Why has the zombie become such a pervasive figure in twentyfirstcentury popular culture John Vervaeke Christopher Mastropietro and Filip Miscevic seek to answer this question by arguing that particular aspects of the zombie common to a variety of media forms reflect a crisis in modern Western culture. ampampnbspThe authors examine the essential features of the zombie including mindlessness ugliness and homelessness and argue that these reflect the outlook of the contemporary West and its attendant zeitgeists of anxiety alienation disconnection and disenfranchisement. They trace the relationship between zombies and the theme of secular apocalypse demonstrating that the zombie draws its power from being a perversion of the Christian mythos of death and resurrection.