Why do people like The Walking Dead so much?
(Read the post before commenting)
I like, so many of you, am a fan of the walking dead. the walking dead franchise is extremely successful but also extremely depressing. Like I wonder why people are so into it and then it hit me. Look at World today. All these problems we're having today, social and political issues, Ebola which is a huge thing right now. I don't even have to list all the things because you see 'em all the time. The Walking Dead and media toady is just a reflection of today's world. All the movies are dark and gritty and serious what ever happened to fun? Like don't people like to laugh anymore?
All a T.V. show or movie or game has to do nowadays is make you cry and its A plus material. Like the thing The Walking Dead does the most of is make people cry. Why would you want to cry all the time? Why do you want to be sad all the time? sadness has become a meme now "The feels." When you do that and make it a joke you're fucking up your emotions. Do you really feel sad or is just a joke?
I don't know these things just bother me so much. Everything is just so mean and depressing now and i just don't like it.
Comments
Because of it has zombies? Lol jk i like it because it the people handles it like life. Life is not "fun" unless you make it which for some people it's hard. And can I ask you if your kinda getting annoying with the walking dead? I don't have a problem with that just wondering.
yeah i know life is life is hard. but if you life is hard and sad why watch/play/read something even sadder?
So they can relate to them? I can't speak for everyone.
that's good reasoning but i still don't get it.
Too see what people would do in bad situations and how it changes them, and to see how far they will go and what they will do to survive and protect their loved ones
did you read my post or just the title?
Many times tragedy is used as plot devices. In this episodes case, it made the people of Terminus not mindless killing machines like ragtag bandits. It made you feel for them in a sense. It made them, as a group of villains, more interesting. And number one thing, it gives them purpose and plot.
It's not that I want sadness. I want immersion. Tragedy isn't pointless, it is meant to teach you something, to get you to think, as William Shakespeare did in his tragedies. You just need to figure out what that is.
that's not even what i'm talking about
I edited my comment. Posted too soon.
I personally like tragedies that people, at the end, end up overcoming. I don't like completely dark and sad stories.
ah yep i see it.
eh.. i guess that's a good point
Look at it this way:
Most sad movies and media (that I know of at least) show main characters who end up either overcoming something or learn something. See, there are two types of tragedies to me: complex and simple. Simple tragedies are meant to make you fear more than anything, i.e. some horror movies or really dark stories. They are meant to make you scared of life or scared of something in life by showing you inaccurate yet seemingly realistic happenings.
Complex tragedies are... well... complex. They aren't just sad to be sad. In this episodes' case, Rick and his group were justified in killing the people of Terminus despite their past because of their own safety. The tragic story of the people of Terminus was sad but at the same time you kinda are glad they are dead so that Rick and his group can keep on. They are the perfect tragic villain in a complex tragedy. Complex tragedies are full of justifications, moral rightness and questioning, foreshadows of real life, and debatable actions, and sad consequences. In complex tragedies, more often than not, the main character overcomes and learns a lesson.
actually that's a really good point. I get what you mean.
I guess i've been depressed for while now and i can't understand why people seem to love being sad.
Awwr.
yeah i don't get it at all. being sad is not fun in anyway. being happy and laughing is so much more fun.
t.v./movies/games are supposed to be fantasy and show us things we can't/don't have in reality. if your reality is depressing why would you want your fantasy to be?
I believe it's because laughing ran its course. I'm a gamer. I've seen the rise and fall of strategy war simulators, MMORPGs, shoot em' up games (still holding on by the skin of its teeth). I think the same can be said for other genres of media. We have seen so many romantic comedies with a slight twist, we've seen so many movies with a bunch of explosions and little to no story, but what we are still currently lacking are movies that make us cry. We have plenty of movies released and releasing that make us giggle and laugh, get angry, or pumped up and ready to fight. But we have few movies that make us feel one of the most human emotions, sadness.
i disagree.
i don't comedy has run its course at all. i think it can still be done in games but everyone is too busy trying to be deep.
I also think there are movies that make us feel sad. i can't name any off hand tho.
i like it despite it being sad and depressing because it gives us a glimpse of what the world would be like and what people would be like in that situation. im a zombie buff to start off with but the excellent writing in the game is what really drives it home for me. true it would be more happy go lucky to go play maplestory or some other happy cheerful upbeat game out there but for me what is really special about this game is its ability to reach me emotionally. not often do i get so invested in a game that i cry for its characters or crave to see the next episode in the story. to this day i still cry every time i watch the end of season 1 episode 5 and for a game to reach me on that level is something special. to try and answer your question better, i think its just an apples and oranges kind of thing. some people take pleasure and entertainment out of things that make us cry while some people would rather stick to the more lightly themed stuff. to each their own in my opinion.
ok and yeah the writing is amazing i agree. i feel season 1 is written better but i still enjoyed season 2.
I'm commenting without reading the post. I'MMA REBEL!
(I will edit it after I read it lol)
edit
For me, it's because it reminds me that I'm alive. I'm the kind of guy that didn't cry when his grandmother died (not proud here, but that's just how it is; loved her but I just... it's just not something I know how to do on my own). I cried over one breakup, and over the death of one very close friend, but not in many many years. Playing these games put me into a state of mind that reality just hasn't been able to do. It made me feel very much alive and changed my perspective when it comes to the people I care about (I actively value them much more after playing).
For the TV show, well that didn't make my bawl like a little girl, but I like it because it's well made and I enjoy the storytelling. It's absolutely entertaining and I like not being able to feel "comfortable" when I'm watching it, not knowing who is going to make it and who isn't. The utter lack of plot armor (for everybody besides Rick and his kid, that is) makes it so that when people are in situations that are potentially deadly I actually fear for the life of the lives of the characters, and not many forms of media have ever done that.
I like TWD game because I can relate to the characters, I've always liked the idea of this kind of story but for example the characters in the TV show as far as I watched weren't people I could relate to but in the game well Lee is a man who did something terrible and is trying to make up for it, while I didn't murder anyone I was very close to doing it once so I can sympathize with that feeling and since I get to control Lee's actions I get to decide how he deals with it, in addition to that Clementine is a character that is really easy to like and I genuinely wanted to help her in Season 1, it was interesting and the fact that I actually felt guilty of the bad things that happened made the game have a lot more emotional impact than most other forms of media and as a result I liked it a lot, I'm not the kind off person that cries and feels bad about stuff in fact I don't even regret anything bad I've don with the exception of the attempted murder, so it was interesting and different to me to have those feelings and I really loved it.
As for Season 2, it's a lot simpler Season 2 Clementine can have a personality that is pretty much exactly like how I was around that age, so unlike Lee which was a role I was playing about the man I want to be, I actually felt like I was Clementine, it's pretty odd but I never managed to feel like I was a character in the story before but with Clementine, her reactions, dialogue and actions are exactly like what I feel I would have done, of course I probably wouldn't have done it as well but I felt like I was really there and that's why I like that too, which is why I'm really worried about Season 3 since I like Seasons 1 and 2 for very different reasons.
But anyway that's why I enjoy TWD, I'm not a fan of the comics or the TV show though so take that for what it's worth.
To put it simply. Because zombies. (In terms of TV show)
EDIT:
Nah, just kidding. However there are some great issues such as power struggles (Rick/Shane), character dynamics and relationships (Lee/Clem), the ability of a character to cope/not cope (Kenny/Lilly) with the great equalizer that is the zombie apocalypse.
In the game we are heavily exposed to the emotions as the gamer is forced to make hard decisions. You laugh. You cringe. You groan. You feel. That is the great power of the game in a world where some popular games are produced purely for simple, mindless entertainment like League of Legends, or Call of Duty. There's also games where you are cast as the clear good guy, or the clear bad guy and you travel down that path the whole time.
Telltale Games The Walking Dead forces you to change that mindset by putting you into a game where things aren't defined so clearly and puts you in situations where you make split second decisions and forces you to justify the choices you made. Add in the fact that there is wonderful characterization, especially in the first Season, and people get attached to the game and to the characters because they feel authentic. People mess up. They aren't perfect and we see how they break down and how they choose to cope.
People like the game because of the great characterization and how personal it feels as we see the game through the eyes of Lee/Clementine but we can shape their personalities and their behavior.
People like the comics because of how it dealt with themes like grief, betrayal, death, honest portrayals of humanity responding to bad situations with bad plans. However, from what I've heard, the formula has gotten stale.
People like the show because it's the easiest way to absorb your daily dose of The Walking Dead. It's more easily accessible than a video game or a comic book. People see characters and get attached to them and what they have to endeavor through when humanity is at its weakest. We see this in S5E1, Rick is flat out telling the group after they have escaped Terminus, to kill all of them because of their cannabilism, although there is no need.
TL;DR: My personal favorite is the game because I enjoyed shaping the personalities of Lee/Clem and simply talking to the other characters because they were wonderfully written and because of the tough decisions we are forced to make.
Emotional media's extremely cathartic for me and I absolutely love it for that reason. Anything that can make me cry is stunning in my book.
Just like any TV Show or Comic or Video Game... entertainment with a pinch of something to look forward to.
i'm impressed by these comments.