This past semester, I dived back into Disney Channel. I had stopped watching it for a while, because frankly, the amount of disrespect that was being shown to parents, not to mention making them look stupid, was unappealing.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that several of the shows were no longer treating parents in such a manner, such as Bizaardvark and K.C. Undercover.
There was something, however, that started to nag at me.
If you watch Disney Channel at all, I’m certain you saw the many trailers for the new Disney Channel Original Movie Zombies.
Now, I’m not going to delve into whether or not it is morally right to watch shows with zombies. Personally, I don’t enjoy it, since I find it too frightening for my own tastes, but as long as they are portrayed as the monsters they were created to be – such as in The Walking Dead which my brother and dad both watch, I’m not going to argue about it.
And herein lies my issue with Zombies. On the forefront, the film has great qualities and the inherent lessons they are trying to teach are good…but. I really do not believe they went about this the right way.
Let me just start with some Merriam-Webster.
Zombie:
“a: a will-less and speechless human (as in voodoo belief and in fictional stories) held to have died and been supernaturally reanimated
b: the supernatural power that according to voodoo belief may enter into and reanimate a dead body c: person held to resemble the so-called walking dead.”
So from this definition we can gather, that one, they do not have a will or speak. Now, that reminds me of an animal, except…an animal does have a will (as anyone with pets can attest to!). If they’re not an animal then, and not inherently human, then what does that make them?
Food for thought.
The Urban Dictionary describes zombies as,
“in its near-mindless state, it grasps no remains of emotion, personality, or sensation of pain. The only observable action a zombie takes part in is killing living creatures, especially humans, and eating them.”
Alright. We can now, after significant research, logically deduce that in dictionary terms and in pop culture, zombies are dead bodies, do not have a will, cannot speak/think/experience emotion, do not have personality or the feeling of pain, and the only activity they actually do is to eat other living creatures – specifically humans.
Now, with that definition in mind, I’m going to look at the Disney Channel Original Movie, Zombies.
First of all, um like there are zombie children??? and parents??? Last time I checked…DEAD people did not procreate. There is literally nothing believable or logical about this. And as we established earlier, the only action zombies participate in as mindless creatures is the eating of living people.
Here are a few quotes from the movie that I find particularly problem some.
“I’m not a monster, I’m a zombie!”
Ok. Back to the dictionary. Merriam-Webster describes a monster as,
“a: one who deviates from normal or acceptable behavior or character, an immoral monster
b: threatening force c: something monstrous; especially : a person of unnatural or extreme ugliness, deformity, wickedness, or cruelty.”
Well, I don’t know about y’all, but eating people is generally considered immoral. Not to mention, highly unacceptable and very much not normal behavior. So, yes. According to all logic, zombies are monsters, and therefore, Zed falls into the zombie/monster category.
“I’m fighting against intolerance!”
*heavy sigh*
*deep breaths*
You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me.
This literally spats in the face of every single moment of intolerance on our planet, and the progress that actually has been made. They are basically comparing the intolerance historically against people of color, religion, women, etc…to zombies, which, as stated above, are certainly, and most definitely not in the same category as humans or animals.
Look, I’m all for people everywhere being treated respectfully and such, but let’s not confuse wanting to get a concept across, with another concept that is disturbing. They could have still gotten this concept across with so many other ways, without going to the blatant lie and illogical thought process of “zombies are good, not monsters, and can totally interbred with humans.”
Are they trying to make monsters seem good, and nice? Possibly. For the sake of the kids who watch it, I hope not, but at this point, I don’t really have many other options to draw from.
Now, the film could have been good in its message. Change the zombie family to a mutant family. It would still get the same message and values across, without saying that zombies are “good” creatures, when nowhere in history or in definitions have they been portrayed as “safe” or “good.”
Colossians 2:8 says, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”
It is important that we are aware of the purpose and message behind what we are watching, reading, and listening to. Unfortunately, Satan is real and we cannot be naïve and think that he is not trying to manipulate us. As Colossians says, we must make sure that we are not being distracted by the glitz and glamor of the various forms of media, and remember that behind every story there is a purpose.
Oftentimes, it isn’t obvious and there lies the tricky part. If it were clear and obvious, most of us would probably catch it. Unfortunately, most things in this world are not going to be so easily seen or obvious. Frequently, some bad is mixed with a lot of good or vice versa, and that brings up a moral dilemma.
Moral dilemmas are always conflicting, as they are very much not black and white. It can be difficult to discern what the right choice is however, I believe the more we spend time in God’s Word, and the more we come to know His character, the easier it will be to know what to do. It may never be completely clear, but the closer we draw to Him, the mirror that we look at the world through becomes just a little bit less dusty.
~ Southern Dreamer
Southern Dreamer 