Me, SICK, and the cosplay cast of Walking Dead.
Yes, I’m a fan of The Walking Dead. It took me a long time to get around to watching it, because that first episode with the half-woman crawling on the grass . . . how they elicited empathy from those two scenes frankly scared me. I knew, as did millions of others, that this was to be no ordinary zombie romp. I could barely handle the gore; my taste for that disappeared many years ago. But even moreso, I couldn’t handle the emotion.
I’ve not been able to pick up this current season, despite a few attempts at trying. The entire arc of Terminus and what the Termites do . . . I just can’t stomach it. I’ve watched enough Talking Dead to give up on it for now, though I dutifully record it just in case.
And I wonder:
This is what we use for entertainment now? Watching people eat each other? It’s not new or unique to this series, but man. Walking Dead pulls zero punches. Zero.
Then I wonder:
Is it all just a matter of degrees?
I’m a huge Buffy fan. I watch it (and re-watch it) for the story. I watch Walking Dead for the story. What’s the difference, if any? Buffy has combat and fighting and the best and the worst that humanity has to offer in its stories. The Walking Dead offers the same thing, but with more gore. So what’s the difference? Is it like the old joke, “I only read Playboy for the articles”?
“I only watch Walking Dead for the story and character.” “I only watch Breaking Bad for the story and the character.”
Really? You’re sure those are the only reasons?
While I enjoy all of these shows—at least, I think it’s enjoyment—I’m left wondering if Walking Dead is simply too accurate. It worries me that, zombies notwithstanding, it’s just pointing out the inevitable future of the human race. Is it showing us the truth about ourselves, and if so . . . is it our fate? I don’t mean a zombie apocalypse (believe it or not), but rather, is it our fate to treat our fellow living human beings the way these characters treat others?
I mean, I cannot envision a time or circumstance in which I would eat human flesh. I can’t eat leftovers from my favorite restaurants! But then I’ve never been trapped on a mountain hoping for rescue. I’ve never been in a zombie apocalypse. And while I watch the show and condemn the actions of some of its characters (like what Michonne and Rick did-or-rather-didn’t do to the backpacker in season 3, episode 12), I also know that I have a three-year-old. And I know there is absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do to protect that child, much like a certain dad did for a certain son when that son was being threatened. Those of you who watch the show know what scene I’m talking about. I appreciate The Walking Dead for giving me that idea; that if I and my son were ever in a similar situation, now I know what to do. It’s disgusting. It’s inhuman. But I would do it. Would not hesitate.
So then, does the show tell us who we are at our core? In the event of a catastrophe of an apocalypse scale, is this how we would treat each other? The one time we most need to band together, are we capable of doing it?
Because here’s the thing:
The world is in jeopardy right now as I write this. The world, our world, is falling apart. Oh, the planet will be fine—Earth doesn’t need us to keep spinning and creating and sustaining life. It just won’t be our life, the way things are headed.
Even without zombies walkers, we’re at a point where we need to band together. Instead, we kill unarmed people and we crash planes into buildings and we let our neighbors starve or children go to school hungry or our veterans to die alone and frightened on the street after having killed the people we think are responsible for the aforementioned atrocities in the first place . . . can you say “vicious unending cycle”?
I’ve heard—not confirmed, and hard-core (die hard?) fans might know for sure—that the word “zombie” is never used because in the world of the show, there is no George Romero, no cultural history of “zombies” per se. Maybe that’s true.
Or maybe the creators simply know the phrase “walking dead” has many more connotations to it than “zombie” does. I guess it’s that age-old media question: Does our entertainment cause us to become something, or does it merely reflect what it already sees? Probably the answer is Yes. Yes, both.
Maybe we’re already walking dead. Maybe we are already consuming one another’s flash. Nothing new here. Nothing that a thousand online prophets haven’t already endlessly dissected. I guess I just needed to hear myself say it out loud, so to speak.
Can we be better? I know I’m trying. But it’s not easy. Maybe you can help me. Maybe we can help each other.
I’m open to ideas. All’s I know is what I’d like to do if I ever see a Backpacker—apocalypse or no apocalypse. Because that Backpacker is everywhere already.
And you and I might be him someday if we’re not already.
Be Human.
