The Walking Dead and Camouflage
I have discovered in my internet wanderings a deep need to define exactly what it is that AMC's "The Walking Dead" is teaching us about life. This interest in personal and political philosophy as it relates to the "zombie apocalypse" makes me giggle just a little bit inside, however I think I have a finger on the pulse of our band of surviving fellows.
For the purpose of this post I will discuss the show but avoid the comic for obvious continuity reasons.
Throughout the series we have found ourselves delving deeper into the "other worldly" problems associated with the proverbial end of the world as we know it. This is the hook provided by the premise that keeps us watching. The "what if" scenario to which we can relate. Lets not get disillusioned by the idea of marauding zombies, but instead envision any number of scenarios that could create the same socio and political strain on our populace resulting in the tribal mentality that surrounds much of the brutality within the show.
A myriad of horrible events come to mind. “Zombies couldn't actually start rising from the dead.” you say? But the zombie apocalypse has lots of plausible equivalents. The Walking Dead isn’t even really about the walking dead. It’s about people. It’s about the fact that hell on earth consists of people willing to do hellish things for power and/or survival.
The zombies serve only to menace and ensure the prevention of reconstitution of socio-economical and political society on any measurable scale.
I can list any number of movies with "end times" scenario's that are plausible and yet they do not have a television show running multiple seasons with millions of viewers weekly. They do not have their own hashtags to morn the loss of a character that no one actually knew but for some reason were devastated when they were mercilessly killed by "walkers" or other people. So why the popularity you ask?
Superciliously barbarous characters coupled with the survivors own interpersonal struggles have allowed us a peek into a "would be or could be world" that most of our society had managed to avoid thinking about through a kind of normalcy bias.
We now find ourselves sitting on the front lines of the end of the world - and we are making mental and vocal personal decisions in a fictional world.
"Well I wouldn't go in there.", or "Don't let them in." I would bet is stated in every viewers household at least once during each episode. How many times have you discussed with friends, or with a spouse what you would do during the zombie apocalypse, or any functional variation thereof?
The show has brought the ethical question of "What would we do then?" and expounded the statement to include many more questions. "What is the proper trade off between the individual and the collective? What is government and why do we need it? What is the rule of law? What divides freedom and security? What are ethics? Could we do what is necessary to survive?"
Since the beginning of rational philosophical thought philosophers have hypothesized with the same questions. Plato hypothesized two planes of existence to wrestle with these questions - as many others defined nature in a reconstructed societal sweep of the hand with the basis of first principles to examine fundamental concepts, examining the inter workings of the human experience from conception to death.
The beauty of the show is it's camouflage. It is hiding deeper age old questions within the context of a horror movie while portraying its monsters as zombies.
Non-viewers feel they could never really be "entertained" by zombies - watchers are entertained by the real monsters (people), and the struggle of our small band of anti-heroes.
The dichotomy is lost unless you are willing to take the same risk as the survivors and enter into a world of "apocalypse".
Or I'm wrong - there is no deeper meaning - I'm pulling at straws - zombies are real - its a government conspiracy - and we are all doomed.
**If the show is something of an enigma you've never wanted to try - I recommend you binge the first 3 episodes before you write it off as malarkey. If you have not had the opportunity to read the comic book or graphic novels published by Image Comics I recommend you give it a try. The story is addictive and the artwork is consistently outstanding. Let us know what you think about the show or comic in the comment box below. http://bit.ly/2n6qiTY
For the purpose of this post I will discuss the show but avoid the comic for obvious continuity reasons.
Throughout the series we have found ourselves delving deeper into the "other worldly" problems associated with the proverbial end of the world as we know it. This is the hook provided by the premise that keeps us watching. The "what if" scenario to which we can relate. Lets not get disillusioned by the idea of marauding zombies, but instead envision any number of scenarios that could create the same socio and political strain on our populace resulting in the tribal mentality that surrounds much of the brutality within the show.
A myriad of horrible events come to mind. “Zombies couldn't actually start rising from the dead.” you say? But the zombie apocalypse has lots of plausible equivalents. The Walking Dead isn’t even really about the walking dead. It’s about people. It’s about the fact that hell on earth consists of people willing to do hellish things for power and/or survival.
The zombies serve only to menace and ensure the prevention of reconstitution of socio-economical and political society on any measurable scale.
I can list any number of movies with "end times" scenario's that are plausible and yet they do not have a television show running multiple seasons with millions of viewers weekly. They do not have their own hashtags to morn the loss of a character that no one actually knew but for some reason were devastated when they were mercilessly killed by "walkers" or other people. So why the popularity you ask?
Superciliously barbarous characters coupled with the survivors own interpersonal struggles have allowed us a peek into a "would be or could be world" that most of our society had managed to avoid thinking about through a kind of normalcy bias.
We now find ourselves sitting on the front lines of the end of the world - and we are making mental and vocal personal decisions in a fictional world.
"Well I wouldn't go in there.", or "Don't let them in." I would bet is stated in every viewers household at least once during each episode. How many times have you discussed with friends, or with a spouse what you would do during the zombie apocalypse, or any functional variation thereof?
The show has brought the ethical question of "What would we do then?" and expounded the statement to include many more questions. "What is the proper trade off between the individual and the collective? What is government and why do we need it? What is the rule of law? What divides freedom and security? What are ethics? Could we do what is necessary to survive?"
Since the beginning of rational philosophical thought philosophers have hypothesized with the same questions. Plato hypothesized two planes of existence to wrestle with these questions - as many others defined nature in a reconstructed societal sweep of the hand with the basis of first principles to examine fundamental concepts, examining the inter workings of the human experience from conception to death.
The beauty of the show is it's camouflage. It is hiding deeper age old questions within the context of a horror movie while portraying its monsters as zombies.
Non-viewers feel they could never really be "entertained" by zombies - watchers are entertained by the real monsters (people), and the struggle of our small band of anti-heroes.
The dichotomy is lost unless you are willing to take the same risk as the survivors and enter into a world of "apocalypse".
Or I'm wrong - there is no deeper meaning - I'm pulling at straws - zombies are real - its a government conspiracy - and we are all doomed.
**If the show is something of an enigma you've never wanted to try - I recommend you binge the first 3 episodes before you write it off as malarkey. If you have not had the opportunity to read the comic book or graphic novels published by Image Comics I recommend you give it a try. The story is addictive and the artwork is consistently outstanding. Let us know what you think about the show or comic in the comment box below. http://bit.ly/2n6qiTY
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