About two weeks ago, I finally convinced my husband to watch AMC’s television show, The Walking Dead, with me.
Normally I don’t like to watch anything about zombies.
During my first year of college, I was “lucky” enough to be assigned to an English composition teacher who was a fan of the horror genre.
We read a lot of Edgar Allen Poe’s works, which I did enjoy. But we also watched horror movies such as Stephen King’s Carrie and George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.
Romero filmed his movie in black and white and, for me, that’s the most terrifying element of the film making it one of Romero’s most brilliant decisions. If the desired effect was to terrify his audience, then he achieved that, especially with me. But, it was also one of the first mainstream zombie movies.
That movie is the main reason I decided not to watch The Walking Dead.
But nearly everyone I know who watches the show told me that it’s a character-driven show. The main story is not so much about zombies, but about how the characters change as they face the end of the world.
Now that I have watched the first five seasons, I can safely say that I enjoy the show, especially the characters Darryl and Carol.
My husband and I were also discussing how much of the storyline we relate to.
After Hurricane Katrina, the cities of Bay St. Louis and Waveland were virtually ghost towns and we went to our local stores, which had opened their doors, to gather cleaning supplies and in my case, a pair of shoes.
During the first few days before help arrived, we didn’t know where our next meal would come from, much like some of the characters on the show.
Thankfully, we didn’t have to fight zombies, but we still realized we had the strength to survive what could have been an almost apocalyptic event for our hometown.
Even though I close my eyes during the majority of the scenes with zombies, I do enjoy the show and am glad I stepped outside of my comfort zone to watch an entertaining program.