Framing Bio-emergencies in Fiction: The Cases of 'The Walking Dead' and 'Fear the Walking Dead'

Abstract

This article analyses the first seasons of two interconnected AMC series, 'The Walking Dead' and 'Fear the Walking Dead'. Our analysis focuses on how these shows frame the emergence of a bio-risk, how the leading characters deal with the experience of bio-risks, and how they develop (or fail at developing) strategies to overcome, or, if this renders impossible, to tame such bio-risk. We have used a Grounded Theory approach to analyse the data, frame our analysis, and create a theoretical understanding of the ways these shows present bio-risks, and of the ways they depict the fictional experience of living a bio-emergency, without any official, institutional plan regarding to how to deal with it.