In most zombie films, there is a point when the humans fight back. They band together with an array of weapons and go killing. At this point, the festival of blood begins. The imagination of the creative team is on full display as audiences watch all the many ways a body can be attacked. Nothing is off limits–knives, guns, arrows, trucks, home appliances. You name it, and the film makers will find a way to use it to put down the undead. It’s a typical pattern, one relegated for the viewing of young audiences who can stomach the gore. After it’s over, there is nothing to do but go to a diner and talk about what killing scene was the most amazing over a plate of chili cheese fries.
One zombie movie briefly stepped away from this pattern. It was nearing the end. We were at the point of the film where the humans have taken back control of society. However, all the zombies have not been killed off. Instead, the living dead have been culled to a manageable number. Now, people kill zombies for entertainment.
The title of the film eludes me, but the last scene of the film stayed with me long after I turned off the DVR player. The scene has a group of men wrapping a noose around a female zombie’s neck. They hang her but she does not die, so the humans just keep on shooting at her neck until her body detaches. They howl with glee, as her head follows her body to the ground with a quick “thunk.†It seems the film makers were going for a horrific and comical ending.
Yet, they did something surprising. The camera lingered on the zombie’s head and it was still alive. She looked worn out from all the death. All I could ask was how much more can they “kill†her? The living horrified me in that scene. I am not sure if the filmmakers intended this reaction. Sometimes, art transcends the intentions of the artist (Yes, Zombie films are art).
At first, I questioned why I was upset. Was it because it was another display of the female form being degraded by Hollywood? Yes, partly.
Mostly, I was sickened and puzzled by the living. How could the characters forget that she was once alive? How could the writers forget? Yet, that’s the crux of most Zombie films. As soon as people change into zombies, they become fair game for the killing. The people they once were are gone. It’s an implicit understanding between writers and audiences. However, this movie briefly broke that rule.
When I think of what makes the Walking Dead work, I go back to that scene. The film was made many years before the Walking Dead. That scene was just a glimpse of what the writers of the Walking Dead dared to do: they reminded us that the dead were once one of us. That knowledge completely changed the tone of this genre. They risked losing the quick laughs and audiences for intelligent writing. This was apparent in the first episode of the Walking Dead.
It’s an unforgettable scene in which Rick has finally understood he was sharing his world with Walkers. He puts on his Sheriff’s badge and hat with a gun in hand. He searches out a female walker who was missing the lower half of her body. When he finds her, she crawls up to him, determined to attack, but she is no real threat. Rick sits by her and tells her he is sorry for what happened to her before he puts her down. It’s at that moment that this show declares it is more than just some gore fest. That scene and so many others like it keep audiences coming back.
Instead of laughing at death, they deal with it with maturity. They understand its tremendous impact on the choices people make. The zombies are the constant specter of death and the real test is not so much surviving them, but how to keep one’s humanity.
There one that clearly influenced the writers of this show. Its title I do remember: Night of the Living Dead by George A. Romero. That movie gave the world zombies. In it audiences watch a black man and white woman fighting to escape flesh-eating zombies. They are strangers who happened to find each other as the whole world is falling apart. They just keep on running and trying to escape from being consumed. The film was made at time when there was great social upheaval in America. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. There was tremendous racial tension. Romero uses the zombies to represent his impression of the world is like for two people from groups victimized by Society: A black man and a woman. Romero transcended the genre. His vision raised the film from something silly to something profound. This same vision is shared by the writers of the Walking dead, especially writer Scott Gimple.
In the latest season of the series, Gimple’s literary background comes through in every episode. He deals with religion, love, power, childhood and most of all what makes us human. These are themes that Hollywood does not deal with and when it does it is usually schmaltzy or heavy handed. It has very little faith in the intelligence of audiences. The writers of this show believe in their viewers ability to enjoy the gore and come back for the intelligent stories.
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