A television show series that has
for a while been of my interest is “The Walking Dead.” Based off of the 2003
black and white comic book series “The
Walking Dead” by the author Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, this tv series has
gained excellent ratings since its first premiered on on October 31, 2010 cable AMC channel. This
television series revolves around the plot of events occurring after a zombie
apocalypse has occurred. The interesting thing that sets apart this tv series from any ordinary zombie apocalypse
movie or other show is because instead of focusing only on the main idea of
survival against the large hoards of zombies, “The Walking Dead” TV series
focuses on the elements of emotions and relations.
Originally
rated for the viewers to be “TV-14,” the demographics for the audience is “18-49”
year olds. The targeted audience of “The
Walking Dead” series can be basically anyone who enjoys zombie flicks or, as a
matter of fact, it can be for anyone who enjoys gore.
Analyzing
particular episodes and analyzing characters within this series, you can get a
better idea of the values or beliefs that this series wants to present. In the
first season of the series you find a redneck character named Merle. Merle is
seen as a very tough character in this series. We see him being this figure who
“doesn’t beg” in front of anyone or in fact even God. In a particular episode,
when chained on top of the rooftop, Merle takes the situation into his own
hands and saws off his own hand in order to survive from the zombies that were
coming towards him. He has this hard shelled personality in him that seeks no
help from mankind or God. Further into the series, Merle had also become a
villain. Despite Merle being portrayed as someone who was a “bad guy” from the
start; by going on a suicide mission in order to kill the Governer, Merle
proved the thory that even a bad guy can become a good guy at the end. This
character appeals to the audiences who have also had a rough childhood and feel
helpless to their own situation. They can change for the better.
Another
concept that “The Walking Dead” series examines is the concept of racism. This
again is seen through the character of Merle. In the first season, we see
T-Dog, the sole African American character in the majority surviving group of
white people. Merle in particular
detests T-Dog because he is not white.
The concept of racism is seen when Merle constantly makes T-Dog feel
inferior by ordering him around and using the term “nigger.” Later , when T-Dog
and Merle got into an argument, you see Merle beat T-Dog and spit on his face. Rick
then takes control of the situation by cuffing Merle to the rooftop telling T-Dog
to watch over him. When the sudden outbreak of zombies is released and everyone
was trying to escape, despite Merle’s attitude towards T-Dog, T-Dog attempted
to save Merle. This shows the value that despite the racism that Merle showed
towards T-Dog, there was still humanity in him to attempt to save Merle.
The
values in the Walking Dead surface when you start to looks into the
relationships of the survivors during the crisis of the zombie apocalypse. A
particular relation that spawned from the series was of Carol’s. She represents
the figure of a perfect wife. Her husband Ed, is a individual who likes to have
authority. Carol’s marriage with Ed gives him the authority he wants by him
constantly pushing around Carol. For instance, there was this one episode,
where Carol was washing the laundry with other two female characters of the
series and when she began to open up and joke around with the other two
females. This catches Ed’s attention and he tells the ladies to stop conversing
and wash the laundry properly. This upsets one of the females who reacts by
talking back to Ed. This angers Ed and he tells Carol to come with him. When
Carol refuses to do so, this in effect leads to Ed slapping Carol on the face.
The by standing character Shayne in response, starts to beat up Ed for his
behavior. At the end, Carol still tends to her beaten husband. Throughout the
series, you notice that the relation between Ed and Carol is abusive. Regardless
the abuse, she still cares for him. In the series, we see Carol cowering in
front of Ed but once Ed had died she became more of a braver woman who could
stand her ground. The relation with Ed was limiting her and she became a victim
of battered wife syndrome. She was so dependent on her husband, that she became
entirely submissive. This uncovers the
belief that woman have when they stay in an abusive relation. They think that
the abusive husband will change when in fact the woman has changed herself.
