Cue the Walkers
I'm going to weigh in on The Walking Dead. Not because I think the show doesn't get enough publicity or has this cult following.
I'm talking about The Walking Dead because I HATE zombie stuff. HATE, HATE it, and largely attributed to the fact that when I was nine, My oldest brother took me to the Belair Drive In. The Belair showed old B horror movies and B- and C. My brother drove his little sister to a dark drive-in movie to see....Night of the Living Dead, the original. And I've hated zombies ever since.
However, I love The Walking Dead.
I didn't want to love it. I didn't even watch it one time until one I was cleaning my bedroom and flipped on Netflix. Browsing through the selections, The Walking Dead pops up. "Okay, fine. I'll watch one episode." When people asked me about watching, I could say that I watched one episode, and it wasn't my thing.
I watched Episode 1, Season 1. Then I watched Episode 2, and then I proceeded to watch Episode 3, all back to back. I don't think I cleaned much. I kept finding myself sitting on the bed with my face glued to the screen. Turned out, it was my thing.
That night, I woke up somewhere around midnight. You know when you wake up and you're not sure if you're really awake or dreaming, that's what I did. And for a few minutes, I remained motionless, afraid to look over the side of the bed for fear of one those mouth-breathing, limping monsters would pull me into zombie land.
In the span of a little less than a month, I'd watched all seven seasons and had to wait another month to see the Season 8 premiere.
But why? Did I mention I hate zombie stuff. It's right up there with clowns.
Every Monday when I take a lunch break from writing, I sit down and watch Sunday's episode. Yep, I eat lunch while watching guts being ripped apart and people being eaten alive, but I'm normally eating a salad or peanut butter so it's not the same.
Why do I love this show?
I love this show for the display and journey of human nature. I'm fascinated by what we will do to survive and the decisions we make for our future. In the case of TWD, the decisions are all about survival, and while the premise of a zombie apocalypse is just slightly farfetched, the bleak determination to survive is a real possibility.
Sadly, many of the decisions played out in the show are everyone for themselves and me first. Even some of the organized groups are governed by fear, and their decisions benefit only a handful.
The storyline of Rick Grimes and his group is the light of a very dark world. But this group with moral standards higher than most has made choices to ensure its own survival. As viewers we see them struggle with the life and death decisions they've made and wonder if we would make the same selections.
But perhaps a darker side of humanity and one of the greatest television villains ever resides in this show.
While I am supposed to hate the villain, I hate this guy so much, I love him. His character is brilliantly acted by Jeffrey Dean Morgan--one of the best performances I've ever watched. He may have a hidden redeeming quality, but I've yet to discover it. Oh at times, you think he's done something positive, but there's always a dark catch. He has a deadly charisma and the devastating gift of allocution
That's why we love him. We don't want to be him, but we love his tenacity and creativeness, and that's why Negan has followers who will do his noxious bidding.
The Walking Dead is just a show, but I think it shows a side of us we don't want to admit really exists.
We have Negans in our world, too many.
We have Rick Grimes as well, but we hear more about the Negans and not enough about the Ricks.
Thankfully, the Walking Dead is just a magnificent faculty of imagination, but it does make you think...
what would happen if...?
Follow me on Facebook:
Follow me on Twitter:
