Romero's classic Living Dead trilogy offered pointed criticism of contemporary society, focusing on racism, consumerism and the corruption of scientific and military institutions.

Zombies are meaningful to us because they function as 'empty signifiers': they don't mean one thing, but rather they can be used to explore how humans respond to a wide range of issues and crises-including 'the other,' or disease, or social decay, or the revolutionary proletariat or environmental problems-and the ethical conundrums they can create. As the COVID-19 virus spreads, and more and more people begin to practise social distancing, mainstream media outlets like the Washington Post have referred to the resulting crisis as the 'zombie apocalypse'-citing, for example, the eeriness of 'zombie-apocalypse empty streets.' What does the trope of the zombie apocalypse have to do with the current COVID-19 pandemic?Īs a musicologist and cultural historian, I teach an interdisciplinary university course called 'Seminar of the Living Dead,' which examines how zombies are used metaphorically in our society, often for purposes of socio-political commentary and critique, or philosophical inquiry or to challenge cultural norms.

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