Zombie Cliche Lookout: You Owe Me
Getting people to do what you want can be difficult, I imagine it would become even more so after the zombie apocalypse starts. Of course, one tried and true method of manipulating people to your own ends is to put them in your debt somehow. Oddly enough, I think this could be easier to pull off in a zombie outbreak because of all the opportunities one might have to help someone else. After that help is rendered, the beneficiary would then find themselves indebted, and thus more able to be manipulated.
Naturally, “manipulate” is a pretty loaded word. It carries with it a lot of negative connotations, and for obvious reasons. Despite that, not everyone who manipulates others does so because they are evil. Often, manipulation is the only tool left to them, and it becomes an essential means to survival.
About this Episode:
I’m trying to make Tara stand out a bit from a lot of the other supporting characters in the comic by giving her an overwhelming motivation beyond simply surviving the zombies, although she is certainly also very invested in not getting eaten.
I also want to make her a bit more forceful when it comes to going after what she wants and/or needs.
Discussion Question: Wisdom in Going it Alone?
I’ve been talking at length a lot lately about how much people need each other for survival, and that’s something I really believe. People are, after all, social animals. That said, I think there are certainly situations where it would be beneficial to go against this prevailing wisdom. And that leads us to our question: under what circumstances do you think it would be a good idea to strike out on your own, away from the protection of the group? Are there any circumstances under which this would be permanent, or would it always be a temporary action?
I don’t really see any problem going solo away from a group just as long as you have enough supplies to stick it out by yourself for a very long time. It might be days even weeks before you even see another living human being. But then again for somebody who finds it hard to even think about being away from people that’s not a very good idea, being a loner can have a lasting mental effect on someone.
It can indeed, and I think a lot of us downplay that effect.
Haha, the cat is about to get out of the bag… What could she possibly need Sam for?
I’m guessing it is not because she needs a third player for a board game… knowing Dave, this is bound to be a morally challenging task.
If not morally challenging, then at least physically dangerous. We’ve got to keep things interesting, right?
Good side of being alone is that you don’t have to share anything… I can’t consider this clever on the long run, but I guess that people who are strong enough to face a Z apocalypse alone will feel frustrated, at some point, if they had to share what they fought for with other people of a group.
This is a really good point. I can see that simmering resentment from people being a wedge that helps erode the cohesion of the group.
She probably wants Sam to mind Gramps, or maybe she wants him to go find her friends for her. Perhaps she’s going to do the ‘impossible errand’ trick and have him go on a wild goose chase for something that is either impossibly difficult to obtain or doesn’t exist! 😀
Very good theories, BrickVoid.
Well if I met a group and the conversation turned to something like “Now we can finish what the Nazis started” probably time to move out and maybe sabotage the group before I left.
Hah! Yeah, that would do it for me as well.
LOL (really).
Im not really worried about the whole “human companionship” angle. Generally I feel like there are too many people around anyway. Unless were talking about family or people who I consider friends then I really don’t care about companionship. I sure don’t want to be like on of those guys on the Alaskan reality shows who lives all by himself in a remote caboin for years, but Id rather be alone then stuck with someone who gets on my nerves. All that being said, you gotta sleep sometime! I mean how many of us can stay awake and focused for long periods of time in a hostile environment. A small group that can be trusted to watch each other backs seems like a really good idea
Tv show’s walking dead’s: Daryl. Solo the recon, set up the diversions, report back in. Works for almost every military.
Sorry stopped mid-thought, sick little niece. Pedi alite (sp?).
Solo doesn’t works for civilian work military and police forces, too many close ties to bad people and bad situations.