Yes I know The Walking Dead is just a show and no I am not one of those people who actually thinks the world will succumb to a virus turning 75% of the population into manning eating corpses and I am not a doomsday person thinking the world is going to end and we must prepare. From a historical stand point big events that have threatened human life and wiped out masses of population are not avoidable and part of nature. I do now believe in preparing for it or being scared and stocking up on water to ‘get ready’.
What I do believe is whether it is mother nature, natural science, God or whatever people believe runs its own course along with human history. The difference in our time now is we have advanced to the point where we believe we can stop devestaing events that effect society and the human population and in some cases we probably can. But the inevitable truth is that there are events we will never be able to prepare for and as humans being so comfortable with modern society the idea of a catastrophic event will most likely be more damaging then it has in the past.
The Walking Dead is a fantastic portayal of what could happen if an event wiped out modern society because it brings humanity back to the core of our existance which is survival. We are the only species that believes we have a right to be here and that we have a larger point then to just exist and survive (now I am not saying there isnt a larger point that there isnt a God but from a ecological stand point that theory makes less sense). This belief we have is arragont probably our biggest weakness as a species. It has derailed us from basic survival instincts and enforced in us a morality that would crumble in the event of lets say deadly virus wiping out not only large populations but also wiping out government and modern technology which signifigntly impacts our senses of ownship, right and wrong, and the idea that we are entitled to a chance at life.
In the show I was captivated by the fact that the show doesnt just show an extingish level event but the long period after it. It shows humanity eventually do what it takes for personal survival vs social survival. And this is where we see the kind of people who become the leaders of groups and it shows the almost chilling idea that ‘good people die first’. There is a underline sense of hope (especailly in the first 4 seasons) that what has happened to the world is temporary and that society at a whole will rebound and return or as they say ‘One day this will all be over and things will be like they used to be’. But as each season continues that hope dissolves bit by bit and the reality that normal human life will return or even normal human morality will return becomes a distant idea.
The reality that they face is that survival alone is impossible but at the same time the groups that are built eventually must weed out the weak because they are just as harmful as being alone. Ideas of right and wrong dont fade but shift. Life isnt black and white People make choices that have to enhance their survival not everyone gets a chance and kill or be killed is a implemented part of life.
We start to see groups of people form factions or their own societies but the rules change the strongest groups are the most brutal. They have overcome the ideas that this is mine and that is yours and they just take what they need to keep their people alive and alot of time it involves destroying other groups. New the ideals take a stronger hold such as protecting your group beyond else. No longer the idea that humane life is sacred instead human life is survival and earned. Rebelion of leaders is almost too much of a risk because the loss of people within groups destroys them and survival becomes too hard.
In the show we see people react to this new way of life in different ways understandabley. Most people are attached to a certain life style and havent experience drastic loss over and over. Not many people can harden themselves and be able to allow others close. The idea of judging someone once you get to know them is lost and replaced by judgement on the spot whether that judgement is correct or not. All human life is not regarded as the highest priority instead its replaced by specific human life. And seeing these characters who before the change of the world were generally good people in character adapt to a new way of thinking is a story line in itself. And being able to survive isnt just about physically pushing through but mentally being able to live with yourself in a world of kill or be killed.
We have adapted ourselves into a thought process that generally most people are good people and we have built society around that logic. The Walking Dead strips that all away and shows the viewers what is left. The big question now comes can society eventually come back around. Will the morality that we value now in our lives survive? Can it survive? And can humanity continue in a world where being happy and content in life is thrown out and replaced by surviving literally day by day and not striving for much else then that.
