Zombie Cliche Lookout: It’s Not Your Fault
I’m going to talk a lot today about a non-zombie movie; I hope that’s okay with everyone. The film I’m referencing is Good Will Hunting, and bonus points to all of you who figured that out from the comic itself. I like the film well enough; there’s a lot of great stuff in it, but there’s always one scene that just completely takes me out of the movie. Unfortunately, it’s also supposed to be one of the most powerful scenes in the movie; the emotional core, if you will. The scene? That’s the one where Robin Williams manages to finally break down Matt Damon’s defenses using the ludicrous tactic of simply repeating “It’s not your fault” over and over until Matt Damon can’t take it anymore and has a psychological breakthrough.
God I hate that scene.
At any rate, I bring this up because telling someone that a horrible situation isn’t their fault is lazy and ineffectual in the real world, although in fiction it’s often depicted as this incredibly powerful technique for getting through to people. Is Stewart going to be okay now that he’s gotten a bit of off-hand platitudes? Not bloody likely.
About this Episode:
Thanks a ton, everyone, I’m feeling a lot better about Stewart after so many of you pointed out how much he reminded you of a teenager, and often a very specific teenager you knew.
Discussion Question: Zombies and Conspiracies
The thing about a zombie outbreak is that the pathogen has to come from somewhere. Personally, I kind of like it when that source is never made explicitly clear, but it seems like most zombie fiction likes to spell things out for us. Those sources can vary tremendously, but lets focus on a particular subset here: zombies that come from some sort of government program, whether they’re released intentionally or otherwise. Invariably, these sort of zombies bring with them some sort of conspiracy, which is ultimately what I want to talk about: do you guys think that conspiracy stories are a good addition to zombie fiction, or that they tend to pull you out of the horror a bit?
Typo alerts:
1. Zombie Cliche Lookout, first paragraph, third sentence: “The I’m referencing” – Insert either “movie” or “one” here, before the bolded word. 😀
2. Same paragraph, fourth sentence: “I like the film okay” Either Dave is missing a word before the bolded word, or it needs to be removed. 😉
3. Same section, same paragraph, last sentence: “psychological breakthrough.” I think Dave meant to write “breakdown” here! 😀
4. Same section, third paragraph, first sentence: “telling something that” something–>someone 😉
5. Same section, same paragraph, second sentence: “okay not that” not–>now 😀
6. Typo alert, About this Episode: teenage–>teenager 😉
7. Discussion Question, third sentence: “focus one a particular” one–>on 😀
8. Same section, fourth sentence: “sort of zombie bring” zombie–>zombies 😉
9. Same section, same sentence: “do you guys thing that” thing–>think 😀
Nine typos today! I think Dave should be glad I’m not his English teacher or I’d be wondering how far below ‘F’ I’m allowed to mark his submission today! 😀 Jokes aside, though, I think Dave was putting* bogeys all over the place! 😉
*putting, as in golf, not as in putting something somewhere. 🙂
Good lord; that’s a lot of typos.
I fixed all of them, with the exception of “breakthrough”, as that was what I intended there.
…and something could be implicitly clear, but one would “make” something explicitly clear. (I hope I did the html right, I’ve never tried to put it into a comment before)
boo-yah
Oh, right you are. Fixing that now.
Actually, I spotted that one but let it go, because I looked at it from a contextual point of view, and it fit rather well the way Dave wrote it. The good thing about Dave’s typos is that if something seems to make sense, you can still tell! 😉
By the way, Dave, if someone is told a situation isn’t their fault, it’s most likely because it was due to circumstances beyond their control, not because the person telling them is being ‘lazy and ineffectual’. That, as i understand things, seems to be how the ‘real world’ works! 😀
The problem is that it’s pretty much lip service. The person knows intellectually that it’s not their fault; hearing someone else say it really doesn’t add much to the equation.
I think it’s more of an emotional thing, rather than anything to do at all with laziness or lip service. It’s called sympathy, or empathy, and is an integral part of human nature when dealing with certain kinds of catastrophic events. People react to really big disasters with supportive words, and that’s just the way we are! 😀
I disagree. Sometimes, it’s exactly what they need to hear. They know it on some level, but to have someone else give it a voice and confirmation. That’s validating.
It tends to be ineffectual to just say it because the other person has all these reasons they believe it *is* their fault. That can be overcome in two ways. Either the person who is suffering for it consistently keeps insisting that it isn’t the other person’s fault (showing they sincerely believe it and are not just saying it), or they explain the reasons why so the other person can be talked out of their own reasons for blaming themselves.
Neither one is effective 100% of the time, and the latter stands a greater likelihood of working than the former.
Well said. Just saying it means nothing; backing it up is a lot bigger deal.
Have you seen the TV show “Helix” (it’s on Netflix). It is not a zombie serie per se but it has an interesting take on the concept of a virus developed for one purpose having disastrous consequences downstream. (I have not yet finished the 1st season so please no spoilers!)
I haven’t heard of it. The wife and I actually need a new show to watch; perhaps we’ll check this out this weekend. Thanks Greg!
It’s a cool story (pun intended, it takes place in an Arctic base, haha). The acting is sometimes a bit weak but the setup is interesting and the effects are good.
Ooh, that reminds me of the Thing!
I just noticed, is the forum gone?
Yes sir. It wasn’t getting used much, so I retired it.