Zombie Apocalyptic Environment

When thinking more in depth towards the psychological transitioning from a normal way of living into a society that has humans on a constant edge as they strive for survival, The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman displays a realistic vision of human survival within a zombie apocalyptic environment. I look to evaluate our current society in its normal habitat like our societal norms, our usual daily routines, and then values. Next, is the transition into a zombie apocalyptic environment where the originality of an individual is removed by the zombie-disease. Zombies are then regarded as empty vessels controlled by natural instincts. There is a common theme involving loss of self to those who’ve fallen victim to the zombies and those who strive

to survive. To the remaining human population that continues to survive in the zombie apocalyptic environment, they all require the need to adapt and change in order to continue to survive. It’s nearly impossible to continue living in the same lifestyle as you did prior to the zombies barging into humanity’s life unannounced. The term ‘colonial gaze’ which means, “The colonial gaze distributes knowledge and power to the subject who looks, while denying or minimizing access to power for its object, the one looked at.” (7.) Will also be mentioned since it’s can be related to the developing survival perspective of the people in this environment. Without there being no government super power looking over the people in this environment, survivors are forced to feign for themselves and make their own decisions on how to handle the zombie apocalypse. Due to these more valuable responsibilities, the remaining survivors are the people who will determine the course of the rest of humanity’s fight against the zombies. The question lies in if under these circumstances would society need a government super power to survive? My response to that is yes, the remaining individuals will need some form of leadership in order to survive the zombie apocalypse whether it is a major super power or a higher skilled individual leading them on the thin string of hope for humanity’s revival.
Looking at our current society, us human beings are often driven by our hopes and dreams for the future. Usually those hopes and dreams consist of getting a high level of education, acquiring a high degree, pursuing a career, making money, living comfortably, then getting married, and finally having children. Every one of us hopes to live a successful life with the least amount of mistakes possible. We are surrounded with the opportunities to further our possibilities and it’s our freedom to choose what opportunities we choose to grasp on without outside factors having to constrict our freedom of choices (most of the time). Our standard daily routine consists of waking up in the morning, followed by getting dressed, eating breakfast, and then going to school or work. After we’ve finished our classes or clocked out of work, we are left with the decision to go straight home and work on some extra work, have dinner with co-workers or friends. In our society, we value trivial things like our handheld devices, technology, our career and social status. We live under societal norms such as driving under the speed limit, pursuing a college education, and working for a living. But when a zombie apocalypse is thrown into the equation, most of the things we value and the societal norms we’ve so closely followed under throughout most of our lives is immediately thrown out the window.
Imagining a normal society’s transition into a zombie apocalyptic environment can be filled with mainly chaos and confusion.

Of course, we can already assume that there will be a pools of blood and discarded limbs all over the place and now the last thing on our minds are the whereabouts of our technology devices since most of our attention is focused more towards getting to a safe location or grouping with people who have not been bitten. Robert Kirk, who sided with the argument that opposed the idea of a zombie apocalypse being able to occur. However, despite his claim, I found other figments of his article to be quite informative and useful to use within my own topic. He begins comparing zombies to living, “By definition, zombies would be behaviorally and physically just like us, but not conscious.” (1). I had already had some knowledge of this idea when previously analyzing a few scenes within The Walking Dead TV Series where loved ones are caught in the clutches of zombies and then later transformed into one of the ‘walkers.’ Kirk adds on with, “Zombies (the philosophical sort: this is not about voodoo) would be exactly like us in all physical and behavioural respects, but completely without consciousness.” (1). The whole representation of zombies within The Walking Dead can be perceived as empty shells that wander the face of the Earth scavenging for any living food that hasn’t been contaminated by this ‘zombie-virus.’ In this aspect, Kirk’s information regarding prawns seems quite similar if we were to compare them to zombies, “The idea that the prawns might be just behaving without feeling comes to mind naturally; it doesn’t have to be prompted by philosophical argumentation. Plenty of things just behave without feeling…” (4). I believe that the same can also be applied to zombies in which they do naturally behave without feeling unless in the situation where they’ve caught sight of their prey. But besides that, zombies don’t seemingly project any

expression of emotion or humanity. They are decisions are controlled by their natural instincts. Distinguishing a living being from a non-living being such as a zombie relies more on the interactions within our bodies according to Descartes, “Distinctively human behavior, he thought, depends on the immaterial mind interacting with processes in the body (Discourse v)… If we suddenly lost our minds our bodies might continue to run on for a while… we might breathe… digest food… But without the contribution made by immaterial minds our behavior would not show characteristically human features.” (8). Kirk explains that there are certain processes within our bodies that are what labels us to be alive. Without distinct qualities such as our organs cooperating, our emotions, and our original thoughts, we are just an empty vessel with no purpose.