bring out your walking dead
the PREAIR copy of AMC's The Walking Dead that is currently being peer-shared all over the interwebs is not high-definition, not as crisp as i'm sure the one that's going to be aired in October 31. i'm guessing it's converted from a bigger file-sized version that must have been issued to the press and reviewers. nevertheless, the copy i downloaded is clear and clean enough to give me a sense of what the people behind the upcoming cable series are intending to achieve in terms of look and feel. (it warms my BSG-loving heart that Bear McCleary wrote the original music for The Walking Dead)
AMC is of course the same cable network that produces Breaking Bad, Mad Men and Rubicon, shows known not only for their compelling stories and smart storytelling, but also for their interesting production and art designs and visual styling. my only beef with AMC shows is that they are strongly geared toward the male demographics, granted they're targeting the so-called thinking men, but i already have my quota of shows with a drug addicted, politically-incorrect, puzzle solving post-modern hero filled out by House. (though truth be known, i plan to watch Rubicon because a spy thriller that's focused on the nerdy analysts instead of on the action-figury spooks is as rare as James Bond's modesty.)
but i digress. The Walking Dead, based on a comic serial of the same title (it is currently at issue #78) tells the story of a group of survivors after an apocalyptic outbreak of an unknown disease that turned dead people into zombies. It's main protagonist is a character named Rick Grimes, a police deputy who woke up from a coma to a world where the only things up and about are the dead. the hour long PREAIR premiere episode deals with Grimes' first steps toward recovering his wits and going out into the wide wild world to search for his wife and son who may or may not still be alive. the first living breathing humans he encountered are a father and son pair of refugees who have been living in Grimes' next-door neighbor's empty house. Grimes is quickly because brought up to speed on what has happened since last he was awake by the father. they soon parted ways with the father and his son choosing to stay put because they can not leave the mother who as it turns out is part of the dead horde, Grimes set out to look for his wife and son in Atlanta where apparently people have been told the CDC might have a cure to the zombie infestation. the episode ends with Grimes entering Atlanta and getting a rude awakening that makes his first wakeful moments in the hospital at the beginning of the story polite in comparison.
zombies are typically played for laughs, or as moving targets for your kickass chick who packs a mean sawed-off shotgun or as metaphor for whatever is the socio-political issue du jour. zombies are right up there along with vampires and werewolves as popular cultural devices to reveal the human condition. they are the stand-in for the OTHER, for our worst fears, yadi-yada. i get it. can we move on already? will The Walking Dead contribute something fresh (pun totally intended) in the apocalyptic zombie genre?
to be sure, The Walking Dead has horrors galore, because hello zombies and live people starving to death so they might be tempted to eat each other. aside from the horrifying idea of literally waking up from a long sleep into a world of dead people, there are the moments in the premiere episode when i didn't know whether to cover my eyes or stare and soak in the visual assault.
since i am reading the comics, i have some idea about what makes The Walking Dead more than just a post-apocalyptic zombie story. if one can imagine a zombie opera, in the same way that BSG is a space opera, then The Walking Dead is a zombie opera. there is real pathos in the premiere episode. (i've never cried or even come close to crying for any of the characters in any of the zombie apocalypse movie i've watched since i first saw Dawn of the Dead in 1978. not even Robert Carlyle, who is always a mighty fine actor no matter how nutty the role or the movie he's in, could coax a teardrop from me in "28 Weeks Later.") it is about surviving the state of deadness that is both actual and metaphorical, and all that that entail in terms of human values like family, love and all the other big and small things that comprise humanity and human life.
there is a scene in the middle part of the episode that tells me that the survivors of the zombie apocalypse are also walking dead. asked how he is sure that his wife and son are still alive and not dead somewhere, Grimes told the widowed father that their photo albums and family pictures are all gone from their abandoned house. this triggers a recent memory in the father. "my wife ... same thing ... there i am packing survival gears she's grabbing ... photo albums," he said haltingly with laughter in his voice. but he quickly decides even before getting to the end of his sentence that it's not amusing after all because his wife is dead. it's an awkward and painful moment for the two men.
by and large the premiere episode is an almost faithful adaptation of the first two issues of the comics (which is now in its 76th issue i think). but there is a scene towards the end of the episode that is not in the comics serial, and it's the type of scene that works better on screen than in print. it makes me hopeful that the television adaptation is going to be exactly that -- not a literal translation nor extreme application of cinematic license, but good adaptation.
AMC is of course the same cable network that produces Breaking Bad, Mad Men and Rubicon, shows known not only for their compelling stories and smart storytelling, but also for their interesting production and art designs and visual styling. my only beef with AMC shows is that they are strongly geared toward the male demographics, granted they're targeting the so-called thinking men, but i already have my quota of shows with a drug addicted, politically-incorrect, puzzle solving post-modern hero filled out by House. (though truth be known, i plan to watch Rubicon because a spy thriller that's focused on the nerdy analysts instead of on the action-figury spooks is as rare as James Bond's modesty.)
but i digress. The Walking Dead, based on a comic serial of the same title (it is currently at issue #78) tells the story of a group of survivors after an apocalyptic outbreak of an unknown disease that turned dead people into zombies. It's main protagonist is a character named Rick Grimes, a police deputy who woke up from a coma to a world where the only things up and about are the dead. the hour long PREAIR premiere episode deals with Grimes' first steps toward recovering his wits and going out into the wide wild world to search for his wife and son who may or may not still be alive. the first living breathing humans he encountered are a father and son pair of refugees who have been living in Grimes' next-door neighbor's empty house. Grimes is quickly because brought up to speed on what has happened since last he was awake by the father. they soon parted ways with the father and his son choosing to stay put because they can not leave the mother who as it turns out is part of the dead horde, Grimes set out to look for his wife and son in Atlanta where apparently people have been told the CDC might have a cure to the zombie infestation. the episode ends with Grimes entering Atlanta and getting a rude awakening that makes his first wakeful moments in the hospital at the beginning of the story polite in comparison.
zombies are typically played for laughs, or as moving targets for your kickass chick who packs a mean sawed-off shotgun or as metaphor for whatever is the socio-political issue du jour. zombies are right up there along with vampires and werewolves as popular cultural devices to reveal the human condition. they are the stand-in for the OTHER, for our worst fears, yadi-yada. i get it. can we move on already? will The Walking Dead contribute something fresh (pun totally intended) in the apocalyptic zombie genre?
to be sure, The Walking Dead has horrors galore, because hello zombies and live people starving to death so they might be tempted to eat each other. aside from the horrifying idea of literally waking up from a long sleep into a world of dead people, there are the moments in the premiere episode when i didn't know whether to cover my eyes or stare and soak in the visual assault.
since i am reading the comics, i have some idea about what makes The Walking Dead more than just a post-apocalyptic zombie story. if one can imagine a zombie opera, in the same way that BSG is a space opera, then The Walking Dead is a zombie opera. there is real pathos in the premiere episode. (i've never cried or even come close to crying for any of the characters in any of the zombie apocalypse movie i've watched since i first saw Dawn of the Dead in 1978. not even Robert Carlyle, who is always a mighty fine actor no matter how nutty the role or the movie he's in, could coax a teardrop from me in "28 Weeks Later.") it is about surviving the state of deadness that is both actual and metaphorical, and all that that entail in terms of human values like family, love and all the other big and small things that comprise humanity and human life.
there is a scene in the middle part of the episode that tells me that the survivors of the zombie apocalypse are also walking dead. asked how he is sure that his wife and son are still alive and not dead somewhere, Grimes told the widowed father that their photo albums and family pictures are all gone from their abandoned house. this triggers a recent memory in the father. "my wife ... same thing ... there i am packing survival gears she's grabbing ... photo albums," he said haltingly with laughter in his voice. but he quickly decides even before getting to the end of his sentence that it's not amusing after all because his wife is dead. it's an awkward and painful moment for the two men.
by and large the premiere episode is an almost faithful adaptation of the first two issues of the comics (which is now in its 76th issue i think). but there is a scene towards the end of the episode that is not in the comics serial, and it's the type of scene that works better on screen than in print. it makes me hopeful that the television adaptation is going to be exactly that -- not a literal translation nor extreme application of cinematic license, but good adaptation.
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