Exercise Some Caution When Using Zombie Metaphors
It has somehow become acceptable to say very sexist things as long as they are meant to be “funny.” The problem is, saying something that is sexist in an attempt at comedy does not make it not-sexist. In fact, attempted humor or sarcastic delivery just helps cloak the actual sexist message. This “retro sexism” is popping up all over the place. Its effect, as voiced by media critic Anita Sarkeesian, is “the normalization of sexism through the use of irony.”
Jim Picht’s Halloween-themed column in yesterday’s Washington Times is a perfect example of this trend. Picht’s column is about Republican “zombie candidates” and he mentions all of the main GOP contenders. While it’s clear that Picht’s column is meant to be satirical, that does not detract from the violent imagery he uses against the only female GOP presidential candidate—Michele Bachmann.
Michele Bachmann just came to my front door. I'm pretty sure it was Bachmann. She was sort of green, groaning, and losing bits of herself as she walked down my driveway.I didn't open the door. I asked my wife to fetch my constitutionally protected firearm. "Kill the brain, kill the zombie."
Yes, Picht also calls Gingrich, Santorum, Romney, Perry, and Cain, “zombie candidates” but he reserves the most graphic descriptions of violence for “Zombie Bachmann” alone.
“The Tea Party has reportedly asked Ms Bachmann to depart the game, but you can't ask zombies anything. Kill the brain, kill the zombie. She has to be cut off, thrown from the stage, deprived of attention until she wanders off into the woods to die.”
Visual Zombieification can be used to depict an adversary covered with violent wounds while simultaneously denying the threat this portrayal implies. Picht is enacting the imaginative equivalent by relying on the fad of zombieism to negate his violent imagery.
The fact that Picht’s piece is clearly tongue and cheek does not negate the effect of his representation. Furthermore, the image that The Washington Times uses to illustrate the column is a very bloody female zombie. There’s a certain kind of violent, gleeful vitriol Picht seems to indulge in when writing about Bachmann’s murder. Presenting violence against women in a humorous way serves to reinforce the notion that gendered violence is not a serious global problem and is, in fact, something to poke fun at. And that is sexist.
*In reference to the picture preceding the article, it is perhaps worth noting that the current cultural obsession with zombies might not be so great for women. One could easily make the argument that the more images we see depicting women covered in bloody wounds, the less sensitized we are to actual victims of gender-based violence. And then you have the Halloween effect—which turns the already problematic zombie woman into a sexualized zombie woman.
Published by support on 11/01/2011