Fear the Walking Dead: Celia is not Hershel

There are obvious parallels between the cellar at Celia’s home on Fear the Walking Dead and the barn at Hershel’s farm, but they are very different.

“The word death is not pronounced in New York, in Paris, in London, because it burns the lips. The Mexican, in contrast, is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it, it is one of his favorite toys and his most steadfast love.”

~Octavio Paz

Both Celia and. Hershel kept walkers alive somewhere and fed them. On the surface it seems the same situation, but when you look closer, it’s very different. The reasons and the mindset of each of the characters separates the situations.

Hershel was naive in many ways. He thought the walkers were sick and not dead. He was still sad for them, but was holding out hope for a cure that would bring his loved ones back to him. He thought people were overreacting and killing the walkers prematurely before the situation could be addressed and that the world could come back.

Once Shane proved that the walkers were, in fact, dead, Hershel realized his denial and broke free of that thinking. He woke up and saw the danger they presented and faced the loss of his family. He stopped considering feeding “rotting corpses”.

Celia is not naive. She knows these infected are dead. She knows exactly what they are. She just doesn’t fear the dead. She thinks there’s a reason for the dead to be walking among them. She may not know what it is yet, but she wants to stop those who are killing the undead.

Jim Gaffigan teased on Talking Dead that he didn’t know much about Mexican culture, but that he had seen the animated movie Book of Life. I haven’t seen that yet, but El Día de Los Muertos, or The Day of the Dead is exactly what I thought of when they arrived in Mexico and when I saw the owls and met Celia.

More from Undead Walking

• Walking Dead alum Jayson Warner Smith promotes new film, Chipper, watch it now
• Walking Dead actor Chandler Riggs filming new movie in Tampa Bay
• Why is there no season 12 of The Walking Dead?
• Will Morgan Jones find Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live spinoff?
• Watch Tales of TWD actress Jillian Bell in Prime Video’s Candy Cane Lane

I have studied Mexican culture to some extent and it is fascinating. There is quite a bit of superstition alive and well for many Mexican people. The attitude toward death is very different, as referenced in the quote from influential 20th century Mexican poet Octavio Paz.

Celia is not crazy like Lizzie. She doesn’t think they are just different or that they want to be friends. She realizes the danger. But there is something going on in her mind that she thinks there is a reason that they are here. Perhaps she thinks this is some stage between here and heaven. Something is happening in her head.

I’m curious to know if they have culture consultants on the script. I wonder where they are going with the owl. There are some fabulous superstitions with owls, particularly white owls known as La Lechuza, which can be shape-shifting witches.  Owls are bad luck to Mexicans. Many of my students have told me how whenever they hear an owl they go out with a broom to shoo it away or it will bring bad luck or death.

Next: Zombies and Day of the Dead art

Knowing what we know about the zombie apocalypse,  it’s a good thing that Strand did what he did to help Thomas avoid the life in the cellar. Strand can know he buried him and know that Thomas died peacefully with the notion that he was doing what he wanted, but not have to suffer unnecessarily. That’s a topic for more in-depth treatment soon.