The Walking Dead: It’s a show for the fans not awards!
By Susie Graham
AMC’s The Walking Dead has been overlooked by the Emmy awards despite its huge popularity with the viewing public. Rodney Ho of AJC.Com collected some opinions on the topic from some TV critics.
According to Rodney, Robert Bianco, a TV critic for USA Today, said there is a perception, fair or not, that fans watch the show for the zombies “I think in part because The Walking Dead has been so brave about killing off cast members and constantly replacing them, that this creates an impression human beings are less important than they really are.”
So, I think what he’s saying is that people who haven’t seen the show think it’s all about the zombies, blood and guts. They may automatically think– all horror, no plot.
Plus, if they hear that characters are killed off frequently, that deepens the impression that the show is about the zombies and not the people. Almost like it doesn’t matter what characters are on there, the people are just there to get killed, not to have any meaningful story or character development.
I see that theory from an outsider’s point of view, but as a fan of the show, I know that couldn’t be further from the truth. The bravery in killing of characters is more about realistic portrayal of the situation and less about following four people at the same coffee shop every week.
Alan Sepinwall, a TV critic for Hitfix said The Walking Dead is “capable of being great, but hamstrung by a lot of thinly-drawn characters,”
Well, I would say to that– Perhaps, by thinly-drawn, he means we don’t go deep into their backstories or delve deep into conversation to find out what makes them tick. There are characters we only meet for a few minutes and some that we don’t get to know very well.
But I would argue that The Walking Dead has a way with using very little to let us know a lot. Subtext is important. And the nature of the apocalypse leaves very little appropriate time or opportunity for long conversation. There would realistically be some strangers that enter and exit without much knowledge of them.
Verne Gay, TV critic at Newsday said The Walking Dead “is simply very difficult to watch – it’s that well done, and that well-directed, and that well-acted – and the horror is visceral and shocking and a punch in the face. And it doesn’t have some sort of compensatory moral. No, it’s pure undiluted nihilism. Again – a no no with the academy. The show is for fans, not for the TV academy, so that’s maybe the way it should be.”
I would agree with all of that except I do think that there is a moral in the show. It’s deep and it’s different from The Tortoise and the Hare, although that moral can apply to some situations in the apocalypse! There is beauty and morality in The Walking Dead. It’s just different. And academies seem to love gangsters and mob stories. Now, there’s some guts without glory.
I do love the idea that we’re our own cult and culture of the widest variety of people obsessed with a show we can’t explain why we love. So I’m glad they can’t explain why they snub us. Haters gonna hate! Hee hee!
We don’t need no stinking Emmy!
Adam wondered about one of these critic’s statements as well in his article: Does The Walking Dead devalue human lives?
Next: Season 5:All Named Character Deaths
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