Zombie Cliche Lookout: Let’s Split Up
If there’s one trope about horror movies that everyone – even people who don’t like horror movies – are aware of, it’s that when a group splits up in a horror story, people die. There is a lot of wisdom here. We all know the inherit truism in the oft repeated line “there’s strength in numbers”. It makes a lot of sense. The trouble is, sticking together just isn’t always practical. In an emergency situation, there’s a lot of things that need to be done, and they’re all urgent.
Having everyone mob up into a single group is a great way to keep everyone “safe” while getting almost nothing done. Yes, each individual in the group is significantly less likely to get picked off by a lone zombie, but in the end everyone is screwed because the important stuff just didn’t get done. It’s a trope that gets brought up a lot, but often forgets an important part of the equation: context. Yes, it’s inherently stupid to split up for no reason, but it is just as boneheaded to ignore important things because you’re afraid of taking risks.
About this Episode:
I got to use one of my favorite techniques in this episode: a character running toward the camera. I don’t know why, but I absolutely love this pose, and have probably overused it a bit.
Discussion Question: Kids in Zombie Stories
The Walking Dead, juggernaut of the zombie world that it is, has recently kicked off it’s fifth season, and the cast is ever smaller. Interestingly, two members of the tiny group are children, and one of them is an infant. And I don’t know what to think about this. On the one hand, it’s certainly realistic and has the potential to be done very well and open up some interesting story lines. On the other hand, kids are frequently used in zombie and horror stories as simply ways to raise the stakes. No one wants to see a baby eaten by zombies. Well, I’m sure a few people do, but let’s not think too much about that.
Am I being too cautious here? I mean, there are certainly examples out there of this being done well (once again, I look to The Last of Us), but that’s simply not the norm. What do you guys think?
I feel if you do it right, then kids are a good and new thing to do in zombie fiction.
Two examples come to mind when I think of this, one being Clementine from the walking dead game from Tall Tale. In the first season, Clementine becomes your sort of adopted daughter and really come to care for her by the end, you even have to make choices that affect her down the road of the game. It’s a vary sick world and it’s about trying to show a little girl the difference between the living, and the dead. The good and innocent, from the bad and depraved.
And the second, is the “Dawn of the Dead” remake.(WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD) I mean, it’s vary realistic that there WOULD be woman who are pregnant at the time of the outbreak and if they got infected, then their baby would be too, and it’s sad and sickening to see a baby who has had no chance at life to be a goner from the start.(SPOILERS OVER)
I agree completely on Clementine. That’s a child character done right. She’s a fully realized person with her own motivations and fears. Hat’s off to TallTale for that.
I’m not so sold on the Dawn of the Dead remake. Yes, a pregnant woman getting infected would be a possibility, but the way it was done in the film seemed purely a shock value trick.
Oh shoot, the old “split-up” rule…why can’t the zombie survivors understand that they should stay together?!
Hah!
Typo alert, Zombie Cliche Lookout, second paragraph, second sentence: “picked off my a” my–>by 😀
Discussion Question, second sentence, after the second comma: “them in an infant” in–>is 😉
Two typos today! 😀
Got’em. Thanks!
Is it really a wise idea of them to get Brent inside, when he might turn into a zombie? I really hope Dave’s scriptwriter wasn’t on the same stuff his continuity checker was on, because this is just asking for a zombie outbreak! 😀 They should quarantine Brent somewhere or do the humane thing and take a preventative measure to stop him becoming a zombie threat to them. They also have to think this through quickly, one wrong decision and this entire group could end up being Dave’s next zombie scene! 😀
That is, indeed an excellent question. One that might even be addressed in the story.
Is the community vote for the Double Down challenge in?
Yes indeed, I announced it last week. The winner was The Boat Battle.
We got a ton of votes, almost 200.
Yeah it was for shock value, but if they had worked on it more, it could’ve truly been sad and horrific.
It certainly could have been.
I don’t care if you have to shove aside character development, addressing the issue at hand sooner rather than later would be imperative in a zombie apocalypse! 😀
Hah. Don’t worry, we’ll be getting there.