TWD: Racist and Dumb

[rongravy]

Over all, internet hyperbole run amuck. troo dat.

[Andy]

ever seen redneck zombies? sorry, but i like bigtime FX. don't get me wrong, i love dawn. but it's time to move on up, Mr. Jefferson. while i can deal with people hating on the two new ones, land ain't such a bad deal. sure, it has its faults, but dayumn, it is above par with TWD. i love that show, too, but it has alot of inconsistencies... Yeah i have seen redneck zombies and a whole bunch of trashy zombie movies that i'll wager you've never heard of, let alone seen, and while redneck zombies is god awful, its not got big daddy in it. I get what you mean about the bigtime FX but it just dosnt work for this particullar genre, we've seen countless big budget, big effects zombie movies which just never work on the scale that the classic, zero budget genius effect movies of yesteryear becuase when it comes to the zombie genre, less is always better budget wise and thats why Land dosnt work, it has the budget and the names, but absolutly nothing else. its the worse zombie movie ive ever personally seen but im not going into it here this is a TWD topic, i did once post my reasons in their entirity which if you want to see, its here.

[rongravy]

Yeah i have seen redneck zombies and a whole bunch of trashy zombie movies that i'll wager you've never heard of, let alone seen, and while redneck zombies is god awful, its not got big daddy in it. I'll give you that, as I don't have the time to sit around and watch every home made crappy zombie flick someone poops out occasionally. Big Daddy was the only thing I didn't like about Land. Other than that, I thought it was pretty damn sweet. It just amazes me sometimes the hate here for GAR's new stuff, yet alot of love for TWD. Anyway...

[Ghoulman]

Okay, first we have to realize who Andrew Breitbart is; A conservative political opinion guy first and foremost. So literally everything in his article comes from that place. For me it’s just like any other review about any other film or show except that instead of coming from a left-winger, that most of the print press employs, this time it comes from a right-winger. My advice. Recongnize it for what it is-an attack on liberalism-and move on. As far as Romero being a hack? I personally haven’t seen anything memorable from him since 1985. As for Romero being held atop this untouchable pedestal for so long? Let him down. He shone brightly decades ago and changed how many view and make movies. He’s no different than, say, Michael Jordan. He changed basketball forever, but put him on the court today and he flounders, at best.

[bassman]

Oh damn. Now politics are being brought into the fold. Those guys will bring it into anyhting, won't they?

[Ghoulman]

Sorry bass, it wasn't my intention to bring in politics but rather show this guy, and his review for what it was; Something that should be taken with a tremendous grain of salt because it is purely ideologically driven. (insert smiley here)

[clanglee]

This guy would be at home here at HPOTD. Ive heard most of his arguments here before. Many times. Some of his points may be valid, but I feel that he is looking for the wrong stuff. He doesn't like the Walking Dead because it doesn't match his survivalist wet dreams. I used to argue about a lot of the same things. Land was a perfect example. All I used to do was bitch about how this would never have happened, and that character should never have done this. I forgot that NO zombie movie has ever been made with the survivalist in mind. In all zombie movies we have people making dumbass decisions and getting eaten. In the good ones we have realistic people making realistic decisions. The best zombie movies, to me, are the ones about people and how they do, or do not work together. On a side note, I don't see the issue with Merle Dixon. He is a little stereotyped, but goddammit, stereotypes come from somewhere. You cut out all the stereotypes, and you run out of characters real quick. I live in the south. I've known many many rednecks in my time. Some are more rascist than others, but rascism is one of the defining characteristics of a redneck. You can't be a real redneck without being a bit rascist. It comes with the moniker. And Merle is just a rascist asshole, an ex con apparently, who doesn't have to care about anyone anymore. . .and is going a bit extreme. I just don't have a problem seeing this actually happening. And for the record, no I am not offended by the portrayal of a southerner as a rascist idiot, bucause they are out there, and Merle isn't the only southern character in the show. they are almost ALL southern. . . . . . .sigh. . .im done. :l

[blind2d]

I was thinking of "Diary" as being much better than "Land" -- but, you're right, "Survival" is probably on equal pairing with "Land" -- it does suck. Actually, even though Gary and Andy may argue with me here, I thought "Survival" was possibly a little worse than "Land" (and I hate "Land"). Dennis Hopper (R.I.P.) was redeemable and somewhat interesting in "Land" -- "Survival" didn't have a single character I really gave a shit about. What "Survival" didn't have was Big Daddy. But zombies on horseback are much worse. j.p. There you go, we all know what you meant to say there. As for Contagium... how dare you, sir?! You simply cannot compare the two films to it! Contagium was a masterpiece, whereas I enjoyed Diary a fair amount (mainly thanks to Stephen King and Simon Pegg), it's apples and oranges! Oh yeah, and Survival has maybe a full minute of non-blow in't. Happy trails!

[Thorn]

So much of this is opinion, and while opinions can not "technically" be wrong sometimes people are so far off base their opinion can easily be discredited. Is that the case here? I do not think so. I find Survival to be one of the worst zombie films I have ever watched and that is sad, because I expected more. I did not expect another Dawn, but I needed it to be more than poorly motivated camp wrapped around kill gags. And I saw again the complete loss of any sense of dread or fear from these people as they run around the land of the living dead never puts you as a viewer into the moment. A horror movie without a sense of fear, dread, suspense, or uncertainty is what exactly? Diary really let me down, it was heavy handed and preachy. In it I feel George tried SO HARD to make it a commentary on something he lost sight of making a good movie to carry that message and instead we got message and a forced story around it that was completely unbelievable, unrealistic and failed to live up to his fans expectations. Land I like more, does it have issues? Sure it does and we talked them to death, but honestly it was of the three later movies.. sadly the best we have had in my opinion. There are some parts of it that are redeeming. Others fail miserably but unlike Survival it succeeds in SOME areas. What is odd is that after Night there was a split in direction, one camp went humor with return one side went social observation and horror. George has turned around and it seems gone farther to the camp humor side than I will ever like. The author was heated, and he was funny at times, and his observations were valid at times. But his attacks on George as a Hack are unjustified in my opinion. The man has done so much that was good, you can not call him a hack because the body of work he has produced is what you look at to gauge a man's worth. Not the end of his run. A professional boxer like Mike Tyson for example, if you look at his last 4 fights you would say he was nothing special, he was no one of note. If you look at his body of work he is a terrible offensive juggernaut that changed the face of boxing. We all loose a bit at the end, but that does not take away what he "was" or what he "accomplished". Michael Jordan won six rings with the Bulls, is he a nobody and a loser based on his run as a player with the Washington Wizards where he was a shell of his former self? No he is still the greatest player in the history of the game (arguably). So, I am sorry but calling George a Hack because he put out three bad movies is not only unfair it is ignorant and short sighted.

[Trin]

@Thorn - Great post there Thorn. Lots of great points. And I mean really great points. Bravo!! @clang - Getting fired up there, huh clang ol buddy!! On a side note, I don't see the issue with Merle Dixon. He is a little stereotyped, but goddammit, stereotypes come from somewhere. You cut out all the stereotypes, and you run out of characters real quick. I live in the south. I've known many many rednecks in my time. Some are more rascist than others, but rascism is one of the defining characteristics of a redneck. You can't be a real redneck without being a bit rascist. It comes with the moniker. And Merle is just a rascist asshole, an ex con apparently, who doesn't have to care about anyone anymore. . .and is going a bit extreme. I just don't have a problem seeing this actually happening. And for the record, no I am not offended by the portrayal of a southerner as a rascist idiot, bucause they are out there, and Merle isn't the only southern character in the show. they are almost ALL southern. . . . . . .sigh. . .im done. :l The issue I have is not that Merle is stereotyped... it's that he's a walking caricature of the stereotype and nothing more. Daryl, in contrast, is the same stereotype, but he exceeds it with plenty of other character facets. And maybe they'll shape up Merle in future episodes. They did a good job with Shane. After the first couple episodes portrayed him as just a jerk, then he started to get some complexity. I really don't care if they embrace stereotypes so long as the characters are good, complex, solid characters. Merle just isn't. And I agree with what you said about great zombie movies being about realistic people making realistic decisions. I'd add that watching how various people from various walks of life approach surviving the apocalypse is a big part of what makes or breaks movies. What would Dawn be without them blocking the mall entrances? It was a, "Wow, what a great idea" moment. TWD gives us spreading zombie stank on ourselves and shambling through the masses. That's a bit harder to stand up and cheer for. I think there's a middle ground between survivalists wet dream and idiots with no common sense or survival instinct. TWD seems to fall somewhere in that middle.

[Gemini]

This article is sad but true. How many here truly love the series for its content, and how many here love the series simply because of the genre it's representing? That's not rhetorical, I would love feedback on that. Overall for me it's had its ups and downs but has dropped off steeply in terms of quality since the debut. They were not even planning for a second season when they filmed this first one. Maybe with a bigger budget and a better effort knowing it is a hit series, season 2 will knock our socks off?

[clanglee]

[QUOTE=Trin;254695I think there's a middle ground between survivalists wet dream and idiots with no common sense or survival instinct. TWD seems to fall somewhere in that middle.[/QUOTE] I'll agree with that. I think in real life most people fall somewhere in the middle of that too.

[Danny]

How many here truly love the series for its content, and how many here love the series simply because of the genre it's representing? That's not rhetorical, I would love feedback on that. honestly few if any i'd reckon.

[clanglee]

How many here truly love the series for its content, and how many here love the series simply because of the genre it's representing? That's not rhetorical, I would love feedback on that. ? Honestly. . if it wasn't a post apocalyptic zombie series. . I might not watch it. But really. . that's a silly speculation. How many people would watch dexter if it wasn't about a Serial Killer? How many people would watch Boardwalk Empire if it wasn't a 1920's organized crime drama? The genre brought me in . . . .the quality keeps me in. Just like the comic. Hell. . .just like anything else I like.

[bassman]

Honestly. . if it wasn't a post apocalyptic zombie series. . I might not watch it. But really. . that's a silly speculation. How many people would watch dexter if it wasn't about a Serial Killer? How many people would watch Boardwalk Empire if it wasn't a 1920's organized crime drama? The genre brought me in . . . .the quality keeps me in. Just like the comic. Hell. . .just like anything else I like. Good points all around. Would I like it if it didn't have zombies? Most likely. I'm the type that really only likes Romero's dead films because they're about the people. Most other zombie films can fuck off. Except for the few good comedies like Shaun and Zombieland. I still remember my first viewing of Day and even as a kid thinking, "This isn't even about the zombies!!", which I thought was very cool. That's exactly what TWD is doing. It's a drama at it's core, but with zombies in the background. It's exactly what I stated in DJ's "What do you want out of a zombie movie?" thread. And obviously genre and horror fans aren't the only ones liking this show. That small group of people wouldn't make up the record-breaking nearly six million viewers in the US. Another thing to remember is that this show is insanely popular right now, so you're going to get people like the writer of this article who take their criticisms to the extreme. Of course there will be people who genuinely don't enjoy the show, but then you're also going to get the people that jump on the "It's cool to hate" bandwagon and do their best to disuade everyone else from tuning in. You'll also get the comic loyalists who refuse to watch the show because of their devotion to Kirkman's work and they believe that nothing new can come of it. But for anyone that's just seen Episode 5 - that's the furthest thing from the truth....