Zombies! I went to a gun show recently and I was shocked to see Zombie Ammo and Zombie shooting targets! I even saw a Zombie Obama shooting target. I have a friend whose greatest dream would be for there to actually be a Zombie Apocalypse, so he can put to use all the knowledge and survivor skills he has learned from video games and movies over the years. Why the Zombie obsession? What’s the big deal? Why are we attracted to Zombie culture right now?
I have watched all the first two seasons of the Walking Dead, and I personally love it. Someone asked me why do I watch it? I told them because it is more than just shooting walking brain-eating zombies. The Walking Dead presents many interesting questions to consider, such as:
1. What makes us human? What separates us from the animals, in this case, the zombies?
2. Are there any scenarios in life in which it is better to kill someone, even if the person is innocent, for the greater good of the larger community? This scenario arose in The Walking Dead, Season 2. If they let a person live, he’d likely return to his community that would then come to wreck deathly havoc and pillaging upon the community that the series follows. It’s not certain, but it’s most likely? The guy could be innocent and could be trusted, but he’s likely guilty and could endanger everyone. The show had a debate and vote to see if they should kill him for the greater good of their community. It was an interesting debate from both sides, and again it makes us question the value of human life, and when it should be protected, and if it can ever be justified to kill a person to protect others we care and love.
3. Zombie movies and shows, if they are created for more than just depicting blood and guts, also do a good job making us question what we value most in life. What are we living for now? If everything was turned upside down in the world, and all of our consumeristic lifestyle was destroyed, with the loss of electricity and clean running water, how would we survive; what would we value most? People under zombie attacks living in a Zombe-Apoocalypse world usually discover that what is most important in life, isn’t the type of car they drive, how big their home is, how cool their last vacation was, or how attractive they are, but the simple fact that they have relationships, community, and love. These movies and shows do a good job of making us realize that our first world problems are trivial and not focused on what’s important.
4. And in the case of The Walking Dead, there is a Christian father who keeps his faith throughout the show and members of the community do ask questions about God and from time to time they do pray. It can make us ask, would I keep my faith no matter what happens? And for those who don’t have faith in God, would it make them consider their own mortality and lead them to ask, is there a God and is knowable? What will happen after I die? And Christians can use such questions spawned from Zombie-Apocalypse fiction as a launching pad to share the Gospel.
Related articles
- The Zombie Apocalypse (christianitytoday.com)
- 11 Zombie Apocalypse Scenarios that Might Come Your Way in the Future
Andy Wrasman 