Contagion of Fear: World War Z and the Collapse of Global Order: A College Essay Prompt

Essay Prompt:

In World War Z, a global pandemic rapidly spreads, unleashing chaos, institutional breakdown, and the fragmentation of global cooperation. Though fictional, the film can be read as an allegory for the very real dysfunction and distrust that characterized the COVID-19 pandemic. Using World War Z as a cultural lens, write an essay in which you argue how the film metaphorically captures the collapse of public trust, the dangers of misinformation, and the failure of collective action in a hyper-polarized world. Support your argument with at least three of the following sources: Jonathan Haidt’s “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” Ed Yong’s “How the Pandemic Defeated America,” Seyla Benhabib’s “The Return of the Sovereign,” and Zeynep Tufekci’s “We’re Asking the Wrong Questions of Facebook.”

This essay invites you to write a 1,700-word argumentative essay in which you analyze World War Z as a metaphor for mass anxiety. Develop an argument that connects the film’s themes to contemporary global challenges such as:

• The COVID-19 pandemic and fear of viral contagion
  
• Global migration driven by war, poverty, and climate change
  
• The dehumanization of “The Other” in politically polarized societies
  
• The fragility of global cooperation in the face of crisis
  
• The spread of weaponized misinformation and conspiracy
  

Your thesis should not simply argue that World War Z is “about fear”—it should claim what kind of fear, why it matters, and what the film reveals about our modern condition. You may focus on one primary fear or compare multiple forms of crisis (e.g., pandemic vs. political polarization, or migration vs. misinformation).

Use at least three of the following essays as research support:

1. Jonathan Haidt, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid” (The Atlantic)
   —A deep dive into how social media has fractured trust, created echo chambers, and undermined democratic cooperation.
   
2. Ed Yong, “How the Pandemic Defeated America” (The Atlantic)
   —An autopsy of institutional failure and public distrust during COVID-19, including how the virus exposed deep structural weaknesses.
   
3. Seyla Benhabib, “The Return of the Sovereign: Immigration and the Crisis of Globalization” (Project Syndicate)
   —Explores the backlash against global migration and the erosion of human rights amid rising nationalism.
   
4. Zeynep Tufekci, “We’re Asking the Wrong Questions of Facebook” (The New York Times)
   —An analysis of how misinformation spreads virally, creating moral panics and damaging collective reasoning.
   

Requirements:

• Use MLA format
  
• 1,700 words
  
• Quote directly from World War Z (film dialogue, plot events, or visuals)
  
• Integrate at least two sources above with citation
  
• Present a counterargument and a rebuttal
  

Here’s a 9-paragraph outline and three sample thesis statements to guide students toward deep, layered analysis of World War Z as metaphor.

Three Sample Thesis Statements

World War Z presents zombies not just as flesh-eating threats but as avatars of global panic—embodying fears of pandemics, mass migration, and social collapse. Through its globe-hopping narrative and relentless spread of infection, the film critiques a world increasingly unprepared to manage the fallout of interconnected crises, echoing Haidt’s concerns about fractured public trust and Yong’s analysis of institutional fragility.

In World War Z, the zombie outbreak functions as a metaphor for weaponized misinformation and the breakdown of global cooperation, dramatizing how societies consumed by fear and tribalism respond not with solidarity, but with suspicion and violence. The film anticipates the moral failures detailed by Haidt and Tufekci, making it less about monsters than about our inability to face crisis without self-destructing.

Far from a typical horror film, World War Z is a global parable of dehumanization and displacement, where zombies symbolize both contagious fear and the faceless masses of migration and poverty. As Benhabib argues, the return of nationalism and the fear of the “Other” has shattered international solidarity—anxiety the film visualizes through barricades, lockdowns, and apocalyptic border control.

9-Paragraph Outline

Paragraph 1 – Introduction

• Hook: Use an arresting visual to frame our world’s current instability.
  
• Context: Introduce World War Z as more than a thriller—it’s an allegory of global collapse.
  
• Thesis: State your central argument about how the zombies symbolize a deeper, contemporary fear (e.g., pandemic panic, social polarization, migration anxiety, misinformation, etc.).
  

Paragraph 2 – The Metaphorical Function of Zombies

• Discuss the symbolic role of zombies in film generally (fear of the masses, disease, mindlessness).
  
• Explain how World War Z updates the metaphor to reflect 21st-century global anxieties.
  

Paragraph 3 – Global Crisis and Institutional Collapse

• Analyze scenes showing governments falling apart, the UN being sidelined, the world reduced to reactive chaos.
  
• Connect to Ed Yong’s argument about institutional failure during COVID-19.
  

Paragraph 4 – Fear of Migration and the Dehumanized Other

• Examine the treatment of human mobs, refugees, and zombies in border scenes (e.g., Jerusalem wall, flight panic).
  
• Use Seyla Benhabib’s piece to discuss the rising fear of displacement and the collapse of asylum ethics.
  

Paragraph 5 – The Spread of Misinformation and Breakdown of Truth

• Point to the conspiracy theories and media confusion in the film’s early scenes.
  
• Use Tufekci’s argument to show how misinformation spreads like a virus—and how that’s reflected in the zombie metaphor.
  

Paragraph 6 – The Psychology of Polarization and Fear

• Explore the emotional tone of the film: anxiety, distrust, hyper-individualism.
  
• Connect to Haidt’s claim that polarization has eroded rational cooperation and heightened mass irrationality.
  

Paragraph 7 – Counterargument

• Some may argue that World War Z is just a fast-paced action flick with no real political message.
  
• Rebut by showing how even its structure—a global chase from chaos to cure—mirrors real-world anxieties about global crisis management and ethical triage.
  

Paragraph 8 – Deeper Implications of the Metaphor

• Push the metaphor further: zombies as collapsed selves, media-driven mobs, people stripped of identity.
  
• Reflect on how the film doesn’t just diagnose fear—it reflects our inability to reckon with complexity in a globalized age.
  

Paragraph 9 – Conclusion

• Reaffirm your thesis.
  
• Leave the reader with a provocative final thought: maybe the zombies aren’t the dead—they’re us, stripped of cooperation, overwhelmed by fear, and marching blindly toward collapse.