The Urban Zemiology of Carnival Row: Allegory, Racism and Revanchism

This article makes the case for the zemiological value of Fredric Jameson’s (2019) model of fourfold allegory. Zemiological value is the value in reducing harm and it is realized by means of etiology, i.e., explaining the causes of harm. I make the case using a single, detailed example, but the argument is generalizable by virtue of the relationship between fourfold allegory and contemporary social life. I begin by delineating Jameson’s model of allegory as a thick narrative with four distinct levels of meaning: literal, symbolic, existential and anthropic. I explain each of these levels with reference to Carnival Row (2019)—an urban fantasy television series that explores racism, alienation and decivilization. I conclude by demonstrating how the allegory reveals a particular combination of causes that contribute to the replacement of a cosmopolitan ideal with a revanchist reality, articulated by Gareth Millington (2011) in his theory of the racialized global metropolis.