The Walking Dead and Impact on Our Culture
The walking dead really has shifted the modern view of zombies to one of a mainstream culture. I love to contrast different zombie media including World War Z, The Zombie Survival Guide, Resident Evil, Night of the Living Dead, and more. I own The Walking Dead Video Games and love them. I love to talk about them with my friends and analyze each scene for fun. I love zombies so much that I even have eaten many times at Zombie Burger in Des Mines Iowa! It’s a completely zombie themed restaurant with Walking Dead themed murals, Zombie named burgers and food, and life size zombie figures.
The Walking Dead stars with Rick Grimes, (played by Andrew Lincoln) a Georgia Sheriff Waking up in a hospital after he is shot in a standoff on duty as a Sheriff. He returns home and finds out that his son and wife are missing. He son realizes that he is in an apocalyptic world where zombies or the walking dead are lurching around and feeding on human brains and flesh. He goes to Atlanta to search for them. He is almost killed by a hoard of Zombies and hides in an abandoned military tank. He is then rescued by Glenn, a survivor who takes Rick to a camp just on the outskirts of town. There he finds his wife and son, along with his best friend and partner Shane. This sets Ricks first meeting with the group that Rick will eventually lead through the graphic novel and show. He must fend off zombie hordes, deal with internal politics, human diseases, and also the politics from external bands of survivors including a group led by the governor, a place called exodus, and Alexandria, a place where everything seems so calm or is it?
Trivia/Fact
In an interview on National Public Radio, Steven Yeun (Glenn) said that his parents (who emigrated from Korea as adults) watch the show faithfully but don’t always understand the nuances of the English used in it, so they get a bootlegged version with Korean subtitles. Yuen also said that his father once asked him to thank Melissa McBride for saving his life. Even with Yeun remarking his father that it was all staged, he insisted his son to thank her, which he then did.
Show Silly Mistakes/Out takes:
The zombies’ organs still work, as shown when Rick and Daryl cut open the walker looking for Sophia. Blood would need to be pumping through the veins in order for this to happen. Blood pumping would not allow the zombies to decay
The Walking Dead has a complex array of characters. The show also differs from the graphic novel. This often a great topic of discussion amongst fans.
The character conflict with Rick and Shane is a huge theme as Rick deals with Shane who took care of his wife while Rick was lost. Shane questions Rick’s leadership and eventually draws on Rick who is forced to kill him. Darrell, plays the loyal bowman who is a natural survivalist who gets along with Carol who is also a realist who even trains the kids to use weapons. Hershel is a loving farm owner and Veterinarian who saves Rick’s sons life after a shooting accident. His daughter falls in love with Glenn who was rescued Rick early on in the show in Atlanta.
The characters struggle to survive and fend off zombie in a prison for many episodes in the show. The Governor attacks the prison and kills Hershel. He is eventually killed by the Rick’s group.
Early on Murle Darrell’s brother lost his hand on a roof top due to being cuffed there by Rick. Rick tried to go back and save him but he lost his hand due to a walking dead horde approaching. Murle is eventually killed after taking out a horde of zombies in a suicidal attempt.
The group heads onto Washington D.C after Eugene a non-violent nerd type promises of a cure for the walking dead outbreak. He leads the group towards D.C. Later on he admits that he doesn’t know the cure and is punched out by Abraham, a reddish haired fighter type who saved Eugene early on.
The group heads to a place called Exodus where they are captured and almost killed by cannibals. They manage to escape and later on revenge their captors.
In the AMC TV show, they next go to Alexandria where they get comfortable, almost too comfortable. There is a senator who promises of good times and makes Rick a Police Guard.
