The Walking Dead: Season 6 zombies are as beautiful as Gloria in their own way
By Susie Graham
The Walking Dead will have more zombies than ever in season 6. And these zombies have been decaying for almost 2 years now. They are gorgeous.
We’ve just come from watching Fear the Walking Dead where the infected are so new like Amy was or Sophia. Gloria was still very pretty and human looking. Susan and Cal and Artie weren’t monster enough to frighten people away from approaching them and trying to help them.
Some of the walkers we are seeing in Season 6 are amazing creations by master Greg Nicotero that have a beauty all their own.
We saw some photos of season 6 walkers earlier this summer that were pretty spectacular. Some walkers that had me wondering how they were still walking. This new set of walker photos is just, as the hip expression goes, “I can’t even.”
Their beauty comes in almost a scientific way. We see bone structure and eye sockets and nose cavities. Tissue and viscera.
And their beauty comes from the old adage that beauty comes from within. The walkers were once people. We still know that.
We know they were once human, but now they are creatures. They didn’t choose to be these creatures, but creatures they are. They have no control over anything but their desire to eat.
Even many animals have primitive ways of bathing or keeping clean by shaking themselves off or rubbing themselves in the grass. They look for shelter from inclement weather. They fight to escape from things they are trapped in and use a little bit of brain and ingenuity. The walkers have none of these instincts.
So we see the results of dirt and tree branches and guts and meals. Injuries and scrapings and gouges and tears. Deterioration and decomposition. Death and decay. The results of what happens when there is no brain or instinct driving the machine.
But the machine still has human appearance. It’s still wearing clothes. It still has human eyes and features. It still has blood vessels. Yes, blood vessels are prominently featured in one beauty!
Just enough human to make you pause and remember that it was once a human body. With a beating heart and a feeling heart. It once loved and was loved. It once spoke and listened. It has just enough human to remember it is beautiful.