Gracy
22nd December 2019, 16:01
Like a lot of people here in the U.S., I'm a big fan of the tv series The Walking Dead. It's one of the latest reincarnations of the old zombie story, but told in a never before seen way, and thus wildly popular.
While the subject of this thread is not about the show, per say, a brief up to date is probably in order. The story is now in season 10, and it focuses on the survival exploits of a small group of people who survive the initial zombie outbreak (a small % are immune), and find themselves together, but that's only the beginning of the terror.
The group evolves over the seasons. Most of the original group is killed off along the way, eaten by zombies (they call them "walkers"), but they also pick up new survivors along the way, once the group feels they can be trusted that is.
Because, as is found out rather quickly, their fellow human survivors wind up being even more dangerous than the flesh devouring walkers themselves. Survivors quickly learn to be zombie killing bad asses, unless there are too many of them all at once that is, so as long as your have weapons they are fairly easy to dispatch of with a knife or bullet through the brain. Because a zombie can't think or strategize, they can't fight only eat.
Their fellow humans on the other hand, well they have tended to form groups of their own, and the survivor group that we follow has had some major battles/wars with some of these other groups. They've lost numerous members throughout these wars, but thus far they have always managed to come out on top. Why? Because they're smart, and they're friggin bad asses! lol
Anyway, to the point. This season they have encountered a group unlike any other, they call them The Whisperers, because of the way they blend in with roving bands of zombie hordes by wearing full head and neck masks composed of the skins from beheaded walkers. So long as they look like them, walk like them, and don't stand out in any way by talking or what have you, they can travel along amongst them in total leisure, not a care in the world.
To communicate while doing this, they slowly whisper to each other every now and then in the same fashion as the noise the walkers make. Thus being dubbed The Whisperers.
What makes this new group so dangerous unlike any other our group has faced, is the fact that they can steer these walker hordes around at will, maneuver them like pieces on a chess board, while at the same time they have penned in over time a giant horde composed of tens of thousands of walkers.
At any moment of their choosing, they can maneuver and varying size horde according to their purpose of defeating, overrunning any said enemy. Or, they can even release and steer the whole tens of thousands to over run and wipe out an enemy.
This is what our group has found out thus far and, are trying to figure out how to deal with. The following short clip gives a pretty good idea of The Whispers and their ultimate weapon. Their leader named "Alpha" (without her mask) shows one of our group leaders what they are up against as a final warning to stay out of Whisperer territory.
UuFZxdh5rzA
When I see this, and the way the hordes are maneuvered like chess pieces, it brings to life how mankind as a whole is being manipulated in much the same manner. Is this the writer showing us that he sees this as well, but has to show us through story similar to what people like Orwell had to do? I don't know but, it looks that way to me anyway.
Just consider how easily the masses are energized and mobilized during election cycles (or impeachment)for instance, for a war, to overthrow and over run a foreign leader who is no longer of use (a coup), or best example of all, the giant hordes that have been unleashed all across Europe in recent times.
Think about it, humans being mobilized and used as a weapon, just like the walking dead.
While the subject of this thread is not about the show, per say, a brief up to date is probably in order. The story is now in season 10, and it focuses on the survival exploits of a small group of people who survive the initial zombie outbreak (a small % are immune), and find themselves together, but that's only the beginning of the terror.
The group evolves over the seasons. Most of the original group is killed off along the way, eaten by zombies (they call them "walkers"), but they also pick up new survivors along the way, once the group feels they can be trusted that is.
Because, as is found out rather quickly, their fellow human survivors wind up being even more dangerous than the flesh devouring walkers themselves. Survivors quickly learn to be zombie killing bad asses, unless there are too many of them all at once that is, so as long as your have weapons they are fairly easy to dispatch of with a knife or bullet through the brain. Because a zombie can't think or strategize, they can't fight only eat.
Their fellow humans on the other hand, well they have tended to form groups of their own, and the survivor group that we follow has had some major battles/wars with some of these other groups. They've lost numerous members throughout these wars, but thus far they have always managed to come out on top. Why? Because they're smart, and they're friggin bad asses! lol
Anyway, to the point. This season they have encountered a group unlike any other, they call them The Whisperers, because of the way they blend in with roving bands of zombie hordes by wearing full head and neck masks composed of the skins from beheaded walkers. So long as they look like them, walk like them, and don't stand out in any way by talking or what have you, they can travel along amongst them in total leisure, not a care in the world.
To communicate while doing this, they slowly whisper to each other every now and then in the same fashion as the noise the walkers make. Thus being dubbed The Whisperers.
What makes this new group so dangerous unlike any other our group has faced, is the fact that they can steer these walker hordes around at will, maneuver them like pieces on a chess board, while at the same time they have penned in over time a giant horde composed of tens of thousands of walkers.
At any moment of their choosing, they can maneuver and varying size horde according to their purpose of defeating, overrunning any said enemy. Or, they can even release and steer the whole tens of thousands to over run and wipe out an enemy.
This is what our group has found out thus far and, are trying to figure out how to deal with. The following short clip gives a pretty good idea of The Whispers and their ultimate weapon. Their leader named "Alpha" (without her mask) shows one of our group leaders what they are up against as a final warning to stay out of Whisperer territory.
UuFZxdh5rzA
When I see this, and the way the hordes are maneuvered like chess pieces, it brings to life how mankind as a whole is being manipulated in much the same manner. Is this the writer showing us that he sees this as well, but has to show us through story similar to what people like Orwell had to do? I don't know but, it looks that way to me anyway.
Just consider how easily the masses are energized and mobilized during election cycles (or impeachment)for instance, for a war, to overthrow and over run a foreign leader who is no longer of use (a coup), or best example of all, the giant hordes that have been unleashed all across Europe in recent times.
Think about it, humans being mobilized and used as a weapon, just like the walking dead.