The Zombie Apocalypse and American Nihilism

    Modern-day American audiences are no stranger to the concept of the reanimated undead. From The White Zombie to Night of the Living Dead, Resident Evil to Plants vs. Zombies, Frankenstein to World War Z, there has been no shortage of zombie-based media in the past century. Originally pitched as a follow up to to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, Robert Kirkman’s comic series The Walking Dead follows an injured deputy Rick Grimes who awakens from a coma to a zombie apocalypse and must learn how to survive in his new reality. The artwork is done in a very gritty, scratchy manner, and entirely in black-and-white (Kirkman himself explains in the "Letter Hacks"—a section in which Kirkman answers fan letters and addresses his own feelings about the issue—of the second issue that he believes the color palette to not only fit the theme of the comic more, but also dislikes how zombies are rendered in color in media such as Dawn of the Dead).

Issue #2—What remains of Atlanta, Georgia.

    Outside of the quality of the artwork, there are also copious amounts of natural imagery, and how it has so quickly destroyed (or rather, reclaimed?) once great feats of human ingenuity, such as cities and technology. Buildings are left to crumble, car windows are smashed in, and streets are lined with rotting corpses.

Issue #5—I don't think that car is going to be moving any time soon.

    Interestingly, although most buildings have been ransacked by time Rick and Glenn venture back into Atlanta proper in search of weapons in issue #4, a gun store sits in pristine condition with its doors still on the hinges and everything in its place, entirely overlooked by the hoards of zombies just outside. Even after the human survivors have acquired the weapons and have gained a great advantage, the zombies remain formidable foes. Guns or not, if the zombies are set on a task, there is a good chance that they will find a means to accomplish it. Additionally, the only reason the two are able to get to the store in the first place is because they have drenched themselves in the stench of the zombies and are no longer seen as targets. This implies that the zombies are not blind, mindless killers, but rather in a "team" of sorts against humanity.

Issue #4—Apparently, zombies don't need guns to kill you.

    Kirkman explains in the Letter Hacks section of the first issue that he believes that "the best zombie movies aren't the splatter fests of gore and violence with goofy characters and tongue in cheek antics. Good zombie movies show us how messed up we are, they make us question our station in society... and our society's station in the world. [...] there's always an undercurrent of social commentary and thoughtfulness." One interesting bit of "social commentary" I find surfacing again and again in zombie-based media is the connection of the fear of zombies—an extremely powerful, overwhelming force that wants to kill and cannot be reasoned with—with a fear of nihilistic thinking—the idea that anything and everything we do is ultimately meaningless, doomed to be overwritten by something much more powerful than us. 

    What is the meaning of life? A question that has been sought to be answered since the beginning of humanity's reign of our planet, and one that many have tried to give an answer to. Heaven and Hell, karma, reincarnation, all-knowing gods—the list goes on. From an outside perspective, it would appear that humanity is desperate to attach meaning to all of their accomplishments and good deeds. Humanity has accomplished so much, gained so much knowledge, done so much good for itself and others—what would be the point if, at the end of the day, it was all for naught? The situation of the zombie apocalypse forces the people in it to confront these questions head on: what is the point of survival anymore? Why did we work so hard for so long only for it to all be destroyed? Why, despite it all, are we still fighting for our place on this Earth? 

    The zombies don't care how humanity decides to answer these questions. The undead prefer to play the long game, knowing their win is not a matter of if, but when. Although we don't grapple with zombies in our lives (yet), there are many similar forces we live with. Hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, global warming, solar flares, disease—none of it stops to worry about how little old humanity is doing, and they will one day find a way to kill us once we have overstayed our welcome (if we don't manage to do it first). The Earth will not remember us in any way we might find meaningful, no more than we are able to meaningfully remember dinosaurs or prehistoric bacteria. It will quickly move on and return to its equilibrium as if we had never been there in the first place. No zombie, no corner of the Earth will take the time to answer the burning question, "what is the meaning of life" for us—rather it is something we must personally confront and find for ourselves.