DOCSLIB.ORG

Psychoanalysis of the Walking Dead (Rick Grimes)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Psychoanalysis of the Walking Dead (Rick Grimes) Psychoanalysis of the Walking Dead (Rick Grimes) The television show the Walking Dead has been a smash hit since it was first aired in 2010. The show follows the storyline of a variety characters and how they are dealing with the supposed apocalypse and emergence of the undead. The main character of the series is Rick Grimes, a former sheriff in a small town in Georgia. Throughout the show Rick has progressed from a loyal husband and father to now front figure of his group. The teachings of Carl Jung represent the many different aspects of Rick, speaking through the archetype, personal unconscious and ego. Carl Jung a psychiatrist believed that the archetype is defined as “models of people, behaviors or personalities,” (About.com, Web). The archetype is also part of the collective unconscious which is explained in Jung’s work. Rick Grimes has the personality for the archetype of the “father” which Jung referred to being seen as the authority figure, as well as being stern and powerful. Although the collective unconscious is hard to define for certain parts of humanity, in the Walking Dead the collective unconscious is clearly the instance of survival. The archetype shows in Rick Grimes, when the audience first meets Rick. In the pilot for the Walking Dead, Rick is wounded in a hospital room from a gunshot wound which he received while working. As Rick emerges from the room he realizes that something is amiss. While he has been unconscious, a disease has spread and decimated society. Rick Grimes first instinct is to return home and seek safety for his family. At this point, it clearly shows that Rick’s archetype is the “father” figure because he his first instinct is to see if his family is safe. Whereas other people would have given up and succumbed to their fate. Rick Grimes has suffered through many tragedies during the show specifically during the third season of the Walking Dead. In this season, Rick and his group have taken refuge in an abandoned prison. At first the prison seems suitable and meets the groups need to survive, but then tragedy soon strikes. Rick suffers a tremendous loss when his wife Lori who is with child, is killed after an invasion of the undead. Although Lori’s child is saved and Rick has a child to help him seek solace with his wife’s passing, it takes a tremendous toll on Rick. The viewer can see the toll on Rick’s personal unconscious throughout the rest of season three. The personal unconscious is defined as the part of the brain that suppresses memories. Throughout the third season Rick is haunted by seeing hallucinations of his dead wife Lori. It is implied that he sees these hallucinations because he feels guilty that he could not save his wife, who he swore to protect. This is clearly illustrated through the personal unconscious, because it shows that since Rick has tried to forget certain aspects of his suffering that his guilt has surfaced through these supposed hallucinations. With the help of his group, Rick is able to overcome the hallucinations, but his grief still remains for his wife throughout the show. In season four, the viewer has seen that Rick has matured after the death of his wife and has created a community in the prison. Although, there are now requirements for people who are welcomed into the community. Before a new community member is welcomed into the community, they are asked three specific questions, how many walkers have you killed, how many people have you killed and if so, why? These three questions show Rick’s ego and how it has matured throughout the seasons until this point. The ego is defined as who we are and how we develop our personality. In the first season, Rick is a father figure to his son and a loyal husband to his wife, which is then thrown into disarray, when the apocalypse strikes. At first, Rick seeks mercy on those who are seeking solace in him but as the seasons progress, so does Rick’s ego. After Lori’s passing in season three, refugees come to Rick to seek shelter in the prison, instead of seeking pity, Rick blatantly refuses and makes the refugees leave. This shows that Rick a once kind man, has come to trust no one but the group that he has formed throughout the show. Although this seems like only the beginning of Rick’s journey through the now decimated world, throughout all of the grief that he is stricken with he still keeps fighting for a better life, whether for him or his family. Rick Grimes could be the perfect embodiment of Carl Jung’s theory in the idea of archetype, that not only as Rick mature and his behavior and attitude has changed but his idea of being the figurehead or father has never changed. Even though, Rick has had countless obstacles thrown at him, he still seems to overcome them. Rick does mention though in one season that his group will fight to the end to survive no matter what it takes, “Things don't get better because you want them to. Starting now, we have to live in the real world. If you don't fight, you die.” (Walking Dead, Television) This quote not only shows how much Rick has learned about himself but also how he can survive in the now decimated world. Sources Page Television / Radio Quote: Self Help." The Walking Dead. AMC. Atlanta, GA, n.d. Television. Television Show: Darajong, Frank. "The Walking Dead." The Walking Dead. AMC. Atlanta, GA, n.d. Web. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1520211/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1>. Photograph: Walking Dead One Sheet Poster. N.d. Web. <http://cdn.collider.com/wp- content/uploads/walking_dead_one_sheet_poster.jpg>. Web: "What Are Jung's 4 Major Archetypes?" About.com Health. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2015. <http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/tp/archetypes.htm>. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Write-In Results Primary 5-23-19 Municpal.Xlsx
    Precinct Position WriteIn Votes Party Antrim 1 CLERK OF COURTS Todd Rock 1 Democratic Antrim 1 CORONER Becky Myers 1 Democratic Antrim 1 CORONER Jeff Conner 2 Democratic Antrim 1 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS David Keller 1 Democratic Antrim 1 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Donald Trump 1 Democratic Antrim 1 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS John Flannery 2 Democratic Antrim 1 DISTRICT ATTORNEY Forest Myers 1 Democratic Antrim 1 DISTRICT ATTORNEY Matt Fogal 1 Democratic Antrim 1 DISTRICT ATTORNEY Matthew Fogal 1 Democratic Antrim 1 JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT Donald Trump 1 Democratic Antrim 1 PROTHONOTARY Timothy Sponseller 1 Democratic Antrim 1 REGISTER & RECORDER Linda Miller 1 Democratic Antrim 1 SCHOOL DIRECTOR ‐ 2 YR TERM Kristen Sutherin 1 Democratic Antrim 1 SCHOOL DIRECTOR ‐ 4 YR TERM Donald Trump 1 Democratic Antrim 1 SHERIFF Dane Anthony 2 Democratic Antrim 1 SHERIFF Jim Brown 1 Democratic Antrim 1 TOWNSHIP SUPERVISOR ‐ 6 YR TERM Frank Adams 1 Democratic Antrim 2 AUDITOR ‐ 4 YR TERM Steve Smith 1 Democratic Antrim 2 AUDITOR ‐ 6 YR TERM Steve Smith 1 Democratic Antrim 2 CLERK OF COURTS Steve Smith 1 Democratic Antrim 2 CLERK OF COURTS Todd Rock 1 Democratic Antrim 2 CONTROLLER Steve Smith 1 Democratic Antrim 2 CORONER Jeff Conner 1 Democratic Antrim 2 CORONER Steve Smith 1 Democratic Antrim 2 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Bob Thomas 1 Democratic Antrim 2 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS David S Keller 1 Democratic Antrim 2 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS David Slye 1 Democratic Antrim 2 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS John Flannery 2 Democratic Antrim 2 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Steve Smith 1 Democratic
    [Show full text]
  • An Ultra-Realist Analysis of the Walking Dead As Popular
    CMC0010.1177/1741659017721277Crime, Media, CultureRaymen 721277research-article2017 CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Plymouth Electronic Archive and Research Library Article Crime Media Culture 1 –19 Living in the end times through © The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: popular culture: An ultra-realist sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav https://doi.org/10.1177/1741659017721277DOI: 10.1177/1741659017721277 analysis of The Walking Dead as journals.sagepub.com/home/cmc popular criminology Thomas Raymen Plymouth University, UK Abstract This article provides an ultra-realist analysis of AMC’s The Walking Dead as a form of ‘popular criminology’. It is argued here that dystopian fiction such as The Walking Dead offers an opportunity for a popular criminology to address what criminologists have described as our discipline’s aetiological crisis in theorizing harmful and violent subjectivities. The social relations, conditions and subjectivities displayed in dystopian fiction are in fact an exacerbation or extrapolation of our present norms, values and subjectivities, rather than a departure from them, and there are numerous real-world criminological parallels depicted within The Walking Dead’s postapocalyptic world. As such, the show possesses a hard kernel of Truth that is of significant utility in progressing criminological theories of violence and harmful subjectivity. The article therefore explores the ideological function of dystopian fiction as the fetishistic disavowal of the dark underbelly of liberal capitalism; and views the show as an example of the ultra-realist concepts of special liberty, the criminal undertaker and the pseudopacification process in action. In drawing on these cutting- edge criminological theories, it is argued that we can use criminological analyses of popular culture to provide incisive insights into the real-world relationship between violence and capitalism, and its proliferation of harmful subjectivities.
    [Show full text]
  • The Walking Dead
    THE WALKING DEAD "Episode 105" Teleplay by Glen Mazzara PRODUCERS DRAFT - 7/03/2010 SECOND PRODUCERS DRAFT - 7/09/2010 REV. SECOND PRODUCERS DRAFT - 7/13/2010 NETWORK DRAFT - 7/14/2010 REVISED NETWORK DRAFT - 7/20/2010 Copyright © 2010 TWD Productions, LLC. All rights reserved. No portion of this script may be performed, published, sold or distributed by any means, or quoted or published in any medium including on any web site, without prior written consent. Disposal of this script 2. copy does not alter any of the restrictions set forth above. TEASER FADE IN: No clue where we are. A dark, mysterious shot: TIGHT ANGLE: The back of a MAN'S (Jenner's) head rises into shot, rimmed by top-light. He brings a breather helmet to his unseen face, slips it on over his head. As he tightens the enclosures at the back, a VOICE speaks from everywhere and nowhere, soothing and surreal: VOX Good morning, Dr. Jenner. JENNER Good morning, Vox. VOX How are you feeling this morning? JENNER A bit restless, I have to admit, Vox. A bit...well...off my game. Somewhat off-kilter. VOX That's understandable. JENNER Is it? I suppose it is. I fear I'm losing perspective on things. On what constitutes kilter versus off- kilter. VOX I sympathize. EDWIN JENNER turns to camera, his BUBBLE FACE-SHIELD kicking glare from the overhead lighting, the inside of his mask fogging badly and obscuring his face, as: JENNER Vox, you cannot sympathize. Don't patronize me, please. It messes with my head.
    [Show full text]
  • Press™ Kit 01 Contents
    NO SAFE HARBOUR ™ SEASON TWO ® ® PRESS™ KIT 01 CONTENTS 03 SYNOPSIS 04 CAST & CHARACTERS 23 PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES 28 INTERVIEW: DAVE ERICKSON EXECUTIVE PRODUCER & SHOWRUNNER 31 PRODUCTION CREDITS ® ™ SYNOPSIS Last season, Fear the Walking Dead explored a blended family who watched a burning, dead city as they traversed a devastated Los Angeles. In season two, the group aboard the ‘Abigail’ is unaware of the true breadth and depth of the apocalypse that surrounds them; they assume there is still a chance that some city, state, or nation might be unaffected - some place that the Infection has not reached. But as Operation Cobalt goes into full effect, the military bombs the Southland to cleanse it of the Infected, driving the Dead toward the sea. As Madison, Travis, Daniel, and their grieving families head for ports unknown, they will discover that the water may be no safer than land. ® ™ 03 CAST & CHARACTERS ® ™ 04 MADISON CLARK In many ways, the Madison of season two is the same woman we met in the pilot - a leader, a moral compass - but in a whole new devastated, apocalyptic world. As the season plays out, Madison will be faced with a world that often has no room for empathy or compassion. Forced to navigate a deceptive and manipulative chart of personalities, Madison’s success in this new world is predicated on understanding that, at the end of the world, lending a helping hand can often endanger those you love. She may maintain her maternal ferocity, but the apocalypse will force her to make decisions and sacrifices that could break even the strongest people.
    [Show full text]
  • An Archaeology of Walls in the Walking Dead
    Undead Divides: An Archaeology of Walls in The Walking Dead Howard Williams In 2010, the zombie horror genre gained even greater popularity than the huge following it had previously enjoyed when AMC’s The Walking Dead (TWD) first aired. The chapter surveys the archaeology of this fictional post-apocalyptic material world in the show’s seasons 1–9, focusing on its mural practices and environments which draw upon ancient, biblical, medieval and colonial motifs. The study identifies the moralities and socialities of wall-building, dividing not only survivors aspiring to re-found civilization from the wilderness and manifesting the distinctive identities of each mural community, but also distinguishing the living from the undead. The roles of the dead and the undead in mural iterations are also explored. As such, dimensions of past and present wall-building practices are reflected and inverted in this fictional world. As part of a broader ‘archaeology of The Walking Dead’, the chapter identifies the potentials of exploring the show’s physical barriers within the context of the public archaeology of frontiers and borderlands. Andrea: What’s your secret? The Governor: Really big walls. Andrea: That soldier had walls too and we all know how that turned out, so. The Governor: I guess we do. The real secret is what goes on within these walls. It’s about getting back to who we were, who we really are, not just waiting to be saved. You know people here have homes, medical care, kids go to school. Adults have jobs to do. It’s a sense of purpose.
    [Show full text]
  • Walking Dead” Photo Call
    14 SUNDAY, JULY 22, 2018 features Cosplayers attends Comic Con British actor Andrew Lincoln arrives for “The Walking Dead” photo call Comic- Con laments Zombies take departure of ‘Walking Dead’ over San Diego star San Diego | United States portrayed in “The Walking Dead” has Walking Dead.” his lieutenants. proved uniquely resonant. “I love this place and I love seeing the “Fear the Walking Dead” kicked off he world’s largest fan con- Dwarfing competition like HBO’s fans, and you’ve been such a vital part the two-hour zombocalypse earlier vention bid a poignant “Game of Thrones” in the US, it has the of this experience. But my relationship with a presentation that critics agreed farewell to the star of the highest total viewership in cable histo- with Mr Grimes is far from over.” seemed to be drawing a line under all most successful show in ry and, crucially, the highest audience It was unclear if he was talking about storylines past and presenting an al- cable TV history on Friday of 18-49s for any kind of US television the current shoot for his final episodes, most entirely new show. Tas zombies took over San Diego Com- between 2013 and 2017. the possibility of appearing in one of the ic-Con. franchise’s numerous side projects, or ‘Fermentation process’ An extensive line-up of stars de - ‘Tensions rising’ something else entirely. Aired since 2015, “FtWD” doesn’t get scended on the city’s sprawling conven- The show centers on Lincoln’s Grimes, The ninth season, coming in October, the history-making numbers of the tion center to whet appetites for AMC’s who wakes up in a hospital bed after takes place two years after the “All Out main show -- but is still one of the “The Walking Dead” and its sister show getting shot, only to find he is alone in War” saga of the previous two, with top-rated US cable series with just un- “Fear the Walking Dead.” a world of vicious, flesh-eating reani- story editor Angela Kang taking over der two million viewers per episode.
    [Show full text]
  • Topps the Walking Dead Season 6 Checklist MVO 6-7(1)
    Topps The Walking Dead Season 6 Trading Cards - Base Cards 1 Before They Come For Us 34 Being Stalked 67 Choices 2 Doing It Live 35 Falling Down 68 Why Are You Still Wearing That? 3 One More Peanut Butter 36 Climbing to Safety 69 Lucky 4 Who You Are 37 Running Scared 70 Picking a Head 5 Just the Pizza Guy 38 Born this Way 71 Infiltrating the Compound 6 Road Block 39 "Dolor Hic Tibi Proderit Olim" 72 Fight’s Not Over 7 Keeping a Secret 40 You Gotta Earn It 73 Nervous Little Bird 8 Idiot 41 Confrontation 74 Choosing Something 9 Overheard 42 Meat Ponchos 75 Fighting Back 10 JSS 43 Who’s Negan? 76 Afraid 11 Just Filling In 44 Nibble on That 77 Kill Floor 12 Quick or Slow 45 New Plan 78 Can’t Anymore 13 Carol in Wolf’s Clothing 46 You’re Still Here 79 Tick Tick Click 14 Try 47 Walking Through the Monsters 80 The Apothecary 15 Fighting a Way Out 48 Shot 81 This Way’s Faster 16 Thank You 49 Courage 82 Wake… Up 17 Going Mad 50 Cavalry 83 Should Have Taken the Long Way 18 Clear 51 Lake of Fire 84 I’m Nobody 19 Lying in Wait 52 What We Can Do 85 Following the Blood Trail 20 The Cheesemaker 53 Envy of All Corns 86 Tracking Dwight 21 Redirection 54 Searching for Deanna 87 People Can Come Back 22 Open the Gate 55 Looking for Jesus 88 Someone New 23 Through the Sewer 56 What Do You Know About Us? 89 Captured 24 A New Leader 57 Law of Averages 90 Hi Daryl 25 Ambush 58 Proper Burial 91 Defending the Home Front 26 Separated 59 Finally 92 Real Soon 27 Good Guy Daryl 60 Crashed 93 Last Day on Earth 28 Howdy, Gentlemen 61 We’re With Jesus 94 Keep Driving
    [Show full text]
  • Read Book the Walking Dead Volume 12
    THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 12: LIFE AMONG THEM PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Robert Kirkman | 144 pages | 03 Aug 2010 | Image Comics | 9781607062547 | English | Fullerton, United States The Walking Dead Volume 12: Life Among Them PDF Book The lucky characters that are fleshed out no pun intended this week and are propped before the cameras, left to react to this world following the Wolf attack are Jessie Anderson Alexandra Breckenridge , Aaron Ross Marquand , Deanna Monroe Tovah Feldshuh , and Maggie Greene Lauren Cohan. After everything they've been through--nothing can compare Rick and the other survivors for what they are about to experience. If The Walking Dead writers want to push their fans and, come on, we know they do , then they could choose to end on a more ambiguous note. Ratings have been sagging for ages and this year the show finally fell below 3 million viewers. But another prevailing trend on TWD has been its tendency toward shock value. The time for peace and prosperity is over as a new fight for survival begins. Soon to be an Amazon Prime Video animated series airing on October 6, ! There are walkers who have been partially skinned, who have been partially devoured by wild animals. It's excusable on Fear the Walking Dead because of the shorter distance between pre-outbreak and the present, but The Walking Dead 's biggest suspension of disbelief lies in this unavoidable goof. After all, how frustrating would it be for us to spend years watching Rick, Daryl, Carol and the rest of them fight for survival, only to have a man in a lab coat show up with an easy fix? The Walking Dead could end decades in the future, long after Rick and Michonne have shuffled off the mortal coil.
    [Show full text]
  • The Zen of Daryl: a New Masculinity Within AMC's the Walking Dead
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University Bridgewater State University Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University Honors Program Theses and Projects Undergraduate Honors Program 5-12-2015 The Zen of Daryl: A New Masculinity within AMC's The alW king Dead Sarah Jane Mulvey Follow this and additional works at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/honors_proj Part of the Broadcast and Video Studies Commons, and the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons Recommended Citation Mulvey, Sarah Jane. (2015). The Zen of Daryl: A New Masculinity within AMC's The alW king Dead. In BSU Honors Program Theses and Projects. Item 104. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/honors_proj/104 Copyright © 2015 Sarah Jane Mulvey This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The Zen of Daryl: A New Masculinity Within AMC’s The Walking Dead Sarah Jane Mulvey Submitted in Partial Completion of the Requirement of Departmental Honors in Communication Studies Bridgewater State University May 12, 2015 Dr. Jessica Birthisel, Thesis Director Dr. Jason Edwards, Committee Member Dr. Maria Hegbloom, Committee Member Mulvey 2 Chapter 1: Post-Apocalyptic Entertainment As New American Past-Time AMC’s The Walking Dead (TWD) is a pop culture phenomenon that reaches millions of viewers each week, ranging in age from 18 to 50 years old. Chronicling the trials and tribulations of a fictional group of survivors within a horror-fueled post-apocalyptic America, The Walking Dead follows in a long line of zombie- centered texts that reveal some of society’s deepest anxieties: the threat of overwhelming disease, the fall of societal infrastructure, and the breakdown of ideologies that we live our daily lives by.
    [Show full text]
  • The Walking Dead: the Anthropocene As a Ruined Earth
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Essex Research Repository The Walking Dead: the Anthropocene as a ruined Earth Dr Nicholas Beuret (corresponding author) Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University Email: [email protected] Phone: 07742947921 Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University Lancaster, UK, LA1 4YQ Dr Gareth Brown School of Business, University of Leicester Email: [email protected] Phone: 07910 887 324 School of Business, Ken Edwards Building, University of Leicester University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH UK Abstract Much has been made of the claim that humanity has ascended to the status of a terrestrial force and inaugurated a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. While attention has been paid to the contestable nature of the epoch and its disputed histories, insufficient attention has been paid to the significance of the Anthropocene for political praXis. Contrary to much Anthropocenic discourse that articulates a renewed sense of mastery over nature through assertions of humanity’s complete subsumption of the environment, recent work in both science and technology studies and human geography suggests an alternate reading of the Anthropocene as an epoch without mastery, one where humanity eXists in a permanent state of vulnerability. The political significance of this state of vulnerability is eXplored through a reading of popular TV show The Walking Dead, a post-collapse narrative of a world in ruins and overrun by zombies. On a ruined earth, political praXis is orientated not towards a return of the earth to its previous productive state, but rather as an unending labour of survival and salvage.
    [Show full text]
  • Hegemonic Masculinity in the Walking Dead
    “What’s the Difference Between Men and Women?”: Hegemonic Masculinity in The Walking Dead GRAEME JOHN WILSON The Walking Dead is an undisputed cultural phenomenon. The horror series, which airs on cable channel AMC, follows a group of survivors during the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. The Walking Dead is the most-watched cable series in television history, and is notably the only drama series to be listed among the 50 highest viewed cable telecasts of all time, with the rest consisting entirely of sports broadcasts (Rice 26). The program premiered in 2010, during a period many television critics and scholars refer to as the current Golden Age of Television, characterized by a wealth of acclaimed and innovative American drama series (Albrecht 6; Damico and Quay viii; Sepinwall 41; Wood 11). Many eminent series of this Golden Age, such as The Sopranos and Breaking Bad, are concerned with themes of masculine identity and power. Such themes resonate with male audiences due to ongoing “cultural shifts regarding the dominant idea[s] surrounding masculinity,” such as the increased visibility of feminism in the new millennium (Wayne 206). While feminism has experienced an increased acceptance in mainstream American society during recent decades, feminist movements seeking to advance women’s rights continue to be dismissed and rejected within conservative communities that ascribe to traditional gender hierarchy and neoliberal philosophy. Neoliberalism describes a political and economic system “in which state policies synchronize with cultural practices to apply market-based individualism as a governmental rationale across the institutions and practices of everyday life” (McCarthy 21). Neoliberalism thus emphasizes strong individualism, a traditional marker of classic conservative masculinity.
    [Show full text]
  • First Impressions: <Em>Fear the Walking Dead</Em>
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette College of Communication Faculty Research and Communication, College of Publications 8-28-2015 First Impressions: Fear the Walking Dead Amanda Keeler Marquette University, [email protected] Published version. Antenna, University of Wisconsin - Madison (August 28, 2015). Permalink. © 2015 Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin - Madison. Used with permission. First Impressions: Fear the Walking Dead August 28, 2015 By Amanda Keeler | 2 Comments Post by Amanda Keeler, Marquette University The Walking Dead “companion” series Fear the Walking Dead is the latest iteration of offshoot/spinoff storytelling around this narrative universe. Fear the Walking Dead premiered Sunday night on AMC, setting another ratings record for the cable channel by reaching approximately 10.1 million viewers. I’ve written about The Walking Dead previously on Antenna, in a piece that focuses on the complexities of genre and how the show fluctuates over time to blend multiple genres, primarily by mixing western imagery to create a post-apocalyptic return to the frontier. The announcement of the new program Fear the Walking Dead led me to a number of questions related to how the show would work in terms of storytelling, genre, setting, and character. Without the comic book as a reference point, how would its narrative progress and/or differ from the original television show? How would its differing landscape and location, set in Los Angeles, California, rather than the American south, shift its tone and genre? What types of character would populate its world? Would it function as an ensemble cast, or would one or two characters dominate the central narrative? While the prolific nature of film sequels and blockbuster franchises suggests the relative safety of building new pieces around known narrative worlds, the enormous popularity of The Walking Dead puts a lot of pressure on its new companion piece.
    [Show full text]