I think what makes The Walking Dead so endlessly fascinating and popular, is how despite the highly dramatic and fantastical situations it describes, it is deeply human. The description of the first volume in the series reads:
"How many hours are in a day when you don't spend half of them watching television?
When is the last time any of us REALLY worked to get something we wanted?
How long has it been since any of us really NEEDED something that we WANTED?
The world we knew is gone.
The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility."
The world we know is absolutely gone in this series. However, human tendencies remain strong and unbending. Yes, people find themselves capable of horrific acts of murder in the attempt to survive, but what I see in the series is too-human tendencies. These tendencies include finding a group and imposing some kind of communal structure on it, selecting a leader who is adequate and organized, overthrowing that leader when their interests no longer align, finding companions, creating families, etc. There is this constant attempt to impose stability on a world of chaos. Are we not also part of a world ruled by chaos? One could argue society, culture, all those things are constructs meant to distract us and give us some feeling of control. Walking Dead breaks that down in the most terrifying way.
Quote from C. M. Farrell on November 11, 2015, 08:49
In the zombie apocalypse, your daily decisions matter. You take ownership of your own life and make decisions that have tangible results. You are the master of your own destiny. Your life has meaning because of the action you undertake. Sound familiar?[/b]
I think The Walking Dead appeals to the age-old American notions of independence, adventure, the self-made man, unapologetic individuality, and bold action. These same ideas were articulated in one way or another by American luminaries such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau.
I think this is an incredibly fascinating point as well. The stakes have certainly changed, but you are still the master of your own fate. Your daily decisions, at this moment, in the real world are what truly matter. Having Emerson and Thoreau at your side may even prove helpful in a Walking Dead scenario. I was never taken by Zombie fiction or film, but The Walking Dead gave it such a human aspect I found myself drawn in. I still wonder sometimes how it gained this much popularity, but everyone's posts offer excellent understandings. It truly touches upon fundamental elements of society and culture that may seem wholly removed from us, who are obviously not living in the zombie apocalypse, but somehow can be proven applicable.
|