In the past, zombies have just, simply, been zombies. No more than walking flesh, corrupted by darkness, out to eat you alive. Hollywood created movie after movie based on the same plot; world goes to shit, survivors find one another, they make camp, they get overrun, some survive, movie ends with cheesy, hopeful quotes from some tough guy normally in the military or something. “We’re gonna take this world back.” “We have to stick together.” Blah. Blah. Then you have those Sci-Fi channel soap operas with the “phenomenal” acting that are nothing but sex, blood, and profanity. If that’s not award worthy, I don’t know what is.
The Walking Dead has taken the zombie character to a whole new level. I mean, what is a zombie anyway? We’ve spent so much time talking about why you don’t make friends with them and viewing what happens when you can’t get a handle on the new life, but what are we really afraid of? In class, we tried to define a zombie. There’s the obvious; dead, eats humans, groans, attracted to loud sounds, not human, etc. Now there are the Termites who are human and eat humans, but that’s a whole different discussion. Several times in the show the argument over whether zombies are still human or not is brought up. Yes, there are poor souls who continue to hold onto hope that their loved ones will soon be revived. Also, yes, they do die, or end up in a bar drinking because they’ve been lying to themselves. Zombies are walking corpses that have been stripped down to their primitive instincts. Their only motivation is food, not even necessarily survival, just their next meal. So, do zombies have souls? Nah. Don’t read too much into it. There are a ton of metaphorical connections between zombies and humans; however, zombies have no humanlike characteristics, in my opinion. There are no signs of remorse for lost loved ones, or having to feed on loved ones for survival. There are no smiles of appreciation for the human offering. There’s no sense of competition against other zombies for humans. There’s just nothing. They’re a void. They’re black holes sucking in one person at a time but never quite satisfying the hunger. Zombies have no goals, no memories, no hopes and dreams. It’s simple as that.
Humans possess the ability to love, to live, to evolve. Humans are unpredictable. It’s because of this unpredictability that humans have become more threatening than the zombies. We exist to create community and create lives worth living. Some of the characters in the show find it difficult to accept that their loved ones are no longer in that body for that reason. In order to hold onto our sanity, we have to hold onto hope. They choose to believe they’ll see each other again to create purpose. But then what does that say for the Termites? Humans are certainly not perfect. We see that clearly everyday. But that’s what makes humanity so beautiful. Even in it’s darkness, we are each created differently. We each have our goals, our memories, our hopes and dreams. The Termites may have distorted views about survival, the current purpose for humanity, and how to achieve a life worth living, but they’re still in there. There’s still the ability to love, to live, and to evolve. They just chose different paths than what most would consider.
Although we’ve established that, in all reality, zombies are just activated flesh, it’s still important to see them as more than a threat. Use zombies as motivation to change, motivation to not allow humanity to reach a point where we become more dangerous versions of those walking voids, because right now, how are we any better than the zombies we’re afraid of?
Delaney Wright
The Walking Dead has taken the zombie character to a whole new level. I mean, what is a zombie anyway? We’ve spent so much time talking about why you don’t make friends with them and viewing what happens when you can’t get a handle on the new life, but what are we really afraid of? In class, we tried to define a zombie. There’s the obvious; dead, eats humans, groans, attracted to loud sounds, not human, etc. Now there are the Termites who are human and eat humans, but that’s a whole different discussion. Several times in the show the argument over whether zombies are still human or not is brought up. Yes, there are poor souls who continue to hold onto hope that their loved ones will soon be revived. Also, yes, they do die, or end up in a bar drinking because they’ve been lying to themselves. Zombies are walking corpses that have been stripped down to their primitive instincts. Their only motivation is food, not even necessarily survival, just their next meal. So, do zombies have souls? Nah. Don’t read too much into it. There are a ton of metaphorical connections between zombies and humans; however, zombies have no humanlike characteristics, in my opinion. There are no signs of remorse for lost loved ones, or having to feed on loved ones for survival. There are no smiles of appreciation for the human offering. There’s no sense of competition against other zombies for humans. There’s just nothing. They’re a void. They’re black holes sucking in one person at a time but never quite satisfying the hunger. Zombies have no goals, no memories, no hopes and dreams. It’s simple as that.
Humans possess the ability to love, to live, to evolve. Humans are unpredictable. It’s because of this unpredictability that humans have become more threatening than the zombies. We exist to create community and create lives worth living. Some of the characters in the show find it difficult to accept that their loved ones are no longer in that body for that reason. In order to hold onto our sanity, we have to hold onto hope. They choose to believe they’ll see each other again to create purpose. But then what does that say for the Termites? Humans are certainly not perfect. We see that clearly everyday. But that’s what makes humanity so beautiful. Even in it’s darkness, we are each created differently. We each have our goals, our memories, our hopes and dreams. The Termites may have distorted views about survival, the current purpose for humanity, and how to achieve a life worth living, but they’re still in there. There’s still the ability to love, to live, and to evolve. They just chose different paths than what most would consider.
Although we’ve established that, in all reality, zombies are just activated flesh, it’s still important to see them as more than a threat. Use zombies as motivation to change, motivation to not allow humanity to reach a point where we become more dangerous versions of those walking voids, because right now, how are we any better than the zombies we’re afraid of?
Delaney Wright