Zombies am laufenden Band...: Zur seriellen Wahrnehmung eines untoten Massenprodukts.

In consideration of the growing dominance of serial narrative patterns broadcast by television, and on the occasion of the conclusion of the fourth season of THE WALKING DEAD (USA 2010-, Creator: Frank Darabont) in the US, this article focuses upon the zombie as a figure, presupposing serial patterns in filmic narratives. Besides a historical review of these patterns within the subgenre 'zombie film', it will be shown, how these patterns come into effect by reflecting on THE WALKING DEAD in contrast to comparable narratives of feature films. Altogether this article aims at exposing that serial narrative patterns are included within the genre of zombie film - right from its beginning - and for that reason the genre inherently educes serial formats. Therewith the advancement of narrative genre models enhances, which is finally realized in THE WALKING DEAD. The text's basic questions center around subjects like: Which attributes of the zombie figure cause serial narrations? And which advanced narrative modes are enabled by seriality opposed to the dramaturgy of one single feature film? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]