployment figures and have no employee protections limiting time available to find actual employment the governmental implementation of policies that don't protect or even simply help marginalize people it's not exactly a New Concept the queer foregrounding in the show makes these plot points even more Stark airing while marriage equality still hadn't been passed in the UK in fact at the time of it airing there are a lot of public debates about equality and whether on not it should happen and in fact there still are within the current moral Panic around trans people in the UK when marginalized voices demand equality the fear from those in power creates a backlash that often increases in humanity and decreases compassion as equality begins to approach yet this hostility is still couched in the language of protection safety and order this kind of veneer of political civility drops in the flesh when MP Maxi Martin tackles an untreated PDF sufferer and uses a power drill to kill them and later covers up the killing of another PDS sufferer who is in fact being safely treated the policy and the politicians have no interest in protecting PDS sufferers at all how far might the same be said for many of the politicians of today in their treatment of any marginalized group in society in case you couldn't tell the zombie genre is one of my favorites in cinema I adore movies like wreck 28 Days Later train to Busan I think Quinn as to this genre just makes sense to me after all Queer people exist you know they'd be in the zombie apocalypse same as anyone else but adding queerness Within tension and driving into its potential is even better metaphors in horror are never one-to-one literal comparisons you know that's why it's a metaphor but the use of queerness canonically on screen can Elevate these thematic elements even further it shines a light on our suffering and our Joys it can give us the heroic Central characters which are often denied or provide the kind of socio-political commentary horror is known for without painting queerness as villainous by default if you enjoyed this video and would like to support what I do here then I will leave a link to my patreon below along with links to my book my podcast and all my social media so you can find me all over the Internet and until I see you next time bye

Channel: Rowan Ellis

Views: 98,231

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Id: V1bEAbDRWmM

Length: 47min 35sec (2855 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 26 2023