I just finished with season 2 of TWD and it was just awful. Special make-up effects aside - which are consistently impressive, but that's not why people watch drama - the series draws from the well-trodden genre of disaster films that relies on stereotypes of different moral and ethical positions to survival, such as the sacrifices people are prepared to make in order to ensure their own survival. I don't intend on watching anymore because it is all just the same situations hashed out over and over again but just in different locations. Were the characters more interesting and less inclined to the ridiculous soap opera of endless back and forth alliances (it's like watching a ten hour version of Darabont's other moribund disaster flick, The Mist), I may reconsider, but as it stands, it's just awful.
The best zombie films, like Romero's Dead Trilogy use the zombie motif to comment on contemporary society. If only TWD with its armada of writers could be that smart. However, aligning itself too closely with the disaster genre, it forgoes all the wealth the zombie genre has to offer. For the life of me I cannot understand why this series is so popular. Maybe The Walking Dead is code for its target demographic.
The best zombie films, like Romero's Dead Trilogy use the zombie motif to comment on contemporary society. If only TWD with its armada of writers could be that smart. However, aligning itself too closely with the disaster genre, it forgoes all the wealth the zombie genre has to offer. For the life of me I cannot understand why this series is so popular. Maybe The Walking Dead is code for its target demographic.
