{"id":920,"date":"2016-12-05T13:24:29","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T19:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bsudlr.wordpress.com\/?p=920"},"modified":"2016-12-05T13:24:29","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T19:24:29","slug":"the-walking-dead-a-commentary-on-our-monstrous-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2016\/12\/05\/the-walking-dead-a-commentary-on-our-monstrous-society\/","title":{"rendered":"The Walking Dead: A Commentary on our Monstrous Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Shannon Walter<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span><\/i>Good zombie movies show us how messed up we are, they make us question our station in society and our society\u2019s station in the world. They show us gore and violence and all of that cool stuff too but there\u2019s always an undercurrent of social commentary and thoughtfulness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 Robert Kirkman <\/span><\/p>\n

When watching a television show based on a zombie apocalypse, it makes sense to assume that the main antagonists are, in fact, the zombies themselves. After six seasons of <\/span>The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i>, it is now clear that this is not always true. Yes, the show is overflowing with decaying, flesh-hungry corpses, referred to as \u201cwalkers.\u201d But are these \u201cwalkers\u201d really the true monsters in this storyline? No. Over the course of the series, what our beloved <\/span>TWD<\/span><\/i> cast realizes is that their fellow surviving human beings are the ones they should really be fearful of. The writers and producers are forcing their viewers to take a step back and consider the possibility that our society, with its desensitization to murder and death, and its fear and distrust of societal change, is not far off from that of this post-apocalyptic television show. <\/span><\/p>\n

Whether it be The Governor, Gareth and his band of cannibals, or Negan with his ever-impending doom, human monstrosities have taken over the \u201cnew world order\u201d in which our characters are fighting to survive. <\/span>TV Tropes<\/span><\/i>, a pop culture wiki that focuses on motifs used throughout various mediums, discusses a trope they label \u201cBeware the Living.\u201d Within this trope, \u201czombies, on an individual level, aren\u2019t really that threatening. . . \u00a0the protagonists will often come to realize that zombies are the <\/span>least<\/span><\/i> of their problems. The real threat will come from roaming gangs of bandits. . . \u00a0or even normal, everyday people who were Driven to Madness by the horror going on around them\u201d (\u201cBeware the Living\u201d). <\/span>The Walking Dead <\/span><\/i>utilizes this trope exactly as it is defined by <\/span>TV Tropes<\/span><\/i>. But what is this \u201cBeware the Living\u201d trope saying about our society today? What does it say that these characters are <\/span>more<\/span><\/i> fearful of their fellow human beings than of half-dead, rotting monsters that roam the Earth in search of human flesh? I would like to revert back to Robert Kirkman\u2019s statement that <\/span>The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i> serves as a type of commentary on the happenings in our society. The idea that, according to <\/span>TV tropes<\/span><\/i>, people inherently go \u201ccrazy\u201d when faced with a new type of society or a new idea of what it means to \u201clive\u201d calls into question a human being\u2019s ability to endure major changes in their lives. Thinking specifically of our own society in comparison to that of <\/span>The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i>, we can recognize that both societies become increasingly more violent with time. According to <\/span>The New York Times<\/span><\/i>, as of May 2016, there was already a 9% increase in homicide nationwide over the previous year. On <\/span>The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i>, this increase in violence is illustrated through a particular one-eyed dictator. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Governor, who appears as the villain in season three and four of the series, illustrates this commentary through his very drastic alternations between a typical, American man and a murderous, power-tripping monster. The Governor was a normal person before this \u201czombie apocalypse\u201d\u2014 he is a husband, a father, an overall \u201ctypical\u201d human being \u2014and then his world is turned upside down. In addressing the new standards of society, he says, \u201cIn this life now, you kill or you die. Or you die and you kill\u201d (\u201cWelcome to the Tombs\u201d). The Governor takes this sentiment to a new level through torture and cold-blooded murder. Throughout his reign of terror, we experience characters being held captive in rooms with \u201cwalkers,\u201d mass killing sprees, beheadings, and much more. While in this new society it is true that you must kill in order to survive, The Governor is transformed by his new, chaotic surroundings into a murderous monster. This \u201ckill or be killed\u201d mentality is one that is adopted by many \u201cmonsters\u201d that have appeared in <\/span>The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

We can see this \u201ckill-or-be-killed\u201d mentality in our society today, although <\/span>we<\/span><\/i> do not have the excuse of a world full of flesh-eating zombies, whose only true goal is to eat human beings. It is often argued that because this mentality is portrayed in the media so often our children are becoming desensitized to violence. These outlets incite mass amounts of fear and rage in the members of our society,<\/span> thus<\/span> provoking people to fight back against perceived attacks on our community. There are violent murders on the news every single day. In their study on violence and the media, Brad Bushman and Craig Anderson come to the conclusion that \u201c[p]eople exposed to media violence become \u2018comfortably numb\u2019 to the pain and suffering of others\u201d (277). I believe that Kirkman and his writers are pointing at this violent phenomena through their social commentary on <\/span>The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i>. Monsters such as The Governor are being used to show that even \u201ctypical\u201d human beings have the capability to turn into blood hungry monsters when exposed to constant killing and death. Our societal dynamic, as a whole, is changing, along with the members of our society. We need to address this rise in violence in our society, criticized by <\/span>The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i>, in order to make a positive and lasting change to the long, bloodthirsty road we are heading down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/b><\/p>\n

Anderson, Craig A. and Brad J. Bushman. \u201cComfortably Numb: Desensitizing Effects of Violent Media on Helping Others.\u201d <\/span>Psychological Science<\/span><\/i>, vol. 20, no. 3, 2009, pp. 277-277.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeware the Living.\u201d <\/span>TvTropes<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>http:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/Main\/BewareTheLiving<\/span><\/a> Accessed on 10 October 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kirkman, Robert and Tony Moore. Introduction. <\/span>The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone By <\/span><\/i>by Kirkman, Image Comics, Inc., 2008. pp. 4-7.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cU.S. Homicide Rates Rise Early in 2016\u201d. <\/span>The New York Times<\/span><\/i>, 13 May 2016, <\/span>http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2016\/05\/13\/us\/document-violent-crime-data.html?_r=0<\/span><\/a>, Accessed on 8 Nov. 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to the Tombs.\u201d <\/span>The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i>, season 3, episode 16, AMC, 31 Mar. 2010. <\/span>Netflix<\/span><\/i>, goo.gl\/gt6iJXcontent_copy. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Shannon Walter \u201cGood zombie movies show us how messed up we are, they make us question our station in society and our society\u2019s station in the world. They show us gore and violence and all of that cool stuff too but there\u2019s always an undercurrent of social commentary and thoughtfulness.\u201d \u2013 Robert Kirkman When […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[340],"tags":[344,233,345,346],"class_list":["post-920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monsters","tag-commentary","tag-digital-literature-review","tag-social","tag-the-walking-dead"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Walking Dead: A Commentary on our Monstrous Society - The Digital Literature Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2016\/12\/05\/the-walking-dead-a-commentary-on-our-monstrous-society\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Walking Dead: A Commentary on our Monstrous Society - The Digital Literature Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Shannon Walter \u201cGood zombie movies show us how messed up we are, they make us question our station in society and our society\u2019s station in the world. 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