Morality & The Walking Dead -- Introduction

           The Walking Dead is not a television series about zombies; it is a television series about human morality. It is a cinematic rollercoaster audaciously and unrelentingly posing a question that many would rather not be confronted with – Is morality simply dictated by circumstance? By painting the circumstances of reality in such extreme hues, ridden with zombies and nearly bereft of hope, this AMC hit show has their viewers turning to each other at the end of each episode asking one another, “Well, what would you do?” 

While a philosophical essay by John Stuart Mill is a sufficient means of raising the question of whether one human life can have more value than another, it is not the most accessible. John is a nineteenth century British philosopher … and he writes like one. Most people won’t delve into philosophical literature because they know that their energy will be exhausted simply by attempting to make sense of the manner in which the author has constructed his paragraph-long sentence before they ever even get to philosophize.  (hah!) And this is where The Walking Dead barges in. The Walking Dead confronts its audiences with all the profoundly ambivalent conundrums that come attached with this strange human concept of morality without all the rubbish that typically stagnates the conversation.

By tackling this task through the medium of film, all the silly red-heron analogies that bog philosophy down fly out the window. There is no wriggle room for drawing extreme comparisons when the issue at hand is as extreme as it gets. The viewer’s pure mathematical logic is mucked up as they become emotionally invested in the hypothetical characters of the hypothetical situation. One does not simply watch The Walking Dead; they experience it.

Over the next few months, I am going to write a series of essays exposing and analyzing the moral controversies this show challenges its viewers to deliberate. They will all revolve around the question of whether or not morality is simply circumstantial. If you have not seen the show and are planning on watching it – don’t read this series. I am going to use specific incidents in the show to illustrate my points. If you have seen the show and are as engulfed in it as I am – hold onto your butts! We’re goin’ for a ride!

-        Josh. Out.