The Ethical Zombie: A Review of The Walking Med: Zombies and The Medical Image : The Walking Med: Zombies and The Medical Image. Edited by Lorenzo Servitje and Sherryl Vint, Foreword by Steven C. Schlozman. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2016, 264 pages, 55 b&w illustrations, ISBN: 978-0271077123

Abstract

This review offers insight into the collection The Walking Med: Zombies and The Medical Image edited by Lorenzo Servitje and Sherryl Vint ( Penn State University Press, 2016) by putting it into the context of George A Romero’s recent death (16 July 2017), and the lasting legacy his work has had on the social and political efficiency of the zombie. In particular this review will trace a shift to a more medicalised version of the zombie in contemporary film, television, and especially in comics, which in turn raises numerous questions regarding the neoliberalisation of healthcare, the limitations of so-called ‘lifesaving’ treatments, the status of the ill, disabled, and elderly, and the pressures of working within a medical environment, showing how the zombie is used a metaphoric tool to educate, undermine assumptions, and pose ethical questions.