The Walking Dead is my favorite show, and the day after an episode shows, there are a million articles about what happened, analyzing it endlessly.
People are still talking about last season, calling out The Walking Dead for some unrealistic moments, and how they “cheat” sometimes, so that the audience “can’t trust them.” (Excuse me while we take a moment of silence for the “unrealistic moments” in a show about zombies).
But it’s not the real world, is it? I mean, I read stories for a break from the real world. In the case of TV shows, why would I necessarily want to see realism? It’s nice when my favorite characters get close to death but don’t get eaten. In the real world, bad things happen to good people. In the fantasy world, it doesn’t always play out that way. Last minute escapes happen.
In The Walking Dead, beloved characters do die; no one is safe. But sometimes they also make amazing, no way out escapes. And that’s why I keep watching. Despite everything bad that happens, it’s a hopeful show. Most of the characters survive, and the ones that do survive thrive.
I know a lot of people don’t see it as a hopeful show, because of all the killing and dying and apocalyptic stuff, but I see it as a show about how nothing can squash the human spirit. People keep doing what they do, falling in love, finding friends, balancing how to to live with what they need to do to survive.
That’s what keeps me watching week after week, and it’s what I love about the graphic novels as well. I don’t care how “realistic” the situations are, as long as the relationships feel real.
What do you think? Do you prefer realism in your TV/ books?
Doree Weller 