Blog 9: Expanded Outline

I. Background Info

      - The Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic drama series in which police sheriff Rick Grimes fights his way through hundreds of zombies to try and find his young son and wife. Rick is helped out by numerous characters along the way. When eventually reunited with his family and former partner, Rick leads them to safety as best he can.

II. Scene 1

       - Morgan and Duane in the abandoned house. Rick gave them guns from the police station. Morgan sets up his makeshift shooting range upstairs in the house. He takes target practice on some of the walkers. He has plans to finally put his wife out of her misery. Morgan cannot bring himself to do it as he is brought to tears by the mental torment of having to shoot his own wife.

III. Analysis 1

       - This scene comes down to the idea of human rights and how they can sometimes conflict with how someone's personal feelings to the person in question. Morgan cannot bring himself to shoot his wife because of how much he loves her. He knows in his mind what the right thing to do. Morgan should shoot her and put her out of her misery however his immensely strong feelings will not allow him to finally do it.

IV. Scene 2

       - In another episode Andrea, one of the supporting characters, is in the group with Rick Grimes and his family. The group is silently attacked by a wave of walkers and they must scramble to stay alive in the camp and get to the RV. Andrea's sister Amy gets bitten by one of the walkers and is infected. She comes down with a fever as she transition into becoming a zombie. Andrea sits with Amy until she comes back and is forced to shoot her in the head. She is destroyed by the decision she had to make and the group more or less puts her on suicide watch.

V. Analysis 2

       - Andrea is faced with what is most likely the hardest decision of her life. What to do with her little sister after she is bitten by a walker. People in the group all know that when Amy revives as a walker herself that she is an immediate threat to everyone including Andrea. The writers vaguely hint to Andrea knowing this too but she doesn't want to just end her sister's life without any closure. Andrea sits with Amy through the process of becoming a walker and just stares at her face. When Shane walks up to possibly shoot Amy Andrea pulls a gun on him as to say that she doesn't want anyone else doing what needs to be done.

VI. Scene 3

      - In the same wave of walkers that takes Amy also one them gets Jim, a lesser character until this point. He tries to hide his wound from the others but is discovered by another in the group. They have Jim stay in the RV as the fever sets in. His wound and the attack forces the group to start moving in order to try and find refuge somewhere else. Jim asks to be left on the side the road as his condition worsens. His wish is to become a walker like his family members did before. The group obliges and leaves Jim, who is very frail due to the fever at this point, sitting under a tree to die and come back.

VII. Analysis 3

      - This scene is where the writers express their full opinion on the human rights side of how to deal with the people who are lost to the walkers. They believe that the people who are able to acknowledge and understand their injury fully and what is going to happen should have the right to decide what to do with themselves. In the scene with Jim and Rick in the trailer, Jim expresses to Rick how he wishes to be left on the side of the road to die and come back as a walker. He was completely aware of the consequences and still made his own non-delirious decision.

VIII. Implications

      - The writers of The Walking Dead use the numerous instances of the cast being attacked and infected by walkers to argue their point that the characters have a choice in what happens to them when they are bitten because of their rights as a human being. In a time like this where this is no government and it is essentially everyone for themselves one thing that cannot fall by the wayside is a person's rights as a human being. The writers' stance is that everyone has a choice if they know both sides of the situation then they can make a decision on whether to "opt out," as the show says, or die and come back as a walker.