Zombie Cliche Lookout: Hard Choices
Near the beginning of a zombie apocalypse, when the infrastructure is still up and running, and there is some semblance of order, the people in charge are going to have to start making difficult decisions. That is, after all, the burden of command. One of the first of those difficult calls is going to be to try to sort out the healthy from those who are likely infected, which means that people who were bitten, scratched, or otherwise exposed, cannot be evacuated with the other survivors.
And this, of course, means the separating of families. And when you try to split up families, the families are going to want to stick together, which means they will either resist the rule baring those with bites, or set out on their own.
About this Episode:
I tried to do a lot with body language here. I’m not sure how much came through, but I’m pretty happy with Sarah touching Sam’s shoulder in the second panel. It’s hard to make these guys look like they’re embracing, so I think this came out pretty darn well.
Discussion Question: What Bugs You
Zombie stories tend to stick pretty firmly to established genre rules, except where they are breaking those rules on purpose to set themselves apart from the pack. As with any set of genre conventions, there are unofficial “rules” that tend to turn fans off. If you had one complaint about zombie stories as a whole, what would it be, and how would you fix it?
I would chose the trope against using the word “zombie” in character dialog. Now, I don’t mind the characters not using the word, but I really hate it when they substitute something else that just sounds stupid. For instance, The Walking Dead has used a number of terms: geeks, walkers, biters, etc. Some of these at least make logical sense, but “geeks”? Seriously? Perhaps the worst offender is the recent adaptation of I Am Legend, in which the vampire/zombie hybrid monsters were called “dark seekers”. Good lord.
The major thing that bugs me is the suspense at the beginning of the book/movie, how you know the outbreak is going to occur, but the book/move spends too much time with dialogue and for lack of better word, foreplay if you will. I find when I watch, say, “Shaun of the Dead” everything is timed perfectly with just the right amount of time before the outbreak to keep me from getting bored. With “I am Legend” I say they spend too much time with the boring talking and stuff.
So you just like to get right to it?
I think it depends on what sort of movie it is. More character driven stuff needs the extra setup. If it’s purely plot driven, then all the big setup does is screw up the pacing.
Oh that is harsh, going to have a baby, now he can’t bring his wife cuz she’s bitten.
I’ve only got a handful of zombie movies I’ve watched. You’ve already hit the nail on the head with having different names for them. I think to me it’s a lack of “consistent rules” for rate of infection.
Ooh yeah, the inconsistent infection rate is one that bugs a lot of people. Oddly enough, it generally doesn’t bother me too much unless it’s really ridiculous. I guess I figure that different people react to regular diseases differently enough, so with the zombie outbreak I’m willing to give some latitude.
There’s always the one guy who’s just an absolute jerk. Cooper in Night of the Living Dead is the best example. In zombie movies, from NotLD onward, it’s not that the undead beat the humans; the humans beat themselves. There’s even zombie movies where human-on-human casualties exceed those caused by the living dead.
That bugs the crap out of me. Not because I think people would automatically all work together; but there would at least be some groups that wouldn’t be homicidally dysfunctional.
Sometimes it works better than others. NotLD, for instance. Cooper isn’t wrong about everything, nor is Ben. They just both want to be in charge, ignore the good parts of each other’s plans, and both end up getting killed for it. I like that, it’s a tragic statement on the human condition.
Automatically having the group jerkass mess everything up? That’s just lazy writing.
That’s kind of inconsistent there. It bugs the crap out of you when people don’t work together, but you concede that not everyone will work together? I don’t automatically find conflict between humans a bad thing, it just has to be handled right. And there’s nothing wrong with a high self-inflicted casualty rate either; normal humans can be far more dangerous than zombies.
Onomatopoeia and excessive exclamation marks drive me . . . nuts!!!!! A good writer can describe a sound or intensity with chilling and terrifying effect. Pop corn writers try to imitate film sound effects with distracting, silly results.
Oh, that’s a good one, Luis. That stuff drives me nuts too.
The thing about exclamation marks is, if you use them more than very occasionally, they become completely meaningless. Using multiple exclamation marks? That’s just dumb.
I didn’t think of I Am Legend to have actual zombies in it. They simply didn’t have enough zombish qualities for me to consider it a zombie movie.
Well, technically they’re supposed to be vampires, but they’re zombish vampires, especially in the movie. So not really zombies, but close enough for me.
Oh man! So Sam may have to leave her? Meaning this whole time he has been plagued with the questions; “Is she alive?, where is she?, What about the baby?” ooooohhhh VERY GOOD Dave, I am liking this very much!
As for the things I dislike. Hmmm. I dislike the “waves”. What I mean is, I do not like it when the movie/story is all about how many zombies can we throw and the group/person. I also dislike when they only bring up the shortness of supplies when its convenient. The Walking Dead is a great example. Its been a year since the apocalypse yet they have all kinds of gas etc. Gas expires. However, I may be being too critical.
Both excellent examples.
Zombies in waves, meh. I think it can be done well, but it generally isn’t. The Walking Dead comic did it well, with a cool, semi-plausible explanation.
The supplies this is definitely irritating, and the gas is an excellent example. Gas does expire, but maybe they’re been using fuel stabilizer or something?
Who knows. I guess at the same time tho, too much detail could ruin the entertainment value.
Oh yeah, I’ve read a book or two that tries to drown you in minutia.
What bugs me sometimes is when there’s a solution to the infection or something, i don’t really know why though. I also dislike the “any soft tissue” type of infection in 28 days later, i like to have it bites/deep scratches/death types of infection.
I’m mixed on the solution thing. I like it as a red herring though.
I’m guessing Sam will stay with her and then have to kill her and that’s why he’s not with his co-workers.
Poor Sam.
Dave, doesn’t it just feel good when you have all these people guessing what’s going to happen? And you just have it in your head what is actually behind the screen?
It sure does. I just think it’s so fun.
I hate you! lol jk
Oh no, poor Sam. Will he try to insist that she come with them, or will he stay behind with her? Or both?
Question:
Personally, I’m not a fan of “zombie apocalypse” stories that start late, once the outbreak has destroyed the whole country. Why? Well, they typically completely ignore how such a thing would ever happen. It just strains disbelief too much for me. I mean, you have to accept zombies to have a zombie story at all, but to believe that a small group of civilians are better equipped to fight them than the entire military? That’s just too much. That’s why I prefer stories set during the initial outbreak, like Night of the Living Dead, or Shaun of the Dead if I want a comedy. Post-apocalyptic ones tend to either completely ignore the question of how it happened, or gloss over it.
I think that what bugs me in zombie movies is that most times, they don’t refer the things that they have to cover. Like, food, guns, water, bandits, etc. They just give it to much action, like people don’t need to eat, sleep, etc. I think these movies should highlight the extreme hunger and the huge lack of supplies, due to bandits or lack of places to loot.