Theme: Reinvention








*SPOILERS*




Another theme I picked up on with WA is the notion that an "End of the World" type survival scenario allows people to reinvent themselves. Alternatively the theme could be that so much of the type of lives we craft for ourselves is irrevocably tied to the times and circumstances we live in. Millions of people living desperate lives of office cubicles, box stores, 2.5 children, and coach potato'ing on the weekends could be the valiant warrior, the skilled hunter, the industrious gatherer, the wise leader, or the ambitious rival had they only been born thousands of years earlier.

The zombie apocalypse offers new types of roles which directly have an impact on the ability of survivors to survive and it seems many of the characters were eager to fill them.

I won't go so far as to say that the characters were happy that the infection started, but...

1) CJ seems happier. She downplays her former life as doing trivial stuff. Since she is portrayed by both Burt and Michael as a "young girl," I doubt she was in any position of leadership before. All her control freak tendencies, her ability to plan multiple scenarios in her head quickly, her anal retentive attention to details -- all of that probably went unrewarded in her former life but in the zombie apocalypse they made her a natural leader.

2) Victor seems happier. He also downplays his past as being an insurance salesman (and I think he said it was one among many jobs he had) and being married to an awful woman. In the zombie apocalypse he's this kick-a** hero, highly devoted to his friends, willing to do whatever needs to be done for the sake of the survivors. Who else had the cajones to take on a Little One face-to-face and jam a syringe in its eyes?

3) Burt seems happier. Before Saul discovered him, he seemed like a grumpy old curmudgeon, lonely and heartbroken after his wife's death, with even his shooting abilities deteriorating due to the shakes. In the zombie apocalypse he's this lean, mean warrior, lethal with a gun, fiercely protective of his friends, and reveling in a world filled with targets for him to shoot at and new people to care for. I'd say whatever meaning he lost in his life, he found after the zombies arrived.

4) Michael seems happier. When WA opens he's this detached, aloof military intelligence soldier with poor interpersonal skills trying to re-acclimate to civilian life after attempting to hide from the regular world by choosing multiple tours of duty in Iraq since his parents' deaths. In the zombie apocalypse he's the beloved father figure at the head of a family of friends. He allows himself to care deeply for this group of random strangers, gains a comfort level with his emotions, and a newfound appreciation and preference for the world of ordinary folk that exists outside of the regimented lifestyle of the military.

5) Saul seems happier (well, before he lost Lizzy). It sounds like at the start of the story he was a nerdy young man, estranged from his Mom, who was more comfortable playing video games than wooing women. He escaped his life by becoming special ops in the military, where is impulsiveness held him back from what should have been a promising career given his intelligence and resourcefulness. In the zombie apocalypse he's the perfect soldier and a skilled tactician. His playfulness and sense of humor lighten up the lives of those around him. And his heart is a moral center for the group as he truly embodies the spirt of never giving up on anyone regardless of the risks involved (e.g., Burt, Lizzy, Lady, and Angel, Riley, Datu in the Arena).

6) Datu seems happier. He left his homeland to work as a maintenance man in an apartment complex, scraping whatever meager money he could earn to support the children of his philandering ex-wife back in the Philippines. In the zombie apocalypse he was the brains and the soul of the survivors, giving everything he had for the good of the survivors and loving each and every one of them openly and unabashedly and loved by all. He found his soulmate in Samantha and his mastery of all things mechanical - more than once (e.g., the generator, the helicopter, the matagun) - gave the survivors the edge they needed to make it through some dark moments.

7) Lizzy seems happier. She was a psychologist not by choice and she was in a relationship with a guy, who was not a good fit for her [note: I'm getting this from an interview with KC, but since it's never talked about in the story, maybe it's not canon...but if KC says that's what's going on isn't that like coming from God's lips, which does make it canon?]. In the zombie apocalypse she fulfills multiple roles for the survivors. She's the first of the civilians and of the women to demonstrate that everyone can take an active participation in their own survival (e.g., she relishes in learning how to shoot and kill's the biter who got Todd, she goes along with Michael to lead the zombies away from the Tower after they were attracted by Peg's mishap, she comes up with the sweat experiment, she figures out how to contain the fire). Then she morphs into the romantic heart of the survivors along with Saul, which leads to her becoming the first post-zombie apocalypse Mommy. Basically, her relationship with Saul and Nicholas gives hope to the rest of the survivors that there is a future out there for humankind. All that said, this may be one of the weakest illustrations of the reinvention concept as it's possible that she would have been just about at happy in her former life.

8) As for the rest: Hope, Glenn, the soldiers, Pete, Riley, Angel, Bill, Tommy, Kelly, Pegs, Kalani, Tanya... It's not so easy for me to make the case that they became happier with their lot in life after the zombie apocalypse, though their roles may have changed.

9) Oh, and the Mallers. They definitely were happy with their lives after the apocalypse because they weren't stuck in Eastern Bay anymore.

10) Ditto for Bill Roberts. He got his wish: a near immortal life with hordes to protect him. And it would have all worked out too, if it weren't for those meddling kids and their dog...and cats...and goat...and pelican.