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Posted on October 9, 2015

The Walking Dead and the Return to the Forest

Dawn Keetley

With the upcoming release, in early 2016, of Jason Zada’s The Forest, with its retelling of Japanese myths of people going to the Aokigahara Forest to die, I’ve been thinking about the return, as it were, of plants, trees, forests in recent horror film and TV. Not least in AMC’s The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead is, of course, shot (and mostly set) in the beautiful lush landscapes of Georgia—and I definitely felt the absence of the richly enveloping, even devouring, vegetation as I was watching Fear the Walking Dead’s LA landscapes.

The vegetation of The Walking Dead is much more than background, though. There is a resonant connection between the vegetation and the walkers. Not least walkers often lurk in and stagger through fields and forests, blending in more and more as they decay.

Posted on October 8, 2015

The Walking Dead and The Sympathetic Zombie

Elizabeth Erwin

As a pop culture juggernaut that shows no signs of slowing down, AMC’s The Walking Dead is the unusual zombie narrative that has managed to capture the attention of both horror and non-horror fans alike. With its sly humor, grotesque kills and nuanced characters, the show both reflects and reimagines the ways in which zombies can be used to create a distinct sense of dread. But unlike their living dead predecessors, the zombies of The Walking Dead are not mere monsters. Instead, the show offers a zombie construct that is both identifiable and malleable. While it would have been easy to cast the zombies as simple monsters, the show often challenges its audience to sympathize with the zombies. The end result is a much more complicated and socially aware narrative.

The notion of a sympathetic zombie seems at first contrary to the genre. After all, zombies are traditionally designed to be decaying shells whose threat revolves around their complete lack of intent. Steve Bruhm notes that zombies serve as a “barometer of the anxieties plaguing a certain culture at a particular moment in history.” Season one of The Walking Dead reflects this thinking in its utilization of zombies as the main source of the narrative’s horror. Where The Walking Dead succeeds in remaking the horror of the zombie is in its gradual personalization of it. The zombies occupy, intentionally, both an impersonal and a personal position within the narrative.

Posted on October 7, 2015

Point Counterpoint: Are Zombies Good Horror Monsters? (No)

Gwen

Note: You’ve read Elizabeth’s argument why zombies are excellent horror monsters, now read Gwen’s counter argument that zombies are horrible horror monsters.

In the spirit of true democracy, my cohorts have allowed me this space during our illustrious “Zombie Week” to explain my utter distaste for all that is “zombie.” I know I might lose a few of you here, but I hope we can all just agree to disagree. Without crushing the hearts of all those out there on the zombie apocalypse bandwagon, I finally can shout it from the mountain that I just don’t find zombies all that scary.

I feel like an addict stuck on step five, confessing my horror wrongdoings. Standing here before you, I confess that I don’t watch The Walking Dead, I avoid Halloween haunts that have zombie themes, and I never feel compelled to rent a zombie flick. (Yes this is sacrilege coming from the state that is home to most Romero films.) I hope you can indulge me by reading the reasons that I don’t like zombies. Selfishly, I hope that those of you who agree with me, might just share this article in solidarity and discuss it with your friends.

Posted on October 6, 2015

No, Conservatives Can’t Have The Walking Dead!

Dawn Keetley

In his recent article in The National Review, “In the Zombie World, Only the Conservatives Survive,” David French argues that zombie fiction (notably AMC’s The Walking Dead) “may be the most conservative fiction of all.”[i] I disagree.

French predicates his case on three claims: (1) in zombie fiction, the government is incompetent and almost immediately collapses; (2) you’ll only survive if you have a gun and know how to use it; and (3) people end up being the most dangerous animals of all in the post-apocalyptic world.

First of all, the points French makes certainly have some truth to them, but they offer only a partial view. First of all, conservatives can be as enamored of the government as any liberal—to the extent, of course, that government embodies conservative values. (Kim Davis, the Kentucky country clerk who’s refusing to sign marriage licenses for gays and lesbians comes to mind here.) Liberals and conservatives each love their own particular incarnations of the government. If anyone’s going to be dancing when the government inevitably collapses, it’ll be the libertarians.

Secondly, yes, you need a gun (or a katana or a cross-bow) in the zombie apocalypse. But, as the NRA loves to remind us, guns don’t kill people, people kill people—and having a gun, and surviving with it, always depends on who you are and who you’re with. As The Walking Dead and every single zombie fiction repeatedly shows us, there is strength in numbers: you survive only with a group. Yes, humans may be dangerous (French’s third point), but humans are also their own salvation, and the people you choose to ally yourself with are the single most important predictor of survival. More important than guns, in short, is community.

Posted on October 5, 2015

Point Counterpoint: Are Zombies Good Horror Monsters? (Yes)

Elizabeth Erwin

Note: For the counterpoint to the argument that zombies are good horror monsters, check out Gwen’s piece on Wednesday!

For the past decade, zombies have been experiencing a pop culture resurgence. Because they are instantly identifiable horror monsters, it isn’t at all uncommon to hear the gripe that zombies aren’t really all that scary. This, my friends, is utter nonsense. Zombies have style, substance and a penchant for ripping victims wide open. What more could a horror fan want?

Death by Zombie is Brutal

Scenes of carnage in most American zombie narratives make it clear that death by zombie is utterly brutal. In Shaun of the Dead (2004), David is ripped open in horrifically gory detail as he screams in terror. It is a scene that is as bloody and visceral as any you’re likely to find in slasher horror. City of the Living Dead (1980) ups the gross factor when Rose is killed as she is forced to vomit uncontrollably. As both of these cases demonstrate, the assumption that zombies pose no real threat is a misplaced one. Sure, they often (but not always) are slow moving but their tendency to move in groups increases their threat value. And when they catch you, it is guaranteed not to be pretty.