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It seems Hollywood is always trying to get viewers to buy into the idea that when &*#! hits the fan in an apocalyptic sense, human beings always turn on each other and try to annihilate each other. I think the average human understands that you need more and more people if you are going to survive. You need more hands to build things, keep things in order, fend off enemies, hunt, etc.
I can believe that some people do snap, and some are inherently sociopathic, but not everyone is.
Torturing people, just 'cause? Going from a completely civilized person to a cannibal and capturing/eating random people when you can hunt and plant crops? A little sensationalist, I think. Or maybe I'm just naive.
That's why it's called a "post apocalyptic" setting, and not a Utopian setting. Post apocalypse, in part, means that the normal rules governing society have collapsed - no local, state or national governments, no organized law enforcement or military, no "rule of law" or anything like that - due to some catastrophic event - zombie virus, plagues (Hunger Games), gigantic solar flares (Maze Runner), genetic wars (Divergent), nuclear war (The Road, and tons of others), alien invasion (Falling Skies and many others), etc.
Oh, I get it and believe me, I am a still a die-hard fan. I've just seen this theme in so many shows and movies. It really makes me wonder. But yea, I don't expect any complete realisticness on Walking Dead
ETA: Why is my "quote this message" not working? The above is in response to thefragile.
But, presumably, those people already died and the survivors just did what they had to. Terminus, they lured people in under false pretenses into a carefully constructed trap to corral them and eventually kill them.
Not to mention that they line them up at a trough, blast them in the back of the head with bats and then slice their throats so they can bleed out.......
It seems Hollywood is always trying to get viewers to buy into the idea that when &*#! hits the fan in an apocalyptic sense, human beings always turn on each other and try to annihilate each other. I think the average human understands that you need more and more people if you are going to survive. You need more hands to build things, keep things in order, fend off enemies, hunt, etc.
I can believe that some people do snap, and some are inherently sociopathic, but not everyone is.
Torturing people, just 'cause? Going from a completely civilized person to a cannibal and capturing/eating random people when you can hunt and plant crops? A little sensationalist, I think. Or maybe I'm just naive.
Well, I mean, there is historical precedent. We've seen relatively stable societies descend into chaos and anarchy.
In the U.S., it's hard to imagine a world like that. In some parts of the world, pure brutality is not such an alien thing at all.
The Governor's story arc was, imo, very believable. I could see how a middle-aged guy who's never been able to call the shots reveling in newly-acquired power. That's what people do when they get power: it's called a power trip. Now combine severe megolamania with the complete collapse of human civilization and it's not so hard to imagine a Woodbury/Terminus.
I hope they show more backstory of how Gareth and his family and crew took back Terminus. We will get to see how once good people turned into cannibals.
Id also hope they would explain why the first guy Glenn rescued from the container, the raider with the unexplained tattoo wasn't the first guy they ate. Or was it just important to keep him imprisoned so we the viewers would get the "a ha" moment when we saw him later in a flashback.
That's why it's called a "post apocalyptic" setting, and not a Utopian setting. Post apocalypse, in part, means that the normal rules governing society have collapsed - no local, state or national governments, no organized law enforcement or military, no "rule of law" or anything like that - due to some catastrophic event - zombie virus, plagues (Hunger Games), gigantic solar flares (Maze Runner), genetic wars (Divergent), nuclear war (The Road, and tons of others), alien invasion (Falling Skies and many others), etc.
I am a word nerd, so please allow me to nitpick.
First of all, everyone is misusing the term "apocalypse." Badly. It does NOT mean the end of the world or collapse of society. It's comes from the Greek word for "unveiling" or "revelation." People seem to think it means the End of the World because of modern-day misinterpretations of the Revelation of St. John in the Bible, which does have a bit to say about the end of the world, but that is certainly NOT its primary message or focus.
So every time I hear people talk about the "zombie apocalypse," I picture a bunch of zombie prophets, because that is essentially what you're saying.
If you want to use a Biblical term for this, I think the word you're looking for is Armageddon, which has come to mean the Final Battle.
As for what happens when society collapses, just look at history. When the established order collapses (as it did in every major Empire of history) people do tend to get very brutal and desperate. They also begin to "tribalize," and the tribes fight for dominance. It's Us vs. Them. The dominant tribes re-establish order and the whole thing starts all over again.
So I don't find the premise of The Walking Dead all that unbelievable (other than the cannibalistic undead of course). Keep in mind that we're only in the first year or so of the poo-doo hitting the fan. The survivors are tribalizing, but they haven't yet found a place to settle down and re-establish an ordered society.
First of all, everyone is misusing the term "apocalypse." Badly. It does NOT mean the end of the world or collapse of society. It's comes from the Greek word for "unveiling" or "revelation." People seem to think it means the End of the World because of modern-day misinterpretations of the Revelation of St. John in the Bible, which does have a bit to say about the end of the world, but that is certainly NOT its primary message or focus.
So every time I hear people talk about the "zombie apocalypse," I picture a bunch of zombie prophets, because that is essentially what you're saying.
If you want to use a Biblical term for this, I think the word you're looking for is Armageddon, which has come to mean the Final Battle.
As for what happens when society collapses, just look at history. When the established order collapses (as it did in every major Empire of history) people do tend to get very brutal and desperate. They also begin to "tribalize," and the tribes fight for dominance. It's Us vs. Them. The dominant tribes re-establish order and the whole thing starts all over again.
So I don't find the premise of The Walking Dead all that unbelievable (other than the cannibalistic undead of course). Keep in mind that we're only in the first year or so of the poo-doo hitting the fan. The survivors are tribalizing, but they haven't yet found a place to settle down and re-establish an ordered society.
To use the term "apocalypse" to describe the world in The Walking Dead is not incorrect because it can mean worldwide destruction. Although you're right in the sense that revelation of the ultimate divine purpose is the more proper meaning of the word, one can still properly use it to describe a worldwide disaster.
To me, the realization that's hitting me the most is:
If the poop hits the fan, and life as we know it breaks down (any kind of so-called "apocalypse"), the most dangerous thing it not the cause of the world-wide cataclysm (the zombies, a plague, radiation, etc) but the other people.
In the Walking Dead world, the walkers aren't even the biggest concern or threat anymore; it's other people. That speaks volumes. So even if we get hit by a world-wide plague, a nuclear war, or even giant spiders from space, after the initial attack, the biggest threat will be other people, not germs, radiation from fallout, or giant spiders from space. Like zombies, those things are not "evil" but just life forms trying to survive (except for radiation, but that's just a natural physical process). But what other thinking people choose to do to others---THAT'S what is evil.
To me, the realization that's hitting me the most is:
If the poop hits the fan, and life as we know it breaks down (any kind of so-called "apocalypse"), the most dangerous thing it not the cause of the world-wide cataclysm (the zombies, a plague, radiation, etc) but the other people.
That's been a running theme throughout the series.....
The humans scare me more.
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Good fighter, not a great thinker.
