Summary
Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead is a landmark series in the apocalypse genre, as a story not only about zombies, but human survival in the face of impossible odds. It’s also a story that’s been criticized for its depiction of women–and even Kirkman admits that there is one particular moment in the series he still finds “cringe-worthy.”
The Walking Dead Deluxe is a re-release of the original Walking Dead series, first published in 2004, with never before seen content and valuable creator commentary providing insight into a few of author Robert Kirkman’s character decisions. This glimpse into Kirkman’s creative process, specifically his decision-making when it comes to writing female characters, highlights one scene in need of revisiting.
The scene in question arrives in The Walked Dead #3, in which two of the three women excitedly discuss laundry detergent on their way to washing the survivors’ clothes. Donna angrily points out the disparity in the men hunting and women cleaning, with Lori Grimes dismissing the sexism, and excusing it as “being realistic.”
Kirkman Addresses Walking Dead Sexism, What He Would Change
In Walking Dead Deluxe #3, Kirkman notes this scene as “cringe-worthy,” explaining he would make different decisions today (intending to give the women the maximum amount of space to grow as the story progressed). These interpersonal interactions do indeed evolve some of these people into hardened and lethal survivors, eventually joining Michonne’s level. Regardless of Kirkman’s authorial intent the scene in both the comic series and the TV show caused backlash.
“Did I need a full page of the female characters talking about doing laundry while the men hunted? Probably not….I was going to take the female characters in some interesting directions as the series progressed. So starting them here would give me a lot of room to grow and evolve along the way. Anyway I was 23 when I started writing this comic so this is definitely not the last cringe-worthy thing (for me at least) that I wrote into this book. I’d have handled things a little differently had I written it today. I’d have maybe had Allen or Jim help with the laundry.”
Because Walking Dead has so much exposure in the cultural zeitgeist, it means the more questionable scenes are open to critiques from the fans, a fact Kirkman acknowledges. To many fans the scene demonstrates that even in a zombie apocalypse the patriarchal structure endures. Kirkman has said in the past that he’s not a political writer and doesn’t want his work to be read as such, but he also understands that because of the platform he’s been given with Walking Dead, people are going to read what they want into it. Understandably, some fans might find this scene hard to enjoy due to its parallels to the non-zombified reality, where, with a few exceptions, men are in charge of almost every group, faction, colony or community and women get few moments to shine in grisly combat.
It’s clear that the scene in question was meant to be a commentary on the state of society, both in the world of The Walking Dead and our own. Whether or not it was in good taste has typically been up to the fans to decide. It wasn’t until Robert Kirkman’s creative commentary in the Walking Dead Deluxe #3 that there was a confirmation on his own gendered bias, calling the scene “cringe-worthy.” This isn’t the only instance of Kirkman’s personal feelings featured in the series, but it is one of the first times he’s acknowledged the faults of an early creative decision.
The Walking Dead Deluxe is available now from Skybound wherever comic books are sold.
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