So I have this fear of zombies, which I know isn’t really unusual since they’re super freaky but if you knew me personally, you would know that I typically don’t fear things like zombies. I mean come on, they’re dead people who for some very unexplainable reason ( I mean really now, I still have no idea how this happens and I’ve done some research) pop back up again and decide “I WANT TO FREAKING EAT SOME PEOPLE ALIVE!” Really, no good reason at all….
But anyways, so in a perfectly logical move, I decided to start watching The Walking Dead with my boyfriend. Yeah, I know. This girl’s a smart one. The first episode, I made it about fifteen minutes in before I started hyperventilating and we had to turn it off. However, through a sheer act of willpower ( and curiosity, a lot of curiosity) I have made it all the way to SEASON THREE. WHAT. UP. And of course, since that has consumed a lot of my time, I’ve had a lot of time to think about it and analyze it from a feminist perspective. And I’m pretty happy.
Quick plot synopsis courtesy of IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1520211/plotsummary)
“Rick Grimes is a former police officer who has been in a coma for several months after being shot whilst on duty. When he wakes, he discovers that the world has been taken over by Zombies, and that he seems to be the only person still alive. Having returned home to discover his wife and son missing, he heads for Atlanta to search for his family. Narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Zombies on arrival in Atlanta, he is aided by another survivor Glenn who takes Rick to a camp outside the town. There Rick finds his wife Lori and son Carl. Along with his partner and best friend Shane, he founds a small group of survivors who struggle to fend off the zombie hordes, as well as competing with other survivor groups who are prepared to do whatever it takes to survive”
Sooooo there are a lot of zombies, I mean a lot. Everyone who dies resurrects as zombie and then tries to eat all the people who aren’t zombies. People eaten by zombies become zombies, etc. Lots of zombies. It also turns out that there are a lot of strong female characters who are very complex and quite frankly, they’re kind of badass.
** Spoilers coming up people***
Rick’s wife Lori is not really my favorite character on the show, but she might be one of the most believable. Before Rick finds her and their son Carl, she ends up hooking up with partner Shane. When Rick comes back she shacks back up with him and pretends like nothing happened between her and Shane. Throughout the next couple of seasons, she fights to keep Rick and Carl alive, offering leadership and advice. Well, kind of. She’s not a super good mother. Her son Carl desperately wants to learn how to do things like shoot a gun and kill some of the zombies that want to eat him. Seems reasonable, but Lori has a problem with him shooting guns, like it’s worse that he gets eaten and becomes a mini zombie than learn how to defend himself. And Carl always kind of just slips away. It’s kind of a joke to people who watch the show, they’re always like “oh yeah, there goes Carl again, little kid’s just gonna go wander around by himself some more, hope no zombies eat him.” Literally this happens like all the time and his parents are always like, “wait, where’s Carl?” Here’s an idea, KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR FREAKING SON. Then in season two Lori finds out shes pregnant. That sucks a lot. In season three, that’s probably going to be a pretty big deal. Particularly because Shane is the baby daddy. Oops. Drama.
My favorite character is probably Andrea. She’s part of the original group of survivors and when we meet her, she’s with a part of the survivors in Atlanta, looking for supplies. In case that doesn’t seem like a very brave thing to do, it is. Atlanta is full of zombies. There are literally zombies everywhere so it’s pretty gutsy to go in the city. Andrea fights her way through with the rest of them. What I think I appreciate the most about her though is that she isn’t a hysterical female. None of the women really are but Andrea I think would be the one the writers would have the most opportunity to turn into the stereotypical female. Her sister Amy gets bitten and she literally sits and watches her die and then waits until she resurrects and kills her herself. Later on when Andrea has an opportunity to die, she makes a calm decision to do so, it’s a rational decision that she reaches on her own. One of the other survivors ultimately pushes her to go on and she decides for his sake but throughout the series, she really tends to keep a level head and fights zombies. She also insists that the men who know how to handle guns teach her and she asks to pull her fair turn doing guard doing and killing zombies. Epic.
Unfortunately for Andrea, season 2 was a little worse for her and she does some stupid things like accidentally another person in the group, all of which kind of comes up with this whole “poor silly woman vibe” that I was not digging. However, I think some of the digression will be made up for in season three with this new epic woman named Michonne who wields a giant sword and uses armless zombies as her pack mules…. thats awesome.
Overall, while the Walking Dead is good for breaking some stereotypes and has led to some very well-rounded female characters, men are still in charge of everything. Like, Rick leads the group ALWAYS and has the final say about pretty much everything. The men also hold all the crucial knowledge, there’s literally one man per skill, a guy to teach survival, another shooting, and another mechanics. Oh yeah, and a man with all the medical knowledge. Women just kinda learn from them and then… go do the laundry or decide they want to cook something. Really. That happens in season two. The women in the group have an opportunity to stay at a house and to thank their hosts, one of the women Carol says “Let’s cook them a thank you dinner!” Yay! Glad women in a post-apocalyptic society still have their priorities straight. By all means, DON’T TRY TO SAVE AS MUCH FOOD AS POSSIBLE, THAT WOULD BE SO VERY SILLY.
Here are some other articles about The Walking Dead that had the time to go into a lot more detail, they’re an awesome read 🙂
http://opinionessoftheworld.com/2012/04/10/the-walking-dead-and-gender/
http://www.nerdyfeminist.com/2011/11/dear-amcs-walking-deadstop-it.html
ShoutOut! James Madison University 
I am absolutely OBSESSED with this show and a little jealous you wrote about it before me to be honest! However the women of the show bother me. I really hate Lori and kind of wish she had died when she got in that car wreck. She is such a sterotype of the unhappy housewife – how many times has she contradicted herself on that show? Between her uncontrollable mood swings and white lies, I can hardly stand to watch her. Luckily there is Andrea for contrast, but when she started giving up on life I lost respect for her too. I think the new women is going to be a super badass, and dare I say, I feel a little lesbian tension between her and Andrea! That could make for an interesting storyline.
Also, did you know Shane didn’t die in the comic? He went off and had his whole own storyline.
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