Bromance, Homosociality and the Crisis of Masculinity in the Latin American Zombie Movie

Abstract

The zombie narrative could be regarded as a metaphor for reflecting on and externalising social anxieties in relation to the loss of individuality. Most zombie films tend to play with the anxieties of an imaginary male audience whose sense of sexual identity—understood as inherently heterosexual—seems to be in direct correlation to the male protagonist’s fate. The heterosexual identity seems to be at stake during the narrative and is somewhat jeopardised by the threat of the protagonist becoming a zombie at any given point. With such an emphasis on male relationships, it is possible to argue that the imminent possibility of the disappearance of humankind becomes the catalyst for the emergence of homosocial feelings among such men and, as a result, the emergence and development of bromance narratives. The zombie comedy, especially, appears to operate as the bromantic and homosocial narrative par excellence in which male characters can finally express their mutual ‘love’ in the disguise of brotherly banter, while using jokes as a shield to cover up what are perhaps their real feelings for one another.