AMC's new series The Walking Dead.

[Swede]

New "sizzle reel" shows the scale of The Walking Dead's violence and desolation.

http://io9.com/5647251/new-sizzle-reel-shows-the-scale-of-the-walking-deads-violence-and-desolation

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

1. They should have called it "Ded Men"

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

2. This whole zombie meme

sure is an interesting cultural phenomenon. Popcorn in hand.

[leveymg]

3. Does anyone actually get off on this? The end of civilization stuff, cannibalism,mass killing?

Where's the line between being scared silly, and becoming desensitized to the idea of casually blowing off people's heads because they're "zombies"?

[Swede]

4. It's wildly popular in video games,movies and tv.

The really popular media monsters are the ones that somehow change from ordinary folk into killers (werewolves,vampires and zombies). We're afraid of our neighbours,I guess.

[leveymg]

5. "We're afraid of our neighbours,I guess." Or, we're being conditioned to be.

I wonder how much of this is supplier-driven rather than demand-side. Think of the profit potential if you could sell real guns to all those zombie-obsessed kids, or better get them into uniform and sell the government real guns, tanks and missiles.

If I ran a defense contractor, or recruiting command, I'd make sure that my company had a division producing zombie-slayer DVDs and arcade games. Make them cheap and make them plentiful, and get them into the Wii and game controller of every 8-year old in America.

[Mojambo]

6. If you read the books you'll see it's not about desensitization

Its about attempting (and often failing) to preserve our humanity in the absence of everything that has made us what we are.

It's a very good series. Often issues go by without even seeing a zombie. Very character driven.

I always liked the pitch/tag of the comic book series.

How many hours are in a day
when you don't spend
half of them watching television?

When is the last time
any of us
REALLY
worked to get something that we wanted?

How long has it been
since any of us really
NEEDED
something that we WANTED?

The world we knew is gone.

The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been
replaced by a world of survival and responsibility.

An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept
the globe causing the dead to rise and feed on the living.

In a matter of months society has crumbled,
no government,
no grocery stores,
no mail delivery,
no cable TV.

In a world ruled by the dead,
we are forced to finally start living.

[Tunkamerica]

7. zombie movies are hardly ever scary

they're more survival movies with the underlying theme of retaining humanity despite all odds. And in the best ones the zombies are a metaphor for one thing or another.

[ZombieHorde]

8. So awesome. I am really excited for this show. nt