The Walking Dead

I'm almost afraid to ask, but are there any Walking Dead viewers in the forum?

For those unfamiliar with the show, it's a terribly written show (in my opinion) currently in its 4th season on AMC the features a group of people enduring the "zombie apocalypse." Yes, I still watch it even though its terribly written only because I'm fascinated by apocalyptic genre.

The reason I ask is because the characters in the show continue to make stupid and morally/ethically questionable decisions. The disturbing part is that viewer polling (unscientific, I know) shows a high percentage of people (Americans, presumably) actually agreeing with the actions of these characters whose moral compass requires serious adjustment.

Obviously the world is fallen, but it just highlights the depth of the lack of moral fiber among the people we live among. I was just wondering if anyone else had an opinion?
 
Oh man, I used to read the Walking Dead comic books back in the day. I like the post-apocalyptic/dystopic genre as well; it's like a giant microscope you can use to magnify any element of our society to its extreme, and talk about human nature and the motivations for the choices we make. What are your favorite post-apocalyptic works? During my most formative years, books in this genre were what first got me thinking about the world we live in: 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World -- you know, the classics! Back then, I also read a lot of other Ray Bradbury books, Margaret Atwood and pretty much anything by William Gibson and Kurt Vonnegut. I don't think there's ever been a decent film/tv adaptation of anything from post-apocalyptic writing.

There's a Walking Dead Video game as well, which is an interactive story where the user makes crucial decisions. The game's producer, Telltale Games, keeps statistics about users' choices, and they claim that the majority (actually, the vast majority) of users actually try to do the right thing (google: the walking dead video game choices statistics).

Maybe gamers just have more "moral fibre" than TV watchers do? ;)
 
Oh man, I used to read the Walking Dead comic books back in the day. I like the post-apocalyptic/dystopic genre as well; it's like a giant microscope you can use to magnify any element of our society to its extreme, and talk about human nature and the motivations for the choices we make. What are your favorite post-apocalyptic works? During my most formative years, books in this genre were what first got me thinking about the world we live in: 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World -- you know, the classics! Back then, I also read a lot of other Ray Bradbury books, Margaret Atwood and pretty much anything by William Gibson and Kurt Vonnegut. I don't think there's ever been a decent film/tv adaptation of anything from post-apocalyptic writing.

I'm afraid I'm not as well-read as you are. I've read 1984, but none of the other works you mentioned, but perhaps I should! I haven't read The Walking Dead comics, although I'm told that many of the plot lines and characters are pulled from the comic books, or "graphic novels" as the purists insist.

My interest in apocalyptic genre stems mostly from my eschatological upbringing. Growing up, I had a lot of influences telling me "how it was going to be" during the last days. So I'm often interested in watching programs and movies that address various themes surrouding the breakdown of civilization, etc. Recently on NatGeo there was a show called "American Blackout" (you can find it on youtube) that "documented" the lives of citizens from the perspective of of their cellphone cameras following an unspecified cyber attack that caused the power grid to completely fail across the nation. The outage lasts for about 10 days, but it offers various scenarios of how fast civilization begins to breakdown when people have no food, water, heat, etc. I found the show to be quite plausible and it literally scared the daylights (pun intended) out of my wife.

There's a Walking Dead Video game as well, which is an interactive story where the user makes crucial decisions. The game's producer, Telltale Games, keeps statistics about users' choices, and they claim that the majority (actually, the vast majority) of users actually try to do the right thing (google: the walking dead video game choices statistics).

Maybe gamers just have more "moral fibre" than TV watchers do? ;)
That's interesting! Maybe there's some hope in my fellow man after all! I noticed, however, that you italicized "right" - I get your point.
 
I watch the Walking Dead.

Not sure what you noticed about the show's immorality. Granted, I wouldn't say it's at the top of the morality totem-pole, but I don't think it's the worst of them.

Perhaps Mad Men, another show I really enjoy, probably has much more immorality. Between the infidelities, lying, and selfishness of most of the characters, it's the sort of show you enjoy, but you'd prefer not to identify with the characters.

But regarding AMC shows and the subject of morality, Breaking Bad might be one of the most fascinating in that you're seeing one character (Walter White/Heisenberg) who started out as someone who seemed to have a better sense of morality slip more and more...then you're seeing another character (Jesse) begin with it seems a very small sense of morality but then builds a stronger sense of it. Don't tell me anything about season 6 yet, though. I'm only caught up to season 5 :p
 
Lysander,
On morality, I'm not talking so much about the level of moral behavior on the show, i.e. amount of violence, language, sexual content, that sort of thing. I'm tracking much of what we see on TV is garbage for the most part and definitely doesn't fit into the "uplifting" category. The litmus test I use for a lot of things in my life is "does this enhance my life?" and in most cases it does not.

The specific scenario that frustrated me to the point of posting a message was an instance on The Walking Dead: the group is living in a prison during the zombie apocalypse. Inside the prison they are relatively safe from the zombie threat. However, a flu breaks out inside, and with the lack of medical supplies and poor hygienic conditions, many people in the group begin to die, at which point they turn into zombies and begin attacking and killing other members of the group. After getting the situation back under control, one of the group (Carol) unilaterally decides to kill the two remaining sick members of the group in order to prevent them from dying from the sickness and eventually turning into zombies. Another member of the group (Rick) discovers she has done this and banishes her from the group. In a poll taken during the after show program called "The Talking Dead," something like 80% of the poll respondents indicated that Carol "did the right thing" by "protecting the group" by killing the sick people. My concern is that there are a lot of people out there who believe that under certain conditions, it's justified to murder people. This is an indicator of the lack of recognition of objective moral values, i.e. values that do not change with conditions; things that are inherently right or wrong regardless whether people believe it or not.
 
I think many people will look for the rationale to do the more convenient thing, even if it is obviously the wrong thing. Just look at the reasoning people have toward abortion; they're willing to dismiss all arguments that it is murdering the youngest of the human family and exchange it for something else.
 
Yes, I watch it. Though I don't think it's poorly written.
The writers take into account the moral cowardice and selfishness which drives the vast majority of mankind.
We have it good here in the US (for the time being). But note the riots that occurred when the food stamp system was down for a few hours.

"80% of the poll respondents indicated that Carol "did the right thing" by "protecting the group" by killing the sick people"

And yes, most folks would be more than happy to kill anyone they percieved as a future threat. Bad times tends to bring out the worst in people.
 
I'm almost afraid to ask, but are there any Walking Dead viewers in the forum?

For those unfamiliar with the show, it's a terribly written show (in my opinion) currently in its 4th season on AMC the features a group of people enduring the "zombie apocalypse." Yes, I still watch it even though its terribly written only because I'm fascinated by apocalyptic genre.

The reason I ask is because the characters in the show continue to make stupid and morally/ethically questionable decisions. The disturbing part is that viewer polling (unscientific, I know) shows a high percentage of people (Americans, presumably) actually agreeing with the actions of these characters whose moral compass requires serious adjustment.

Obviously the world is fallen, but it just highlights the depth of the lack of moral fiber among the people we live among. I was just wondering if anyone else had an opinion?

You know I have never heard of this movie before, I've heard about Pokemon and Yugioh because those became fads and widly popular -- they spread like fire, and I've heard about Justin Bieber because he became wildly popular too. And I have heard of some guy called Clay Aiken, I can at least name him off the top of my head. Maybe Walking Dead is not as popular as those other three television shows because I've never heard of it before...

If you have never heard of Justin then you are living under a rock.


I can't really think of any movies or shows that have recently became fads or the next big thing...
 
Last edited:
Back
Top