Submission Title
If You Leave, You'll Have to Work for a Living: Economic Fantasies of the Dissident Undead
Submission Type
Paper
Keywords
apitalism, communism, Cuba, Juan of the Dead, zombie, film, Brugués
Abstract
If most post-1970s cannibal zombie films play with fears and fantasies tied to capitalism, the 2011 Cuban film Juan of the Dead offers an alternative: while it implies Cubans have been facing their own “zombie apocalypse” for years, the film ends with its hero, Juan, embracing communist ideologies and rejecting escape into capitalism (and the U.S.). The film thus supplies a post-apocalyptic life-after-capitalism that U.S. zombie films have been failing to provide for years.
If You Leave, You'll Have to Work for a Living: Economic Fantasies of the Dissident Undead
If most post-1970s cannibal zombie films play with fears and fantasies tied to capitalism, the 2011 Cuban film Juan of the Dead offers an alternative: while it implies Cubans have been facing their own “zombie apocalypse” for years, the film ends with its hero, Juan, embracing communist ideologies and rejecting escape into capitalism (and the U.S.). The film thus supplies a post-apocalyptic life-after-capitalism that U.S. zombie films have been failing to provide for years.