The Walking Dead Terrorizes Television with Political Incorrectness and Violence
The popularity of The Walking Dead could be called nothing short of phenomenal, muscling out other top rated cable television shows, and proving once and for all that zombies are more appealing than crime busters or dysfunctional families. It’s the hot topic; or more accurately the stone cold rapid fire discussion of chat rooms, shared user sites, and even personal blogs. There are experts in zombie survival that will tell you how to pack your own zombie battle kit, how to identify a zombie and alert you to recent zombie sightings. If you don’t know anything about The Walking Dead, you just haven’t been paying attention to the class.
To the uninitiated, zombie land doesn’t seem to be that formidable. Zombies don’t move very fast. They have a short body expectancy. Within a few weeks, their bodies begin falling apart, making it very difficult to chase around a bit of live meat. The problem is, if there is one zombie, there are many more lurking in the background, unseen until you’ve put that first satisfying bullet through the brain. Then they show up like they have a special radar system, with a tracking device for any unusual sound. If you manage to hack through, you realize unless you’ve got an army behind you, it’s best to become a silent killer.
The zombie epidemic is perfectly understandable, as the early response to zombie control unleashes the military with strict extermination orders. Their military might rapidly proves ineffective, as they have no realization that you can blow a zombie to smithereens, but unless you hit the brain, those zombie pieces will be gnawing away at you. However, if you’re accustomed to your favorite hero saving the day, The Walking Dead is going to become depressing. In fact, the show’s morals, or lack thereof, is what makes it so unique among many other TV series that explore dangerous antagonists.
The cast of The Walking Dead are the American symbol of the anti-hero: They are perfectly human, which is to say, they are far from perfect. They quarrel, seek to divide the group, harbor suspicions, form jealousies and power play. As the leader, Rick Grimes, tries to hold them together, his decisions often end in disaster. Instead of a hero, he is accused of weakening the group as a whole. What the other members of the group blithely ignore, is that each time trouble brewed on the horizon, it was because somebody hadn’t done as they were told. The proverbial authority figure is certainly perverted through the morally ambiguous characters of Grimes and Shane Walsh, not to mention The Governor, a man of the people who fought against corrupt National Guard militia, only to become consumed with power and sadism.
All this zombie role-playing is certainly not feminist-friendly. Not that the zombies have any particular preference for women over men, but in this apocalyptic world, women are generally consigned to washing clothes and cooking meals while the men stand guard for zombies. Only the most adamant of females are given gun rights, and only a few are wicked enough to carve their way through zombies without a galloping knight to save them. Lori Grimes has been painted as an unfaithful wife, a self-righteous mother, and in the end, a doomed baby maker. At least we get to see a not so gradual transformation of Andrea, from mourner and victim into hardened warrior. At least for a while, before she goes back to square one, as the naive sex partner of The Governor.
The moral of the story is, of course, in a zombie apocalypse there are no morals and whatever you thought you knew about humanity, virtue and fairness, is sacrificed because of the weightier need of group survival. It’s a perverse and heartless brand of socialism, that has more in common with tribalism than anything we learned in the United States justice system. And yes, it’s damned fascinating and the only show of its kind on TV. And that’s not to say that the zombie kind don’t have their own justice system to work on, if not yet constructed, then at least budding. After all, they don’t discriminate, they work well together, and their needs are rather simple. They just want to eat another day. In fact, don’t be surprised if by the third season, you yourself begin developing a strange urge to bite someone.
Natalie Gallo
03/05/2013 @ 5:43 pm
Very interesting article, however, you neglected to mention the most bad ass, she-warrior on the show – Michonne. She doesn’t need a man, a woman, or anything, not even the short lived zombies-in-chains. She comes readily equipped with a deadly glare and and a deadlier katana. I do agree that Lori was a damned shallow character in the show, if not in the comics. Andrea…well, I’m hoping she gets more backbone and less annoying. Even Carol is starting to find her voice after so many years of abuse.
Greg Legakis
03/13/2013 @ 12:32 pm
I’m don’t completely agree. Michonne has shown a little vulnerability of late, which does add depth and humanity to her character. Sure she’s a one woman wrecking machine, but she’s not a Terminator either. And I think that’s a good thing for the story.
Brian
03/11/2013 @ 6:30 pm
Typical clueless leftist making unintelligent and uniformed comments… watch the entire show. Some of the stronger characters and morally driven ones are female. The show has shown the evolution of several weak female characters into leaders and heroes while some of the male ones have failed. All women in the show shoot guns and some with better precision then males.
Stribog
03/11/2013 @ 10:34 pm
One of my favorite show just for one simple reason.Show is more or less telling you that might is right.There is no laws except one:Survival of the fittest.If you are degenerate,weak,show remorse,or maybe an idiotic liberal/democrate like Dale for example,you are going to die very painfully.
Like i said,Survival of the fittest
Greg Legakis
03/14/2013 @ 8:59 pm
I can appreciate the survival of the fittest mentality, but that doesn’t mean they should lose every ounce of humanity. Which I’m not necessarily saying they have, but that poor hitch hiker deserved better and I think they could have handled it differently.
Then again it is a dopey TV show, so I don’t want to get too hung up on a reality vs. fiction analysis. Have a good one.
gene mccusker
03/30/2013 @ 1:17 am
Hitchhikers are serial killers. Didn’t your parents teach you anything?
Darling
04/05/2013 @ 8:12 pm
We cant just conclude that hitchhikers are serial killers :p
bunwalla
04/08/2013 @ 3:10 am
Man, I hope I don’t end up anywhere near you when the zombie apocalypse happens. I might say something you don’t like and find myself turned into zombie bait.
Greg Legakis
03/13/2013 @ 11:55 am
Two thoughts:
These people are crazy for not wearing gloves and masks whenever they kill a walker. I know it’s a TV show and there’s such thing as literary license, but it seems to me they should be getting infected from all the blood splatter in the vicinity of their mouths.
The other thought is that, if they believe that this is disease of some sort, then if they had any sort of spirituality or religious faith, they would still maintain some sort of moral compass.
Case in point, the hitch hiker they left behind to get eaten. They have weapons. They could have engaged the guy and perhaps helped him in some way rather than just leave him.
I guess it really comes down to the writers and how much spirituality they have in their lives. Who knows maybe we’ll see more “moral quandary” issues in future episodes.
Mr D
03/18/2013 @ 8:46 pm
Ahh…no need to worry about getting infected, they already are!
Truxton Spangler
03/29/2013 @ 1:30 am
Yeah, but they still shouldn’t want walker guts all over their mouths.
Tracy Carlson-King
04/01/2013 @ 10:27 pm
extra protein!
Greg Legakis
04/08/2013 @ 11:04 am
test
bunwalla
04/08/2013 @ 3:02 am
So, only religious/spiritual people have any kind of moral compass? I would think that the people you would have to watch out for the most would be the highly religious, end-of-the-world prophesiers who are probably happy that most of the world has gone to hell. For many people (hopefully not you), religion doesn’t equate to any real morality, it just gives them a rationalization to be cruel to people who aren’t like them. Ultimately, it’s a TV show. Please lay off the judgments as to the level of spirituality of the writers.
Greg Legakis
04/08/2013 @ 11:04 am
Okay, where do I start. I never said that you have to be spiritual or religious to have a moral compass. Although I do believe that we, as humans, all have the Holy Ghost(or as most secular people call “a Conscience”) in our being that acts as a small still voice to at least advise us on how to handle a particular moral dilemma.
I can’t speak to what most religious people believe because I prefer not to deal in superlatives. I try to judge people individually and not solely on their color, religion or sexual orientation, but rather on their behavior. ( I have very strong political and social opinions, but will leave them for another discussion). And trust me, even as a very religious person, I have no use for brainwashed overly religious Bible thumpers or worse yet hypocrites who say one thing or belong to a particular faith but then do the opposite or behave in a way that is contrary to the most basic tenets of that religion.
Finally, I didn’t mean to pass judgement on the writers one way or another, so to a certain extent, I retract that expression of belief. Maybe I’m just a little cynical because I believe most of Hollywood promotes morals that are diametrically opposed to Christian beliefs and in many cases attack them. Though I don’t believe that’s the case with Walking Dead.
I’m also a Breaking Bad fan. They’ve stepped over the line for me a few times when it came to sex or language, but it never became gratuitous or excessive and since the writing and storytelling is top notch, I continue to enjoy it even though 10 months is ridiculous to have to wait for the final 6-8 episodes, but whatever.
Have a nice day.
Rich
07/02/2013 @ 5:55 pm
It’s a TV show. They can’t
have the cast running around with masks and gloves on the whole time while
being chased by zombies, “Hurry grab your masks and gloves the zombies are
coming”.That would be ridiculous.
Mr D
03/18/2013 @ 8:57 pm
The nature of this show is blatantly obvious. It’s a writers dream world, a world that has the freedom to basically go in any given direction. In fact it HAS done this especially with the moral compass that the character Dale carried throughout his time on the show. The looseness in sexual appointments and responsibilities by many of the characters is right out in the open. This show is probably the most entertaining on television these days because we KNOW it isn’t reality…no one is safe…always remember this when watching and rooting for your favorite persons. Survive to exists one more day, that’s the basis of the story line.
Deadinside-is-dumb
03/25/2013 @ 11:26 pm
Possibly one of the dumbest articles I have read thus far. Failed Journalism 101 much?
rao
03/30/2013 @ 1:43 am
andrea a hardened warrior? lol. her character is garbage compared to the real hardened warrior she is in the comics.
Sons of Ares
03/31/2013 @ 11:59 am
Again, someone uses “socialism” without knowing what it means. Try “anarchy”.
ChristineIam
04/01/2013 @ 8:59 pm
I doubt this writer has even watched TWD. Is clueless about the depth of the characters and show. Thumbs down for this “review”/article.
Beaugard Stevens
05/19/2013 @ 10:42 am
This show is so mis-characterized in the article, it’s hard to believe the writer even watched it. Rick is extremely moral and good, it’s not like Charles Manson is leading them. Lori was really even “unfaithful,” she had sex with someone after she thought her husband was dead, when she found out he was alive, she no longer did that, it’s not like she cheated on him after knowing he was still alive. It’s politically incorrect because the women wash the clothes? That’s so stupid. The whole article is just ridiculous.
Jam
06/12/2013 @ 8:14 pm
Not even going to read this article, the fact that your saying it is politically incorrect just shows you are one of those self-righteous obsessed liberals who find things to build a straw-man fallacy against to make themselves feel like they are helping the world, but you aren’t. Are you going to start requesting padding the walls in school classrooms too?
Dmitri Le Fevre
06/14/2013 @ 4:05 am
Curious at how the writer knows that the National Guard soldiers the governor slaughtered were corrupt.. there was no indication that they were anything but men trying to survive… this whole article was just poorly researched and written.
Noreturnsurvival
06/22/2013 @ 12:00 pm
The author of this article forgot about Michonne and Maggie – two major badasses. And I still think Andrea is awesome, despite her sexual misjudgments. I mean, she’s just human. And so what if a couple women washed a couple of dishes? In desperate situations, I think primal ways can prevail at times.
TOM
08/29/2013 @ 11:18 pm
Political correctness is bullshit and I’m tired of hearing people bitch and whine about it especially when it comes to entertainment. If you have ever been “offended” by a movie, t.v. show, song or joke then you are a spineless pussy. Grow a pair! over half of the stupid crap people claim are not politically correct are terms that were never offensive to begin with. Changing the name of something does not change that particular thing. You are not African American, you’re black, you are not differently abled, you’re handicapped, if someone calls you oriental instead of asian, shut up, the term little people instead of midget is more degrading I mean who wants to be named after a Fisher Price toy? seriously. I’m irish…sorry, I’m an alcoholic American and I don’t care. So if you’re going to post a review of a movie or t.v. show and expect to be taken seriously stop trying to make a case that something isn’t good because it wasn’t politically correct.