The Walking Dead: It is so a zombie show

Walking dead. Season 6 walker. AMC. /

So many times people say that The Walking Dead is not a zombie show or it’s about more than the zombies. Usually it’s when they are trying to defend it or trying to talk someone into watching it. I’ve done it when my mom or my brothers tell me they can’t believe I love a show like that because I hate horror movies.

But now that I do love it, and to other fans and lovers of the show I would say, ‘it is so a zombie show’. It would not be the same show without the walkers. It’s a zombie show. And a damn good zombie show. The story around the zombies is way better than any other zombie story. But it’s still a zombie story.

We could make nice erudite symbolic examples of what the walkers represent if we try. Are humans zombie like walkers with insatiable appetites for life that never get satisfied?

Rotters in the Flesh screen shot. Special feature. Season 5 DVD. /

Maybe they represent things about death and how the person we are is gone and what we do for the dead person after death is about our comfort and grieving and not about the dead person. Does it really matter if we let them turn or burn or bury them? They don’t know. We do.

Maybe it’s about finding beauty in death? I know I find the gruesome walkers beautiful now. Maybe it’s about looking deeper into people. Beyond their exteriors. They didn’t choose to be ugly.

Yes, you could argue that the show is more about the survivors and how they deal with the breakdown of civilization.

But none of that really matters. You could do the same thing if the threat were a flu or vampires or robots. The fact is they are zombies. Beautiful, shuffling, leaning, reaching, groaning, zombies. And they are our zombies.

The Walking Dead is a zombie show and we need to stop being defensive and ashamed of that! It’s a zombie show, damn it! A zombie show. And it’s THE zombie show!

P.S. I don’t want to hear that they’re not zombies, they’re walkers. I’m hip!

Next: Keep the zombies in my zombie show!

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