THE REAL WALKING DEAD: WALTER WHITE

I think it ironic that two of AMC’s blockbuster series are, to put it one way, not what they are about. 

The Walking Dead only appears to be about the Zombie Apocalypse. It is actually about Ethics in Times of Decay and Destruction, or, put another way, “Who are we and how do we act when the shit hits the fan, the center doesn’t hold, and everything we have ever been able to hang our hats on is gone?” (questions on the lips and minds of Republicans as we speak). To whom does the new day belong? Does it belong to the Shanes or to the Dales:  To those whose aggression and savagery increases the probability of survival? Or to those who strive to salvage and preserve whatever decency, lawfulness, community and compassion remains as the Old World fades away and the New World takes its place. When does reasonable self-defense collapse into sadistic violence? At what point does compassion become a fatal flaw? When is it time to stop talking and start stabbing?

The other show (and here is the irony) is the recently-concluded Breaking Bad. It is about a man, Walter White, who appears to be a solidly middle class high school chemistry teacher in Albuquerque but who is, in reality, well, a zombie. He moves from class to class, from home to school and back again, in a bloodless stupor. We learn in time not only that Walter White has lung cancer but also that at one time in his life he ‘coulda been a contenda’ as a founding member of what has become an extremely successful and highly lucrative company. Mr. White, like many of us, has moored his boat on tides of resentment, anger and regret – all well-masked beneath a tapestry of khaki and button-down shirts and shitty cars. And numbness. A lot of numbness. He is sick and tired and boring.

The REAL walking dead.

Instead of anesthetizing himself with the analgesics of Americana, Walter White becomes The Greatest Meth Cook in the World and a gazillionaire besides. The show’s best moments are those of Walter waking up. He reclaims the manhood he has sold off piecemeal over the decades of his life. Walter's huge fan following is I think not about him being in the drug trade and only partially about his acquisition of wealth. It is about leaving somnambulism behind.  It is about becoming 'the winner,' the guy who plants the charge instead of being blown up by it, the 'one who knocks.' It is about leaving the windbreaker behind and donning the black hat and shades - about becoming Heisenberg, large and in charge, unequivocally at the helm of a life previously given over to someone or something else. Walter becomes The Effector instead of the Effected.

It is about him retiring from Zombie Life. It is the white man's wet dream.

Awakening however are usually not pretty and often result in breakings bad of all different kinds, few of them constructive. Unregulated and untempered the very awakenings that give life and restore vitality at first end up taking them away in the end.

More later …