Love in the Time of the Zombie Contagion: A Girardian-Weilienne Reading of World War Z

This essay offers a reflection on the nature of love—particularly familial love—within the apocalyptic and media-saturated context of World War Z (2013). Moreover, it explains how World War Z offers an alternative to a consumptive and over-mediated view of love. The discussion is undertaken through developing analogies between zombie tropes, René Girard's mimetic theory and Simone Weil's mystical philosophy. Particular emphasis is placed on Girard's conception of undifferentiation and Weil's explorations of love, attention and hunger. Apart from exploring certain tensions that arise from living amidst media, the argument is intended to provide a reinterpretation of the nature of the zombie both as a cinematic symbol and as critique of the imploded world that is the global village.