Many people who do not follow The Walking Dead believe that the show is mainly about zombies, repelling them from giving it a slight chance. But people who do not watch the show more than likely do not understand the true meaning of it.
Essentially, The Walking Dead is about the survivors not the zombies. In fact, the title of the show refers to the surviving people (see Episode 1.07). The show is more than just zombie kills and the horror that comes along with it. It is mostly about survival of the fittest.
What would you do if the world came to an end? Would the new world change you? Would you be able to survive in drastic conditions?
Characterization is the biggest and most important element of The Walking Dead. What the show does so wonderfully is attach its viewers to the characters, so when a character passes away, we all feel emotional. For example, the death of Hershel Greene had most people wiping tears from their cheeks.
What goes along with characterization so well is character change during the course of the show. Those who have viewed The Walking Dead from beginning to present time know exactly what we are talking about.
Take Daryl Dixon for instance. When he first showed up in Season 1, he was a hard ass redneck who didn’t care much for the people in his camp. He was tough to control and was always looking to pick fights with everyone.
However, as the show moved along, Daryl’s character changed for the better. He gradually turned into a loving, compassionate person who slowly earned the trust of everyone and became one of the groups’ best guardian angels. To this day, he is perhaps the most beloved character on the show and many would even riot if he was killed off.
As mentioned earlier, the theme of the show is survival. What would you do in order to live to see another day? Rick Grimes, the main character, is a superb example of a person changing to intermingle with the treacherous apocalyptic world.
Rick was a sheriff’s deputy in the pre-apocalyptic world, and when he was first introduced to the post-apocalyptic world, he was a gentle, harmless person who believed everyone deserved to live. But he adjusted to a world filled with zombies and developed into the ruthless, badass that we have grown to love.
Of course the leadership qualities he inherited as a sheriff’s deputy still exist within his charisma, but murdering people in the most devastating of ways has become natural to Rick.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
In episode 4.16, he chewed off a man’s jugular vein in order to keep his family safe. He was also the only one who wanted to go back and eliminate the remaining Terminus people in episode 5.01, “No Sanctuary,” and eventually slaughtered that group in the most vicious way imaginable in episode 5.03, “Four Walls and a Roof.”
Rick is still the good guy of the show, but his behavior has certainly transformed since the show first aired. But he is not to blame, because the world he lives in has become just as cruel as him.
The Governor was a perfect example of a character adjusting to his surroundings. The man was mentally deranged, a psycho, a maniac, who found joy in collecting human heads in an aquarium. However, he was nothing like that in the pre-apocalyptic world, as his trustee Milton Mamet reveals in episode 4.14. He was a family man, a very affectionate, dear person.
Nonetheless, it’s the small things that make The Walking Dead a delightful show to watch. The character buildup in each episode makes us cherish the survivors as if they are family members. They feel hurt, we do too. They die, we cry.
The show’s success comes from the characters, settings, and intense storylines. The popularity of the show has reached an all-time high, urging the producers to release a spinoff called Fear The Walking Dead that will debut this Sunday evening.
The Walking Dead is a show about people with zombies in it, not the other way around, and that’s exactly what the non-viewers and bandwagon fans need to understand.
Season 6 of The Walking Dead returns October 11 at 9/8c.
