Season one of The Walking Dead introduces the viewers to a messy society. In the first season, one man tries to reunite with his family. However, his wife begins a relationship with another man, which prompts death. The episodes in the first season introduce the viewer to various characters featured in the film. People appear from the dead and live like zombies. The zombies in the series can bite and convert human beings into a zombie. This paper focuses on two characters from the first season, Shane and Rick. The paper compares and contrasts their roles as presented in the film. Furthermore, themes of death, love, and survival are discussed as highlighted in the first season The Walking Dead.
Shane loves people in relationships. On the first instance, Shane appears to have feelings for carol in the third episode of season one. He bubbles up with rage and beat up Carols husband Ed. He puts up a violent fight, which shows that he has feelings for Carol. Shane also has feelings for Laurie and wants her as simple as she presents herself. This situation leads to a conflict between the two characters, Shane and Rick (The walking dead). Shane keeps telling Laurie that he would die for her. This shows the level of affection that Shane has for Laurie. Shane portrays leadership skills as he leads the survivors from Atlanta. However, his role in leadership falls under Rick’s authority. Rick and Shane are colleagues because they work together. However, the affection they both share for Laurie causes a turn of events in the series. Shane and rick began their friendship in high school. The friendship continued as they worked in the same police department.
After the apocalypse, survivors should not kill fellow survivors. The survivors had vowed to protect each other from the zombies and other external attacks. However, Shane makes the first attempt to kill a fellow survivor (The walking dead). Shane appears as a murderer and a schemer as he plots to kill Rick. Shane planned a scheme to kill Rick as they served as sheriffs together. He asked Rick to help him out in searching for Randall in the forest. However, Shane had killed Randall earlier and wanted to kill Rick during the search. As the get deeper into the forest, Shane tells rick “Lori and Carl, they’ll get over you (The walking dead).” Thereafter, Shane kills Rick.
Shane also appears as a jealous character. His jealousy is presented through the way he tries to end the relationship between Rick and Laurie. This jealous feeling leads him to kill his colleague in the forest. He acts in this manner because he wants to have a relationship with Laurie. However, Laurie has dedicated herself and vowed to love Rick. In his efforts to have Laurie to love him again, he says, “I have a few mistakes under my belt,” He uses these words to make peace with Laurie and win her back (The walking dead). Shane also appears as a jealous character after Ricks return. Rick returns and assumes his former leadership position from Shane. This makes Shane jealous because the survivors want Rick’s leadership. During his leadership, Shane did not receive as much approval from the survivors as Rick.
Shane portrays love and affection in the first season. Shane has an affair with Laurie, as she believes that her husband died. The affair leads to pregnancy. However, the relationship soon ends as Rick is reunited with his wife. During this time, Shane tries to maintain an affair with Laurie but it fails. Laurie has made a decision to love Rick. When Shane learns the Laurie is pregnant, he insists that the baby is his (The walking dead). This portrays Shane as a loving character who values the family. However, the main motive behind Shane wanting the baby is to maintain a relationship with Laurie after her husband came back. Her husband Rick comes back as a zombie. However, this time Shane led the fellow survivors.
Shane portrays hope and faith in the Government. Through his leadership, he portrays the impression that the government will save the survivors. He believes that the government is preparing a mission to come for the survivors (The walking dead). Shane also believes that after the government comes he will receive rewards for his leadership. He also believes that the survivors will participate in restoring law and order. Shane looks forward to the day when they live as if the apocalypse never happened.
In his leadership time, Shane thinks that his actions are right but they keep making things get worse. Most of his actions lead to denial. He assures himself that his actions are right while, at the same time, he doubts his actions (Yuen 12). This shows that Shane wants to do the right thing. However, he only does the right thing when it benefits him. For example, he only saves Carol because he has feelings for her. Throughout season one, the viewer may expect that Shane will die, but he survives the entire season.
Rick portrays endurance and love for his family. He recovers from a coma in a deserted territory where he encounters Zombies. He endures through the confusion to reunite with his family Laurie and Carl. At first, he contemplates on how to react to the situation. However, through his endurance he meets with other survivors who explain to him the situation. Morgan, one of the survivors, tells him "One thing I do know, don't you get bit,” (The walking dead). This enables Rick to understand that the town was under attack.
Rick portrays great leadership skills. As he leads, the survivors after the apocalypse people love his leadership. The survivors respect him because he has former leadership experience. He wakes up later on to find that the apocalypse took place. After meeting with the survivors, he leads them to the police station to equip them with guns. He issues guns to the nursing home to help them in time of the attack. He also appears as a charismatic leader because the survivors corporate and agree to work with him. The issues all camps with guns from the store. These guns help in protecting the survivors in the caps from the zombies. The people appreciate his leadership and prefer him to lead rather than Shane. He offers to distribute the walkie-talkies to the nursing home to facilitate communication. The survivors love him as their leader. They show respect for him and his family. He assumes leadership immediately he learns about the situation (Yuen 33).
He also portrays courage when he asks Morgan, a survivor, to leave alone as they will communicate through a walkie-talkie. He encounters the zombies as he moves towards Atlanta. During this encounter, he meets other survivors, Glenn and Andrea. Rick begins to show his leadership skills at this point. He uses his van to move the survivors from the department store to a safe region in the survivor’s camp. In the camp, he learns that his family lives here with other survivors. In the camp, he also portrays courage when he decides to go back for the guns he had dropped. "I'm going back,” Though his wife is against this move because it is risky, he decides to go back and collect the guns (The walking dead). He encounters the zombies but manages to drive them away from the nursing home. He acts when Shane fears to act this shows courage. He does not want to be comfortable when other survivors are under attack (Yuen 27).
Rick appears as a character who appreciates other people. He thanks Shane for saving Carl and Laurie after the apocalypse. He also shows forgiveness when he says, "She had every reason to believe that (The walking dead).” Here he refers to Laurie who had told Carl that Rick died. He forgives his wife for leaving him behind and reunites with his family. On that night, Rick and Laurie agree to protect his or her marriage and family.
The Theme of Death
The series suggests that life after death exist. The walkers/zombies have resurrected from the dead. These people once lived within the community. After the apocalypse, they came back to life. However, they do not act like normal human beings (The walking dead). The zombies attack human beings. They bite them and fight them through all means. The series suggests that the dead will rise after the apocalypse. It also suggests that the zombies come to attack the living. After they finish the food in Atlanta, the zombies begin to feed on human beings. The series also suggest that these zombies turn a human being into a zombie. The bite from a zombie to a human can turn him or her into a zombie. The zombies show that life after death exists.
The Theme of Love
Love presents itself in different ways throughout season one. In the first incident, it takes the form of an affair. Laurie and Shane love each other because Laurie thinks that her husband died in the apocalypse. Laurie presents the desire to replace one lover with another. The series presents the impression that one person to two people can share the love. Laurie still thinks about her husband but falls in love with Shane (The walking dead). The second incident, love takes the form of reuniting with a family member. In the cam Laurie and Rick reunite and reignite their love for one another. Love also leads to the restatement of marriage vows. After reuniting, Laurie and Rick restate their vows to love each other and protect their marriage. Love appears as the desire to be near someone. It also appears as a cause for jealously because Shane gets jealous that Laurie loves Rick more than she loves him.
Survival
The series presents survival as a basic human instinct. When the zombies attack the community, they try to protect themselves. They protect themselves in an attempt to survive. The series shows the extent to which human beings go in order to survive (The walking dead). The survivors gather and use force against their enemies. The series shows that the need to survive pulls human beings close to each other.
Works Cited
The walking dead. Dir. Robert Kirkman. Perf. andrew lincoln, norman reedus,lawrence gilliard jr. as bob stookey TWD-S4-Lawrence-Gilliard-Interview-590 Bob has secrets. He is fighting his own demons, and struggles to control them. michael rooker as merle dixon CharactersTWDS3-Merle Merle is Daryl . Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2012. HD-DVD.
Yuen, Wayne. The Walking dead and philosophy: zombie apocalypse now. Chicago: Open Court, 2012. Print.
