The Walking Dead: Fans could tone down reaction to toning down violence
By Susie Graham
Fans have reacted strongly to the news that The Walking Dead producers toned down the violence after the reaction to the season 7 premiere.
I’ve seen extreme reactions all over Facebook ever since the article surfaced this morning about Gale Anne Hurd mentioning that producers took some of the feedback into consideration when they were filming the remaining episodes of the season.
Many people think that the show shouldn’t let the feedback influence the decision making. There are lots of comments about just not watching if you can’t take the violence; it’s a zombie show for goodness sake.
"“We were able to look at the feedback on the level of violence. We did tone it down for episodes we were still filming for later on in the season.” Via Variety"
I think people are overreacting. The Walking Dead has always done what they thought was appropriate for the show. Producers walk a fine line and can’t please everyone. How many times have we heard people say that shows need to listen to their fans. Now when they are trying to listen a little bit, people get upset.
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I always remember the rule of thirds when making decisions. One third of the people will feel strongly one way. One third of the people will feel strongly the other way. And one third of the people really won’t have a strong opinion either way. So you’re never going to make people happy and you have to to with what you think is right.
I am not a gore loving person, but I would never expect my violence tolerance to be the standard for The Walking Dead. For Glenn’s and Abraham’s deaths, I had to do some watching through fingers. I do think that violence is not all equal. Killing zombies is different from cutting into Lori’s stomach to deliver a baby. Being bitten by a zombie is different from being beaten by a baseball bat.
Gale Anne Hurd is a smart woman. Back before season 6, she talked to Blastr about knowing how to keep to the basics of what makes the show a success:
"I think the biggest challenge is tuning out some of the noise of what people may want, whether people think we move too slowly, too quickly, and basically make sure that we stick to the characters and their arcs dictating not only each episode and the many arcs of the season and the half season. That is absolutely key, and I think, knock on wood, that has contributed to the success of the show thus far and we’re not gonna change that."
Next: A quiz to see how well you paid attention to 7A
I sincerely don’t think that Gale Anne Hurd meant that the violence would be toned down to an extreme that the show would have a different feel or be noticeable. I think we’ll be just fine and we’ll have plenty of brutality in season 7B.
It is referred to as All Out War.
Rise up!