Walking Dead Season 7 Opener notes
A note to the people who are complaining that last night’s Walking Dead was too brutal, isn’t “fun” any more, etc…
Sorry. You’re wrong. The show isn’t supposed to be fun. It’s not a roller coaster with happy endings and keeping your hands inside the car. It’s horror, and horror is supposed to be disturbing.
-The show became safe for you. This is how it works, there are periods of relative calm where our protagonists are in control and times where they are not. Have you forgotten the death of Hershel? Beth? How about the deaths of Jessie and Sam?
-It’s a show with zombies. You know, the living dead that eat human beings?
-Horror means anyone can die at any time
-Most importantly: This was about breaking Rick. I know WE think they are the good guys, but they broke into Negan’s place and killed a number of his people while they were sleeping without provocation. Would Rick have done the same thing if someone did that to his people? Didn’t he slaughter everyone in Terminus? He came up against a larger, more powerful force and they had to show that they were in control now.
This also opens up bigger questions about morality – is torture permissible? How do you treat people during times of war? Did Negan do anything that countries have done? (And a bonus question, is what Negan did comparable to what the US did in WWII in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, or Dresden?)
Art makes you think. This was not “torture porn.” This was art, and some art is disturbing.
It’s supposed to be.
