It recently occurred to me, after watching the concluding episode of Season 5 of TWD, that Rick et. al. live in a world not unlike the world our caveman ancestors inhabited. Cavemen, for example, had fire and manufactured primitive weapons, while Rick’s group has been reduced to using firearms and the lethal weapons of hand-to-hand combat. (In this world, samurai warriors and other martial artists would prove an asset to the group as long as they didn’t allow themselves to get bitten, hence Michonne’s very attractive character).
Moreover, cavemen established a home base and ventured out occasionally to forage or otherwise kill other living creatures for food. They grouped in small bands, worked as a unit (especially when hunting) and no doubt had skirmishes with the members of other cavemen bands. This is exactly the same scenario we currently witness in TWD.
The world of TWD is a dystopian world, where very few of us are “prepped” to survive. A world where might makes right. A world where the weak are killed, eaten or “walkered” and only the strong, the bold and the nimble of mind survive. If I may be permitted an analogy from biology, it’s a world where “strong” genes (as exemplified by Rick and crew) are being selected over “weak” genes (the inhabitants of Alexandria, for example).
You may ask, weren’t the inhabitants of Terminus pretty strong? My answer is, yes, they were until Rick and the team arrived. My thesis is that Rick, Daryl, Carol, Glenn and the rest have so honed their survival skills as to make them not only strong, but also a serious threat to others facing the same predicament. (A bit of levity. Rick and his crew are so strong that even the scriptwriter of TWD is in their favor.)
The governor and his people were strong but not strong enough. Terminans were also strong but they had a fatal flaw: overconfidence. They were so confident in their ability to survive that they neglected to patrol the periphery of their domain, allowing Carol to rock their world. (As for the Terminan’s penchant for “cannibalism,” I’m still not certain if this is a fatal flaw or a strength. Morally cannibalism is an abomination, but in a world where protein is precious you would no doubt acquire it from whatever source you could. That is, as long as it wasn’t contaminated or spoiled. Consider the Andes plane crash survivors, for example.)
This brings up another matter. What part to the walkers, the protein eaters par excellence play in this scenario, this wild world? We’ve established that they are not a food source since they are contaminated. Then who or what are they? Since they live in the “wild” and are dangerous and potentially deadly, I would group them in the same niche cavemen grouped deadly predators: saber-toothed cats, wolves, lions, cave bears, leopards and the rest. In this sense they serve not as a food source but as a mechanism which forces not-yet-turned humans to hone their survivor skills and continue to live.
Rick and his band then are the epitome of the diehard preppers, the ultimate survivors, able to remain well and alive in a world populated by zombies and hostile human tribes.
It remains to be seen whether Rick and his band can conquer Alexandria and defend it against an attack of roving Wolves. Luck, dude.
Moreover, cavemen established a home base and ventured out occasionally to forage or otherwise kill other living creatures for food. They grouped in small bands, worked as a unit (especially when hunting) and no doubt had skirmishes with the members of other cavemen bands. This is exactly the same scenario we currently witness in TWD.
The world of TWD is a dystopian world, where very few of us are “prepped” to survive. A world where might makes right. A world where the weak are killed, eaten or “walkered” and only the strong, the bold and the nimble of mind survive. If I may be permitted an analogy from biology, it’s a world where “strong” genes (as exemplified by Rick and crew) are being selected over “weak” genes (the inhabitants of Alexandria, for example).
You may ask, weren’t the inhabitants of Terminus pretty strong? My answer is, yes, they were until Rick and the team arrived. My thesis is that Rick, Daryl, Carol, Glenn and the rest have so honed their survival skills as to make them not only strong, but also a serious threat to others facing the same predicament. (A bit of levity. Rick and his crew are so strong that even the scriptwriter of TWD is in their favor.)
The governor and his people were strong but not strong enough. Terminans were also strong but they had a fatal flaw: overconfidence. They were so confident in their ability to survive that they neglected to patrol the periphery of their domain, allowing Carol to rock their world. (As for the Terminan’s penchant for “cannibalism,” I’m still not certain if this is a fatal flaw or a strength. Morally cannibalism is an abomination, but in a world where protein is precious you would no doubt acquire it from whatever source you could. That is, as long as it wasn’t contaminated or spoiled. Consider the Andes plane crash survivors, for example.)
This brings up another matter. What part to the walkers, the protein eaters par excellence play in this scenario, this wild world? We’ve established that they are not a food source since they are contaminated. Then who or what are they? Since they live in the “wild” and are dangerous and potentially deadly, I would group them in the same niche cavemen grouped deadly predators: saber-toothed cats, wolves, lions, cave bears, leopards and the rest. In this sense they serve not as a food source but as a mechanism which forces not-yet-turned humans to hone their survivor skills and continue to live.
Rick and his band then are the epitome of the diehard preppers, the ultimate survivors, able to remain well and alive in a world populated by zombies and hostile human tribes.
It remains to be seen whether Rick and his band can conquer Alexandria and defend it against an attack of roving Wolves. Luck, dude.
