If you like blood, guts, and zombies AMC’s The walking dead is a must-watch. This show introduces how the main character Rick Grimes and other survivors try to find security and humanity in this apocalyptic world with the undead. There isn’t a society anymore everyone is dead. There is no government, no grocery stores or television. The walking dead is based on a comic book written by Robert Kirkman and the first issue came out in 2003 published by image comics. There are also 193 issues of this comic book I’ve heard that the television show is almost similar to the actual comic book. The television show continues to make more episodes spring of 2020.
The first episode starts off with Rick who is a police officer and his coworker and his best friend Shane and they are on a high-speed chase which ends up crashing into a field where the person begins to start shooting Rick and Shane. Rick gets shot and ends up in the hospital in a coma. Rick wakes up terrified and alone. He walks out of the hospital and it’s empty, with bodies on the floor. He then finds a bike and goes to his house to see if his wife and son are at the house to see if they are still alive. On his way, he sees a zombie or walker and he is terrified this was all new to him. When he got to his house there was no one there. At first, he believes that they turned into a zombie but he notices that the photographs are gone meaning they still might be out there trying to survive. While Rick is trying to find his son and wife there a scene where his wife Lori is being choked but it turns out that Shane was playing around with her and shows that they are now a couple. Which was a stab in the heart because she moved on so fast and started dating someone else but just not someone but Rick’s best friend. I felt like Lori betrayed Rick. Eventually, Rick finds Lori and his son Carl is with Shane and then it starts to get weird. Lori stops seeing Shane and pretends like nothing ever happens with her and Shane. But it’s too late for Shane because he fell in love with her and he doesn’t want her to leave him for Rick. Lori then sees Shane as a threat because he has been aggressive with her. She then told Rick that he’s dangerous and he needs to stop him. Lori asks one of the survivors named Glenn to grab a pregnancy test for her while he’s out searching for food. Glenn finds one and brings it back to Lori. She then took the test and finds out she pregnant. Rick eventually tells Shane that she is pregnant. Rick and Lori argue about bringing a child into this dangerous world. Lori decides she wants to keep it and then she tells Rick that the child might not be his. She comes clean and tells him that it could be Shane’s child because they were together after Rick was in a coma. This show has great characters. There were times when the show dragged a little but then something crazy will happens and you continue to watch it. I will give this show an 8.5 out of 10 each episode leaves me at the edge of my seat and I anticipate for another episode.
I still haven’t watched all the seasons of the walking dead but so far it’s great. For the seven theses, thesis two relates to this television show,” the monster always escapes”. No matter how many times you kill them they will always reappear. Thesis four “The monster dwells at the gates of difference” explains how the monster is different and its flesh that comes to dwell among us. Thesis five “the monster polices the borders of the possible”. People who want to go out and explore are in fear and at risk of becoming a monster.
Another movie is 28 days later another zombie film, which is horrifying and intense. Although it’s similar to the walking dead in some ways such as how they both wake up in a hospital by themselves. It’s a great horror movie, before the main character Jim woke up in the hospital it showed a scene of a group of people who break into a building, they were animal activist who was trying to let the chimps who were locked in cages. Before they opened the cage someone who works in there walks in and tries to call security for help but the group of activists stops him from calling. The doctor says to not open the cages because the chimps are infected with a virus. He warned them and they still opened the cage and then chimp ran out and bit one of the activists. The woman who got bit started to vomit blood immediately after she was bitten. And that’s when the infection started to spreads. I love that the zombies are fast and have red bloody eyes. I also like the cinematography of London and its empty streets. I also enjoyed the ending, where a plane flew by and it spotted them. Although it doesn’t show them being rescued I hope that it was a happen ending. Usually, zombie movies don’t have a happy ending.
The seven theses can apply to this movie such as thesis two “the monster always escapes”, the zombie has different interpretations of this monster such as the walking dead zombies are slow and 28 days later zombies are really fast. Also, this monster is always changing therefore it’s always escaping. Another theory is thesis one “the monster’s body is a cultural body” such as there are many different versions of zombies. Thesis five, “the monster dwells at the gates of difference”. It’s not your normal person but it can be anyone any race, economic, and sex. Thesis seven, “the monster stands at the threshold of becoming” represents our fears of zombies and the fear of becoming a zombie. Overall I give the walking dead an 8.5 out of 10 because I love the characters, the plot, and gore.
Works Cited
The walking dead. Directed by Greg Nicotero. AMC 2010
28 days later. Directed by Danny Boyle. DNA films 2002
Cohen, Jeffery Jerome.” Monster culture (seven theses)”. Monster theory: reading culture, University of Minnesota Press, 1997
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