I decided to do my blog on zombies and “The Walking Dead” since I am a big admirer of that show. This wasn't always like that. Usually I hate zombie movies and I found The Walking Dead especially violent at first. It was not even funny like for example the movie Zombieland and after the first really violent and gross scenes I was wondering “What is the point of this?”. I discovered this when watching further, that there was actually a really deep message behind all this. Unlike other zombie movies, you find out soon that there is not going to be any hope for the zombies. Once they get infected and turn into a zombie their humanity is lost and there is no way to bring the person back, despite the hopes of the people who love them.

The major message in The Walking Dead is: how do those people who survive maintain their humanity in the face of the near destruction of the human species. Because there is no system anymore, no rules, no civilization. Everybody is basically on their own, but to survive they have to form groups. The logical consequence is, that some people will try to claim leaderships over the others, which will eventually result in conflicts. So the big question is: Are humans overall capable of behaving civilized and living peacefully with each other in a situation like that ? The answer to that is a NO.

Even the protagonist Rick struggles at some times and lives through a phase were he is killing innocent people to protect his loved ones. There are definitely exceptions from this but the show has a habit of killing those rather naïve people off.

So how do you maintain your humanity ? Of course, killing zombies is not considered inhumane since they are no human beings, but it's rather how you meet other survivors. The show presents us with different situations where the characters are faced with difficult decisions that challenge their principles. Situation in which they have to decide what is right and what is wrong. Even the best characters in the show struggle with that.

  

(Rick about to kill his former best friend because he became ruthless and is endangering the group)

So I think what the show actually wants to tell us is, that it's impossible to remain entirely “pure” if you want to survive, just because of the other survivors that want to do you harm. But it is essential how you decide in those situations that matter, that you chose the right, the moral thing over the thing that might be best for you and your loved ones.

And I think that's what explains the popularity of this show, because such a scenario might not only happen with zombies. There are many scenarios how the world could come to an end, that would leave the survivors in a similar situation.